Is 256MB RAM too little?

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l43a2

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#523519 20-Sep-2011 13:50

i would go with the P500, it performs well with the tasks you've outlined, i personally have this phone and use it everyday.

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Paulthagerous

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#523525 20-Sep-2011 13:56

dclegg:
Paulthagerous: ...it sounds like she has her heart set on the X3, and it certainly has a number of significant upsides in your eyes compared to one big downside.

Hehe, I hope she doesn't! This is a birthday present, and she knows nothing about it. My wife, OTOH, is leaning towards the X3 purely because of the aesthetics of the device. She knows nothing of the technical side of things, and is leaving that up to me to decide.

Woops, my bad, the following made me think she had seen it lol:

dclegg: ... there are many things about the X3 that keep it in contention, including better looking hardware and a slightly slimmer profile. These are huge selling points for my daughter.

Hopefully she will be happy with whatever you choose!

Thanks for your feedback. It confirms my suspicion that 256MB should probably be sufficient for her needs. And no matter which one we chose, I can guarantee it will be a marked improvement over the hideous Samsung GT-B3410 she currently owns... although I'm hoping she doesn't miss the physical keyboard too much. I would investigate the Milestone, but I'm trying to narrow down choices here, not introduce more :-)

I didn't mention it to suggest it as an option, just to provide some context to my views. Other than these devices I have used a multitude of androids, and would think that 256 would be fine for her needs. Besides the fact you will really struggle to find a new Milestone for less than $300 , the HUGE downside is that for your daughter the device looks ........ very much like a business grade device. For me that's great, for her it probably translates to 'ugly, bulky and heavy'. So for her it would probably be no good anyway :)

Between the two you are looking at, they really are very close, though Wifi N on the Huawei is something that I don't think that has been mentioned yet that would be another good thing going forwards:
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=3516&idPhone2=3840

dclegg

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#523532 20-Sep-2011 14:13

Paulthagerous:
Between the two you are looking at, they really are very close, though Wifi N on the Huawei is something that I don't think that has been mentioned yet that would be another good thing going forwards:
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=3516&idPhone2=3840

Yeah, it hadn't been mentioned, but was certainly noticed by me :-)

Other pluses (some may have been mentioned already; my memory's hazy ;-))

- Front facing camera (for quick Facebook profile pic updates)
- Slightly smaller form factor
- Looks better
- Notification light
- Larger internal memory (512MB vs 170MB)
- Android v2.3
- Android customizations make it a little more iOS-like (which she is intimately familiar with)
- The wife prefers it (this benefit should NOT be trivialized :-))

In contrast, here's the pluses I have for the P500
- More RAM (512MB vs 256MB)
- Bigger battery (1500mAh vs 1200mAh)
- $20 cheaper
- Adreno GPU (couldn't find reference to a GPU for the X3)

Paulthagerous

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#523534 20-Sep-2011 14:23

dclegg:
Paulthagerous:
Between the two you are looking at, they really are very close, though Wifi N on the Huawei is something that I don't think that has been mentioned yet that would be another good thing going forwards:
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=3516&idPhone2=3840

Yeah, it hadn't been mentioned, but was certainly noticed by me :-)

Other pluses (some may have been mentioned already; my memory's hazy ;-))

- Front facing camera (for quick Facebook profile pic updates)
- Slightly smaller form factor
- Looks better
- Notification light
- Larger internal memory (512MB vs 170MB)
- Android v2.3
- Android customizations make it a little more iOS-like (which she is intimately familiar with)
- The wife prefers it (this benefit should NOT be trivialized :-))

In contrast, here's the pluses I have for the P500
- More RAM (512MB vs 256MB)
- Bigger battery (1500mAh vs 1200mAh)
- $20 cheaper
- Adreno GPU (couldn't find reference to a GPU for the X3)

So maybe you let her make the call, you relax because you know she has a good device, and if it's 'the wrong one' it's not your fault :)

Here is a question that no-one ever seems to ask here: What is your gut feeling? We geeks always take into account the specs, but have to remember that our gut feelings are of SOME (albeit limited) use lol :)

dclegg

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#523536 20-Sep-2011 14:26

Paulthagerous:

Here is a question that no-one ever seems to ask here: What is your gut feeling? We geeks always take into account the specs, but have to remember that our gut feelings are of SOME (albeit limited) use lol :)

My gut feel is that my daughter would prefer the X3. You know what? I think I'm gonna go with that. :-)

Thanks to all for their feedback here.

Paulthagerous

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#523537 20-Sep-2011 14:28

Nety

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#523572 20-Sep-2011 15:04

dclegg:

Other pluses (some may have been mentioned already; my memory's hazy ;-))

- Larger internal memory (512MB vs 170MB)

Sorry but as disucssed this is not correct. They both has the same amount of ROM. They both use that for putting the operating system and UI enhancements on so for both the user available internal memory is whatever is left after this. For the P500 it is apparently 170MB for the X3 it is simply not listed. It could be more it could be less.
However looks like you are going with the X3 so we can do a comparison once both girls have them ;-) I think you can not go far wrong with either phone for the money.

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dclegg

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#523583 20-Sep-2011 15:19

Nety:
dclegg:

Other pluses (some may have been mentioned already; my memory's hazy ;-))

- Larger internal memory (512MB vs 170MB)

Sorry but as disucssed this is not correct. They both has the same amount of ROM. They both use that for putting the operating system and UI enhancements on so for both the user available internal memory is whatever is left after this. For the P500 it is apparently 170MB for the X3 it is simply not listed.

I did see that, but obviously misunderstood what you meant. Back in my day ROM meant Read Only Memory. IOW not writeable to. I thought you were referring to the fact that both phones had the same area reserved for firmware etc, and not that part of this was also user writeable.

That was one of the frustrations I found when researching. Comparisons of different phones on the same site used different formatting for the specs.

In any case, the decision has been made now. Thanks for all your input.

Skolink

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#524302 21-Sep-2011 21:42

Can you let us know what the camera on the X3 is like compared to your other smart phones.

dclegg

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#524329 21-Sep-2011 22:45

Skolink: Can you let us know what the camera on the X3 is like compared to your other smart phones.

Will do... if I remember :-)

My daughter's birthday isn't until December 30th, so I won't know until at least then how it compares to my phones camera (iPhone 4)

Turbine

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#526387 27-Sep-2011 18:14

I bought a cheap Samsung 5800 for $250 awhile ago. It has 256mb ram with 170mb internal, with the firmware I use only 80mb is used by the OS. Runs anything I've used on it, including games as long as they don't require much in the way of 3d acceleration. The only times I've run out is when I run many 3d games in a row without clearing memory (white models). I'd say 256 is plentiful with a good firmware. With stock it might be borderline.

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