Ask Engadget: Which Android phone should I get?
By Darren Murph 
posted October 29th 2009 9:02PM
posted October 29th 2009 9:02PM
Wow Chris, that's a pretty compelling story. Really engrossing. So much so, in fact, that we're sure you'll have no issue getting all sorts of helpful replies in comments below. Right, Android lovers? Right?"Listen, I am an obsessed gadget hound who needs some real help. I just switched to Sprint from Verizon about three months ago for the Pre. Mostly because they said that they weren't getting an Android anytime soon (ha!). Anyways, I like the Pre but Sprint in my area is spotty at best. I have been intrigued with Android and have had HTC in the past with some good success, so I went for the Hero about a week ago. Now, I miss my hardware keyboard and am thinking about switching to the Moment. After Chris's pithy review of the Moment it seems that may not be the correct choice either. So, I am still able to switch back to Verizon if I want and get the Droid when it arrives. Should I just trade up to the Moment when it comes out, see if I like it, and if not switch to the Droid? Or something else entirely? Help!"
I agree. 20% restocking fee worth it. Prorated monthly plan. Activation fee applies.
Well, wait and watch, as I will be doing (running cyanogen mod on my G1) ... once the droid is out, cyanogen and the various tech wizards will go to work on the droid, be assured, try to root it (hopefully verizon hasn't managed to gimp the ability to root the phone), and then very very soon instructions to root and mod the phone will be out and about on the internet..
Keep an eye on cyanogen's website here: http://www.cyanogenmod.com/
And also on this website: http://xda-developers.com/ and also www.androidcommunity.com
Get HTC hero or wait for next google own phone like G1 which will be announce soon.
The reason to get hero is htc sense and htc modified application is the most completed android user experience to far. Better than other brand or android original UI no matter android 1.6 or 2.0. And the most important is Hero will also have 2.0 update. After that, you get everything Moto droid shown in software part and plus HTC's nice sense ui and applicaiton.
The reason to get next google own phone is it's totally same as what you have in moto in software part but with more powerful Qualcomm snapdragon CPU and it's not CDMA version so if you can only use verizon or spring then you don't need to wait for this one.
Too slow for 2009. I need 666 htz or faster. Keyboards are so 2003
Get one that can completely replace an iPod touch with 85,000 games n apps.
This way u won't have to carry smartphone in left pocket n iPod touch in right pocket.
Preferably one with the best ecosystem docks 3rd party support steering wheel control integration. Good luck in your decision bro.
In real life, a product that has actually been used and has found some market success -- say for a year or 2 -- has considerable value. I want to see Motorola succeed but for most of us, the Droid is still vapor. Most of you talk like you've used the Droid for years. Gadget geeks -- I love you guys (and gals.)
Let's just hope for another decade or so of non-stop gadget innovation. Gotta love it!
Truth has been spoken.
Bloggers just jumpin on droid bandwagon in hopes it cn dethrone th top dawg of smartphones. Droid will be lucky to sell 30000 in first week. Blogger geeks are all talk.
I know, tell me about it. These android bloggers are talking up a storm, but after looking at recent sales reports you're right Word, it's going to take a lot more than just talk to unseat nokia. RIM is probably the only company on their radar and they have a customer base that's a 1/3 their size.
Watch the video in Engadget's hands-on of the Droid. It lags.
Skip to 8:05 in the video in this link. The Droid lags switching between home screens! http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/motorola-droid-first-hands-on/
The Hero is plenty fast. It benefits from its 288MB of RAM. HTC Sense is great - it makes Android functional.
Ergo, I would choose either the Hero or Eris, and since Sprint's plans are better and the look of the Hero is more aesthetically pleasing, go with the Hero.
Exactly. I'm sticking with 666 hertz processor 3 gs.
Everything out on the market right now is too slow for my standards.
I don't know what is the deal with the home screen (it might be the same bug that the Hero had initially), but app switching is noticeably faster on the droid and in general loading times for everything is a lot faster than any other Android phone I have seen. The home screen scrolling is pretty much the only place where I see lag (though it is very noticeable since the home screen is where the user is most of the time).
