Friday, August 13, 2010

Droid charge vs HTC Thunderbolt vs Droid bionic

Droid Charge vs HTC Thunderbolt.
Keep an eye on HDMI port(none in thunderbolt - but has some dnla)
Check battery specs - as 4G will suck battery like anything - and you will need to turn it off. (driod bionic has around 1900 compared to thunderbolt of around 1300).
Supposedly you may get free mobile hotspot(temporarily) with droid charge.
However you need to be aware that both droid charge and thunderbolt have UNLIMITED 4G plan - which will suspended soon for newer phones(or for all new contracts around summer)
Droid Charge Cons: Made by Samsung(poor reputation in android phones e.g. Upgrades, gps issues), No LED indicator light, no dual core, 4G antenna is not as strong as thunderbolt(might require reboot)..
Thunderbolk cons: no dual core, bad batter life, switches between 4g and 3g,
supposedly drop wifi hotspot connections.
Check out both Phones at local Verizon wireless store - and if 4G is
working fine then go for Droid Charge. (you should however wait for dual core droid bionic coming at end of summer - but verizon is planning to remove unlimited data plan soon)
Cost: It should be around 200$ at amazon and 250$ at wirefly and 300$ at verizon.com .But there may be some memorial day deals/prices.

HTC EVO 3D vs Droid charge.
The processor speed on EVO 3D is 1.2 GHz Dual Core vs 1GHZ Single Core.
Hence EVO should be faster. Besides HTC phones are easier to use.
You have to watch out for low battery life in HTC phones.
While 3D viewing is cool - but as pointed by Nintendo(3D dsi) - it may not be good for eyes(on prolonged exposure). Its more of gimmick then of actual use(but nice to have).
HTC EVO will have 4G (wimax ) which will be slower the LTE 4G on Droid charge.


Iphone 4 vs Droid bionic vs Motorola Atrix vs Sony Ericsson:
Iphone 4 does not support 4G - and is only single core compared to upcoming Droid Bionic.
(with Iphone 5 coming soon - it will be easily outdated)
Also Droid Bionic should support hotspot capability.
Iphone however has terrific screen(easy to read) - and good battery life(compared to android). My personal view is that apps/usage are almost same on iphone.
 But iphone make it easier to resell and  has lots of  accessories.
Also games like Angry Bird(1$) or GPS maps with turn/traffic(5$) are free on Android only.
Unlike Droid Bionic and Iphone 4 (verizon) -
Motorola Atrix will be available on ATT(ie bandwidth restrictions) It has new concept of driving a dummy laptop if you need bigger screen/keyboard for surfing.
Sony Ericsson coming on Verizon would have an slide out gaming pad -and would
be compatible with many playstation games(however just like its 2010 model - dont expect it to get upgrades).

Droid 2 vs HTC Droid Incredible:
Droid 2 has physical keyboard - which is nice as unlike software keyboard they
dont hog the screen while typing. However most people(eg iphone users)
would consider it un-necessary as it adds to width of phone.
You should note Droid 2 has 5 mp vs droid incredible has 8 mp camera.
(of course mega pixels are not everything)
You can check if Droid 2 has lowest price
by using coupon code NEWDROID2 to Receive $25 off the DROID 2 at wirefly (add the coupon code at checkout and see if its still valid) and compare it with other sites.



Droid X vs Samsung captivate:
Samsung captivate is part of Galaxy X series by Samsung. Samsung
uses Super Amoled vs LCD in droid x. But ATT has 2GB limitation in 25$ plan
unlike unlimited data in verizons 30$ plan.
Samsung captivate also seems to have quad band GSM (implying easier
to replace SIM card globally). In short they are almost same - but its decision
of ATT vs verizon.
Samsung captivate Cons: GPS issues, NO optical joystick(also absent in droid x ), USB charge and use issue.

You should note that HTC phones are EASIER to use as compared with Samsung/Motorolla(due to HTC sense)


Droid X vs htc droid incredible:

In droid X vs incredible - droid X would have the edge - if you want bigger screen, (assuming it fits in pocket - with the bulge ie some people may need to wear it on their belt), hdmi output(compared to composite video output) , .. Also droid x supports 720 p camcorder (which should be the biggest diff./advantage now)..(there are rumours that incredible may get updated to 720 p recording - and will also get mobile hotspot capability). There are reports that droid x interface is sluggish.

The advantage that htc droid incredible may have  over droid x is "smaller screen",
amoled screen(Vs lcd) and HTC sense(ie easier to use).


You may have already noted that - Droid X - does not look pretty(especially weird at back).

Droid X and HTC incredible have 8GB internal memory (compared to only 1GB
for HTC EVO which would cause issue for apps till it gets upgraded to adroid 2.2)
Droid X also bundles 16GB of External Micro SD memory(which you can buy for
incredible/evo for around 30$ . Professional cost around 40) - unlike only 2GB(or none) for Incredible.

