Best of Symbian vs Latest Android: Samsung i8910 HD vs Sony Ericsson X10

[slitchfield]

With the arrival chez-Phones-Show, Spring 2010, of the Sony Ericsson X10, the very latest from the world of Android smartphones, I wanted to pitch it head to head against the current flagship in the Symbian world, the Samung i8910 HD. On paper, there's a good match here... Smartphones to your corners: Fight!

Read on in the full article.

[atmozphere]

I think the info in the table is wrong when it comes to the X10 keyboard. It's got both haptics and sound. It might be a bit cumbersome to enable those options but they exist. As far as I remember there were three keyboards to chose from, the Japanese one, SE one and the stock android one.

[brrip]

Heh glad to see AAS using custom firmwares in phone comparisons :P

[slitchfield]

@atmozphere: you're right I've found the options you're referring to. it's a bit of a mess, really - two separate keyboards, each with different options and it's not obvious which one's going to pop up in which app. Also, once you've enabled sounds and vibrations in BOTH keyboard dialogs, the end result is pretty horrible: over-loud 'dings' (by default - you have to go through hoops to adjust overall system media volume to reduce these) and very weak - and slightly delayed - haptics. In contrast, the i8910 HD's feedback is PERFECT: a nice typewriter sound-sample and well pulsed, well-timed vibrator etc.

[UKJeeper]

Steve 'sponsored by Nokia ()' Litchfield referring to the i8910 as "Best of Symbian", and "Current Symbian flagship".

[sound effect]UKJeeper falls off his chair in shock[/sound effect]

Now if only BBC licensed the Iplayer for the i8910....

Originally Posted by slitchfield

and well pulsed, well-timed vibrator etc.

It's really amazing what these new phones are being used for.

[richardyates]

iplayer works fine on my i8910 - in what way do you mean "licensed"?

[Ratkat]

It should be noted that on Android devices, that yes, you do have to install applications on to the internal memory, but also that application can store their data on the memory card, for example a game can store all its graphics data on the memory card, thus minimising the data installed to the internal memory

Wait a minute...did Steve SERIOUSLY just pit a hacked Symbian phone against a stock Android phone to compare?? Really?!

Wouldn't a better comparison be against the SE Satio? Or the Vivaz??

If you're starting to do that, why not pit every Flagship Symbian has against a Jailbroken iPhone 3GS?? Multi tasking, SSH, Bluetooth file transfer, MMS, Side loading of unofficial apps, Themes the list goes on and on Steve, if Symbian is as good as everyone here thinks, put a hacked phone against a hacked phone, and then see which one has the most "Greens".


Jeez, the bias on this site sickens me sometimes. I come Here for news on my potential next purchase, not "We can bend every rule in the book to make Symbian look awesome!"

Rant over?

What about Garmin for Samsung, it's good as the stand-alone gps unit!?!?!?!

[buster]

Originally Posted by iFanboy

Wait a minute...did Steve SERIOUSLY just pit a hacked Symbian phone against a stock Android phone to compare?? Really?!

Wouldn't a better comparison be against the SE Satio? Or the Vivaz??

If you're starting to do that, why not pit every Flagship Symbian has against a Jailbroken iPhone 3GS?? Multi tasking, SSH, Bluetooth file transfer, MMS, Side loading of unofficial apps, Themes the list goes on and on Steve, if Symbian is as good as everyone here thinks, put a hacked phone against a hacked phone, and then see which one has the most "Greens".


Jeez, the bias on this site sickens me sometimes. I come Here for news on my potential next purchase, not "We can bend every rule in the book to make Symbian look awesome!"

Rant over?

Oh for God's sake, give it a rest.

I for one found it an interesting comparison. It was a good illustration of how a flagship Symbian device, given the "right" firmware, fares against a more recent Android device.

If you don't like the content here, why not go somewhere more to your liking and stop bothering us with your pathetic whining...? Or is your rant really over?

[slitchfield]

Oh, iFanboy, you've missed the point. I was only declaring the firmware I was using. 99% of the stuff in that column is also relevant to the stock i8910 HD firmware. Going HX wasn't a point you need to focus on for this feature.

[daos]

Input mechanisms - there are at least 2 different PORTRAIT keyboards for symbian 5th, which work wonderfully on Omnia HD/
Display. Since when transflective LCD is better then AMOLED, especially in contrast, color reproduction and battery saving?
GPS and navigation. As i wrote it before, GPS on Omnia is unbelievable. It gets fix on cold start in less then a second. And navigation software for symbian 5th is much more mature then for Android - Garmin, smartcomgps (ozi formats), sygic, ndrive, ovimaps etc, etc. And all work as a clock on Omnia.

[Dups!]

@daos

Have you seen the X10's screen?

Also, this AMOLED is better than TFT is unfounded, yeah, old school TFT but not what is offered currently. AMOLED has a sharper screen indoors but the colours are unrealistic whereas TFT has real colours. Outdoors the AMOLED is trumped hands down. Its real advantage is that it is thinner and conserves battery standby times.

I kinda understand IFan's argument, notwithstanding Steve's response, it would seem Symbian wins more often than not simply because this is a Symbian forum and thus full of Symbian supporters/fans.

I hate full touch phones but the X10 seems the better bet, I mean what's with comparing an HD phone with one that isn't similarly equipped? If this was a software comparison then what are the camera comparisons for? Why not include audio quality through headsets? The Sammy will be murdered in that department.

See, there just isn't going to be an even comparison unless it was Vivaz vs Omnia HD.

[brrip]

Originally Posted by slitchfield

Oh, iFanboy, you've missed the point. I was only declaring the firmware I was using. 99% of the stuff in that column is also relevant to the stock i8910 HD firmware. Going HX wasn't a point you need to focus on for this feature.

yeah, but it's hard to ignore that part considering that the stock i8910 firmwares are terrible in comparison to HX's releases, and that the so-called 'Latest Android' is running 1.6, when the Nexus one etc have 2.1 Seems like a rigged battle, no offence meant to you.

Even so, most of the items covered in the review aren't really affected by firmware, except maybe the camera.