Hopefully they have a bug fix or something for the home screen.
sprint and hero are a no-brainer for the value-obsessed. droid is a no-brainer for the specs-obsessed. and waiting for the xperia or nokia or something else not yet on the horizon is a no-brainer for the style-obsessed.
title says 'android'
All in all I am having the same considerations. I got rid of the Pre for the reason it is a POS phone. I love WebOS but that hardware is junk. I baby my devices and it cracked in three places! It also started to do a little wiggle so I got rid of it. If Palm ever makes a phone that is decent in design I will probably go back and check them out. I'll probably only hold onto this Hero for a few more months and sell it for something else I may want. Heck, I'd just stick to the iPhone if it wasn't so expensive for the monthly plan. When they can have some competition it will be a bit more favorable for the consumer. I guess I'd probably switch to the Moment for the keyboard, but I'm alright with the software keyboard. If the screen were larger on the Hero I'd be happier. If the color depth on the Hero were better I'd be happier. I'm stuck in a place of what the monthly cost is not the one time cost. $15 a month or $100? Hmm... I'll live with the Hero for the Moment. :)
Oh man whoever you are I love you. Gave me the biggest laugh in a long time. We are soul mates
has anyone actually *used* a shole/droid yet? much less for day-to-day tasks? seems a bit premature to say anything definitive... all i'm saying is that this looks to be the about face from motorola's otherwise less than stellar track record, but lets use it for at least a week before we get fan boi on it.
yes. i have. it's amazing. i'd be getting one if i didn't have to switch to verizon.
Droid, hands down. All Android phones so far have been vastly underpowered and hence feel quite slow. Android is very cool but the hardware hasn't been. I have the Hero and it's so-so.
While the droid isn't out yet and no reviews available, all the "hands on" I've ready have been very positive, and it's the first Android phone I've seen that has "awesome" specs. Its speed will be on par with the iPhone 3GS, which is a very fast phone. Plus it has a high res screen (~800x400, whereas most phones as 480x320), along with an OLED screen for awesome colors and low power usage. Plus it's the only Android phone that's going to have Android 2.0 for many months, and it looks like an awesome update.
Also the Droid is underclocked so expect hacks to run the cpu speed to 800 mhz. The trade off will shorter battery life.
Droid has OLED? News to me.
You iPhone fanboys are the worst, you know that? If you like your iPhone, FINE - keep it. What do I care? You as well should not care if other people are interested in something other than the iPhone. I had the original iPhone for 2 years and a month. It's a good phone, ok? But it's also really boring. Don't talk to about 85,000 apps - Whoopee. I don't care about that. I'm talking about desktop widgets, real multitasking, and open development (e.g. apps can be distributed outside of the official marketplace). You don't get any of that on the iPhone, and for that reason, I'm bored as hell with it. So shut up already ok?
Similar Situation, only I am on Sprint w/ a Family Plan and can only switch if I start paying for my own service...Gotta say, I dig the free service so probably staying on Sprint. Going to make a decision between the Pre, hero, Moment. So far, I rank them in that order.
Well, I don`t know which to buy either, though I'm probably getting the HTC Dragon, the n900, the Sholes or a good ol' iphone 3gs, but the advice I could give you, is to just stop trying to win in an industry where you buy something, and 5 mins later it`s obsolete, get what you need, but stop trading your cellphones everytime a new one comes out, the time you actually buy what you need instead of the shiny new thing, you'll just live happier...
I'm not so sure about the DROID. In the hands on demo, the lady at Motorola said the software is final, and I noticed quite a few times where the touch screen was not responsive.
I would wait, probably until the reviews start coming in
So engadget is so lazy they dont answer the question themselves? THE QUESTION CAN BE ANSWERED ONLY WITH ANOTHER QUESTION : How Soon will The Moment get an Android 2.0 upgrade(and it is a matter of how soon... RIGHT SAMSUNG???!?)?
im in basically the same situation
I don't know how we can really help this guy, Chris. He did not tell us very much. He seems to prefer a physical keyboard but it does not sound like an absolute requirement. He says he can switch back to Verizon, even though he is only 3 months into a Sprint contract, but he does not say which carrier he prefers or if he is willing to consider AT&T or T-Mobile. There just is not enough information to make a proper recommendation. Everyone has just been saying what they like, not what is best for Chris.
Personally, I favor the Droid. My New Every 2 credit will become available on Valentine's Day and I am ready to ditch my enV Touch for something "smarter." A physical keypad is a must for me and I want the best hardware I can get. Switching carriers is not an option because of the cost. Almost everyone I talk to is also on Verizon.
On paper, the Droid seems to be the best phone on the market(when it launches). I will not say I love it or hate it without actually using it, but it has lots of potential. Luckily for me, I'll have a few months to watch it and see what actual owners are saying and play around with it in a store. Hey, for all I know, something better will be released in that 3 months after the Droid launch. Lets be realistic for a change.
xperia x3 is the one to rock with (out in a few weeks time by all accounts) or do what i intend to do and buy the htc leo and use androidonhtc.com :)
I still prefer HTC phones, so the Dragon
"Wow Chris, that's a pretty compelling story. Really engrossing."