The processor speed in Droid X/Incredible is same(though droid x has some extra graphics support - but it has to render/display bigger area). Hence performance
should nearly be the same(varying slightly based on the type of page).
With htc incredible you can watch youtube on TV via the composite cable (but on WIFI ONLY - and hence cant use it while travelling). You can not watch youtube  on TV - with Droid X - per this article .
(In short - for both you may be forced to watch youtube on small screens - instead of redirecting it to big screen in your "bigger portable tv" - while travelling)

Droid X (and incredible ) do not have front camera(compared with HTC EVO and Iphone, but the front camera is anyway limited - in them - for video chatting  - to either wifi and/or proprietory apps). Currently neither - droid x or htc incredible or htc evo are on Froyo(android 2.2) .. They will get upgraded to android 2.2 after testing

The only known bug (impacting small users ) is flickering issue:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/07/droid-x-flickering-screen/

You can get more info. to not use doid x here :
http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/129305-can-you-use-captivate-while-its-connected-pc.html


NOTE: You can get more information on droid x top accessories/droid x buying tips here.

Update: droid 2  has now come with keyboard(1 G Hz , 5mp camera) :  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/21/droid-2-vs-droid-video-is_n_619257.html


You can check if Droid 2 has lowest price
by using coupon code NEWDROID2 to Receive $25 off the DROID 2 at wirefly (check if coupon is still valid at checkout) and compare it with other sites.

In droid 2 vs droid incredible - incredible may have slight edge due to better camera , htc sense(easy to use) etc..
However in droid x vs droid 2 vs droid incredible - i would give edge to droid x for specs
(droid 2 should be good for anyone who prefers physical keyboard eg blackberry users)


Sprint HTC EVO vs HTC incredible:
HTC EVO as a phone is a dream phone compared to Incredible(front camera, hdmi port, bigger screen - nice for watching video or surfing , hd camcorder and hd youtube videos). However if you want better phone (which however may be bulky  - and likely to have bad battery life ) -and are living in areas with reasonable sprint coverage - then buy the Sprint phone. However you should get a preview on Sprints 3G/4G before making this decision - and also note that some apps are exclusive(now) to verizon (eg skype mobile and nfl mobile) as mentioned below. But note - that to use sprint mobile broadband - you will probably have to pay 30$ over your data plan(around 30$ + 10$) - . Also you can can not use "broadband router" + phone at same time on 3G in HTC EVO - just like in verizons (but its possible to do both in 4G). You could get a review/preview on Sprints 4G network - bad reviews(but great design)- using device that already supports 4g like  Sierra Wireless Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot (Sprint) I have also heard that Spring has less memory reserved for apps(crosscheck). However this may not be a factor (as you can run app from SD card) - with next android 2.2 version.(but again  I have heard that this update may come slow on all HTC phones like Incredible or EVO  as they use customize android)


The battery life on droid incredible is not great(per expectations) - Sprint HTC
EVO with bigger screen(and broradband wifi router) and on 4G is likely to be worse. Also any disadvantage of htc incredible/android 2.1 (eg no automatic bluetooth voice dialing till 2.2 update or supposedly mediocre voice quality after few days) would apply to this phone.(as made by same company around same time frame)

Sprint HTC data plan is 40$(30 +10) .. Plus you may buy mobile router plan at additional 30.

Sprint HTC EVO vs DROID X
Comparing the features - HTC EVO has 4G capbility and front camera.
Hence if sprint vs verizon was not the factor - then HTC EVO is better phone.


APPS EXLCUSIVE ON VERIZON:
  • Also due to Skype agreement with Verizon - skype (over mobile ) may not come quickly to either Sprint or ATT(iphone) - http://gigaom.com/2010/02/19/skype-verizon-deal-more-details. But you can still use Skype over Wifi(eg home) on non verizon network.  The cool thing wih Skype mobile is that you chat with your contacts  - and when they call you - its over verizon network. Besides  all internation call that you make (eg 011*) will automatically go over skype(if you set it up)
  • NFL fans - this would be a deciding factor. Verizons paid millions to get exclusive NFL mobile app exclusively for verizon(it used to be on Sprint) - However it appears that VZ consumers have to pay extra to watch video.

OTHER TOP SMART PHONES(updated Aug 2010):
Check cnet latest top smart phones (in case this gets outdated): http://reviews.cnet.com/best-smartphones

OTHER VERIZON PHONES:
You should note that currently(temporarily) - Palm Pre Plus Phone (Verizon Wireless) by verizon also provides wireless broadband for free(ie for only 30$  additonal fee for - data on phone - you get broadband wifi hotspot). If you dont want to pay for data plan then Motorola Barrage V860 Phone (Verizon Wireless) or  Casio G'zOne Rock C731 Phone (Verizon Wireless)  are currently(june 2010) - the most popular choice.

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