HTC Desire Z vs Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant (Bell) vs Captivate

[DR1980]

I'll be purchasing the phone off of a retail store or Kijiji, provided it's BNIB with receipt.

Basically, I want a smartphone that can replace my getting old and starting to hate Sony Ericsson G705/W715. If there's one thing I like about my W715, it's that I can text quickly and accurately with one hand without looking thanks to T9. I really want a Galaxy S but the freezing issues, dying internal SD, etc. that the Vibrant has got me scared. So far, the Captivate doesn't seem to have these issues but cosmetics, for me the Vibrant wins.

As for the Desire Z, it looks to be a pretty good phone as well with a QWERTY, but the Z-hinge and singal issues has me worried. My friend said that there were problems with it and if it broke, you got yourself two pieces of brick. Oh and I'm not a fan of QWERTY, but that's cus I use T9 on my W715. Yes I know there's Swype, but that still requires two hands and looking and texting.

Feature and quality wise, I believe the Galaxy S beats the Desire Z, but I'm not too sure about that. I think I read somewhere that the camera on the Desire Z is of poor quality compared to the Galaxy S. However, I rarely use these functions, and they say that the CPU in the Desire Z is actually faster despite being clocked slower. Not too sure what the graphics are like though, but the screen uses S-LCD as opposed to the Galaxy S' AMOLED.

So which should I buy, and why? And if anything I typed here is incorrect, feel free to correct me. Thanks

[Mix_SuG_n0iZ]

If you want the laydown, the processor of the Galaxy S is still faster than the one on the Desire Z despite both being new generation processors. This time, its mostly due to the clockspeed (1 GHz vs. 800Mhz) and the GPU (PowerSGX series 5 vs. Adreno 205). For that matter, both CPUs are faster than the old generation Qualcomm Snapdragon still used in many phones today, like Windows Phone 7 or the older Androids.

Screen wise, size and quality, the Galaxy S goes ahead, although the one on the Desire Z is no slouch either.

Battery size, Galaxy S has the edge 1500mah vs. 1400mah (its the same unit used on the Nexus One and HTC Desire).

Camera wise, the Samsung also has the edge here. The 5mp Samsung camera beats the 5mp HTC camera but not the 8mp HTC camera used in some phones like the Droid Incredible, EVO and Desire HD.

Build wise though, the Desire Z goes ahead. The Galaxy S feels cheap in comparison. I am guessing for all the goodies Samsung layed on the Galaxy S, it has to make a few compromises to meet a cost ceiling and it took the one where phone performance is least affected, body build.

On the other hand, the Galaxy S has Gorilla Glass on the front and I don't know about the HTC if they use Gorilla Glass.

Camera side, I would go for the Galaxy S. But the Desire Z does have flash.

Hardware wise, I say the Galaxy S has the edge. But when it comes to software, the Desire Z gets it beat. I feel that HTC knows Android best, having the first ever Android, and they know how to tweak it. The Galaxy S has some funny modifications on its own, like bloatware. UI tweaks, a funny secure file system that causes it to lag sometimes then go super fast. The update procedure is not as obvious as HTC which gets all its updates pushed over the air into the phone. I think with the Samsung, OS updates has to be done through the PC sync software like Kies. In any case, the Desire Z already starts with Android 2.2 but the Galaxy S is at Android 2.1 and has to update to that, which is coming soon enough. I do have to add the Galaxy S has become a very popular phone for ROM modders.

In my subjective opinion, the software advantages of the HTC Desire Z, a better Android execution, a better UI layer and so on, ultimately trumps the Galaxy S.

At least for now, I like to see how the Froyo update on the Galaxy S looks like, how it will perform and whether or not you are willing to wait for it, and put the effort to upgrade when it hits you.

[BettiBoo]

Thanks for your thoughts. It helps a bit on what phone to choose, and definitely leaning towards the SGS. You just get that much more with the SGS.

If only more phones nowadays support T9 like my W715...