May I suggest reading a book or two, they might just blow your mind..
seriously wtf?
All I can say is Chris has a lot of expendable income
Definitely Droid, Dragon or whatever they're callin it, or the xinfinity
Hey there! :D
I'm searching for an Android. I have an iPhone right know and I use it most of the time to listen to my music (Using the Speaker or a bluetooth earphones), so I need a Phone with at least 16gb of flash memory (and if is expandable even better), great battery and a few music keys would be great (Volume Control and Play/pause at least), even a 3.5mm headphones jack is necessary (For those moments when my BT headphones dont have battery).
Also, I need a Phone with flash, because most of the pictures I take are in dark places and I dont like the noise in my pictures, so a LED/"Normal" flash would be cool.
Other things to consider is that I dont like to have a fisical keyboard but it's not so important for me (Writing with the iPhone in landscape is awesome) and I consider that the iPhone screen is TOO SMALL!!
If you could help me would be awesome, thanks! ;D
Switching back and forth between two CDMA carriers is pointless if you want better cellular coverage. Sprint and Verizon have roaming agreements between them. Neither company wants you to know this, of course.
I was planning on getting the 1st keyboard android phone on sprint ( happened to be the moment) but since they wont let sero plans on any of the new android phones to date, and after seeing the droid, I think I'll pay the data upgrade for my verizon plan, since I'd have to anyway if I upgraded eprp on sprintand I'm keen on keeping my sero even if im banished to winmob hell
Why would anyone recommend the DROID when the hands on from Engadget staffers clearly state the keyboard (what he really misses) sucks and is far from ideal? Yes you have Android, but the guy seems fond of a good keyboard.
Chris,
Whatever device you choose should meet these requirements:
1) Does it get good coverage and speed where you live/work/play
2) Do the standard apps have enough robustness to do real things (e-mail/SMS/media/mapping)
3) Is build quality good enough to last the duration of your contract
4) Is there good content available for it (tunes/video/apps)
5) Is the plan within your budget
Personally, I think the best option right now is an ebay'd used iPhone that's been jail broken/unlocked for T-Mobile with their new pricing plans. (yeah I know this is an Android question, but I'm still not sold on droid until it's been in market for a few months)
Get them all money is obviously not an issue!!!
ok you say tmobile is the best for the buck . but which is the one that will not restrict you in internet usage i like to stream a lot and like to use orb. can the droid do this on verizon? or tmobile. my sprint does granted I dont like them very much but they are fast on internet speeds..
I don't think any of the carriers restrict data usage nowadays.
i think sprint offers the best bang for your bucks due to the fact that you get almost unlimited everything except for calls to landlines with their $70 plan. t-mobile is good if you purchase an unlocked phone and get a $40 plan + $20 unlimited web & messaging, otherwise it'll cost you $75/month (last time i check on tmobile pricing). vzw and att are both extremely expensive for smartphones.
I just got the Samsung Moment yesterday, and this phone is a beast. I wouldn't rely on shotty reviews, this will also be my 4th android phone and I have to say it is the best to date. It is very responsive and I've not had any problems with mine, it's lightning fast.
DROID, as soon as it comes to Sprint...
I will try and answer your question regarding the Hero vs. Moment directly I will give you a little background on what I am doing for my company and then sort out some of the difference that we have found important in our use of these devices. Keep in mind that I am coming to my conclusions as it relates to how our company needs to use the phones and what is important to us.
1. My company has been a Sprint customer since 1996 in So Cal. and have tried Verizon and SBC (before it was AT&T) and used T-Mobile for a short time also; all concurrent while staying with Sprint. For me Sprint works great in my area.
2. I have the multiple (5) line business service so we are looking to upgrade our phone for each of the lines.
3 We are looking to change from a Treo 755p and 2 Samsung M610s and a couple of older Sanyo's.
4. Currently we are testing a BB Tour, HTC Hero, and the Samsung Moment. We want to test the HTC Touch Pro 2 but since it will not have WinMO 6.5 until sometime in Jan 2010 it is not being considered at this time though we believe the form factor with the 6.5 OS would be the best for our team.
5. Of the 3 units that we are currently testing the Tour has the best email and calendar synching and easiest one handed operation. Also, the KB is the best of the group. It also allows for a much larger font size for those of us with weaker eyesight. It gives you the option to quickly discard your email by asking if you want to delete from the handheld or from both the handheld and server. This is a great feature since when our team members get back to the office or get home they do not have to go through all the Spam on their office computers or home computers again. The BB takes care of that. It's browsing and navigation and video functions are its weak spot. The fact that we have to Zoom in 3-4 time in order to be able to read what is on the websites is a pain.
6. Of the 3 units the Moment has the 2nd best KB and could have been better or best had Samsung made the keys a little higher instead of being so flat. The screen really pops and makes it really clear to see the icons and text. When tapping on an icon the response is the fastest of the 3 however, we noticed some laggyness when inputting or composing an email. Not sure if that is the fault of the phone or the OS or the implementation of the OS on the phone. Both the Moment and Hero have Android 1.5 OS. The Samsung does not put a skin over the OS like HTC does with its Sense UI and that is ok with us. We have setup the same email addresses on all 3 units. We wait until all devices have received the same emails. What is interesting is that when using the Tour, and we select to remove emails on the Hand Held and Server it will then also erase the emails off the Samsung once we open the emails on the Samsung. It is as if the Samsung re-synch's with the server and since the BB Tour removed the email the Samsung will remove it from its device once that same email has been opened on the Moment. The Hero does not do this. It seems to handle the email function a little differently because of the Sense UI.
For the record the Samsung will allow you to also erase the email from the server however you have to go into the setting and select the box. The problem with this is that you may be on the road and you may only need to erase the emails on the handheld and not the server but because the box is checked the email will be erased them on the sever and the handheld devise. It is not efficient to have to go back into the settings each time you want to change this function. The delete function should be designed more like the BB OS. I am not sure why the Android OS or the device manufactures do not correct this. If emails are a big part of your business and what you do for a living then the BB Tour is the way to go.
The BIG problem (for us) with the Samsung Moment, and it is probably going to be the main reason we do not keep it, is because there is no Synching software that will allow us to synch directly to our Outlook contacts and Calendar. I know we can just put all our data on Google and synch it that way but, as a business that is not large enough to use or maintain a MS Exchange server we prefer to synch directly to our desktops or laptops rather then put all our business data on Goggles server. For an individual user this would probably not be a problem but it is a deal breaker for us. Other than this one function we really liked the unit overall.
When tapping the icon to open the email app on the Moment it takes you right to the list of all your email accounts. (we have 10 email accounts) and that makes it much easier to select the account that we want to use. On the Hero when you tap on the email icon it takes you to a default email account and then you have to select the drop down menu to select which count you want to use. On the Tour you have to make 3 selections to get to the drop down menu to select the account that you want to use. This was t he BB Tours only real negative with email handling capabilities. The Moment is the better solution between it and the Hero and Tour for this one operation.
I call Samsung this morning and ask about future synching software and spoke to a supervisor and explained our position and she said that she had no knowledge of any synching software that was coming out in the near term. (We would prefer not to use a 3rd party app for this process).
In addition, while speaking with the Samsung Supervisor I ask if the Moment would support v.2.0 when it is released since HTC has already announced that the Hero will get v.2.0 once they have finished updating the Sense UI for it. Samsung said, there is no plan at this time to port Android v.2.0 to the moment; bummer because we like the unit in general.
The Moment also has a zoom in and zoom out feature as does the BB Tour gor viewing the web but the Hero has the multi-touch resizing feature which is really cool.
For speed and clarity and video playback the Moment is the best of the three mainly because the 800Mhz processor keeps the video flowing assuming your have a good connection. It's handling of email and its KB is 2nd to the BB Tour. The interface is not as fancy as the Hero but if you are into videos and web surfing then it is the better of the 3 units we're testing.
7. The HTC has the nicest looking interface of the 3 units and the form factor and weight are really nice, too. It also has a couple of nice widgets like the stock market tracking widget and the fancy weather indicator. The Moment has the weather channel icon but the Hero weather indicator has the cool factor (pun intended). Of the 3 units the Hero synching is second to the BB Tour. The problem with the Hero synching is every once in a while after I have properly disconnected the unit from the USB and then try and reconnect, the unit is not recognized by the software and I will have to reboot my computer. Also, as I mentioned getting to the email account that you want to use is not as easy as it should be. Also, when deleting your email we could not find an option that allows you to delete from the server. It would seam to us that HTC could provide this function in there Sense UI. Maybe it is an issue with how Android OS is programmed. If so then I would hope Google would fix this. We should not have to go through 4-5 steps to erase an email and we should have the option to erase it from the server and the handheld devise or from just the handheld.
Another problem we have discovered with the Hero is that it has a bug in the OS or the Sense UI that picks up the wrong info. For example, when travelling from our offices in Huntington Beach, CA to Long Beach, CA; a 15 mile drive the weather widget says we are in Lakewood (we assume it means Lakewood, CO since the time in the widget is changed) and the time is displayed in the widget is 1 hour ahead of the Pacific Time zone. I believe widget thinks we are in Lakewood, CO since the time changes to mountain zone time. The weather widget also only gives the city and not the state on readout but because of the time difference I believe widget thinks we are in Lakewood, CO.
I called HTC direct and they confirmed that that have an issue with this and said they will be in touch with me once they have the fix for the problem. Please note that the time on the unit itself is ok and displays correctly it is only the widget that is having the problem. Also, of the 3 units the Hero runs out of battery sooner (yes, WiFi is off) than the other 2 units with BB Tour lasting the longest. The Hero also takes the longest to charge up. If the battery is down to under 50% remaining then it can take up to 4-6 hours to fully charge back up. The Samsung Moment is ready in about 2 hours. Therefore, I can only speculate that since both units (Hero & Moment) use Android 1.5 OS, that the HTC Sense UI is somehow the problem. It seems that HTC is aware of this issue also. The battery life of all 3 units works fine for our needs but if you like to go online and browse and use video a lot then you may want to invest in a backup battery for the Moment and Hero.
The KB on the Hero took some getting used to. It worked better for us in the horizontal mode. In some areas the Hero navigation of the phone was better because of the Sense UI which allows up to seven different pages when scrolling horizontally. Also, it has some nice preset screen defaults which you might find helpful; for whatever reason the Hero was the slowest at receiving emails even though it was set to check every 15mins which was the same as on the Moment. Obviously, the BB Tour has the push technology going for it, so it receives email as soon as it arrives. We did like the larger track ball on the Hero over the BB and the track pad on the Moment. It just seemed like it was easier to control and place the insertion of the cursor where you wanted it. Our first BB Tour had to be returned because the trackball was bad. Since we have had the new Tour (3wks now) there have been no issues with the track ball but we still like the Hero better.
We really liked the form factor of the Hero out of the 3 units. Because of the customer service we are inclined to go with the HTC Hero however, because of the widget glitches and the email not being able to be removed from server and handheld we are going to wait and see what HTC does with Android v.2.0. We would also like to see the synching software work a little better.
As a company we will stick with the BB Tour for now with an eye looking forward to the HTC TP2 with WinMo 6.5 and HTC’s update of the Hero to v.2.0. Ideally perhaps we would like to see a TP2 form factor with Android v.2.0 and the 800 Mhz processor. Seems like a no brainer for some company to make a mobile phone with these specs. We will look at the Moto Droid on Verizon but with the exorbitant price of Verizon’s service we will wait to see what comes out on Sprint rather than switch.
Having called all three companies I can say that the BB people give the best service and HTC is a close second. The Samsung people though pleasant did not seem as enthused. The BB and HTC folk seemed like they were not just employees doing their job but real enthusiast who knew what was going on in the mobile phone space.
Until then, it appears to us that the Hero and Moment are not quit up to heavy corporate use though they make a nice personal phone for those whose primary usage would be social networking and browsing the internet. Just be sure to have a back up battery if you are a heavy used of video and browsing..
Hope this is helpful real world feedback for you.
i +1ed your comment without reading it, must be insightful if it's that long
Get the iPhone, seriously it has got to be the best one out there. Did you know that of all phones are actually based off of Mac OS X 11 Mobile? iPhone was the original Android, out before the G1 was announced...
Hee hee, sorry... I just had to.
Did I do a good imitation?
@PaulZChapel For some reason my faux tags were nullified... have to use brackets next time.
T-mobile rocks in terms of the rates.
If you get the loyalty plan unlimited talk time ($49) plus data ($25 or $35 depending on 400 or unlimited text messages) -> $75 or $85 unlimiuted everything.
If you are new customer, with the option to go w/o contract but buying your phone: you can get unlimited everything (talk/data/text) for $79.99 or for $70 (2 lines @ 139.99). This data is for Android phones!!
I was tempted to switch to At&T/iphone , a couple of times but the monthly plan rates, compared to my t-mo rates curbed it right away Happy with a highly-modded G1 but considering an upgrade soon enough - Nexus One!!?!
Dude, Verizon is getting the Pre on the 25th. If you like the pre, its gotten some hardware improvements and its gonna be great with verizon.