Database Users

Galaxy S (Epic, Captivate etc) VS EVO Comparison and thoughts.

I just got back from the ATT store and did a head to head with the Captivate and my EVO. I had briefly looked at the Vibrant earlier this week but didn't have time to really put it through it's paces. I have a couple more weeks before I have to decide if I keep my EVO and I have been on the fence about keeping it or bringing it back to wait for the Epic.
I figured that I may not be the only one on the fence so here are some of my observations.
For reference, I am fully rooted, running Fresh 1.0.1 and Netarchy's over clocking, under volt, 55 FPS kernel 3.6.4. I was overclocked at 1.152 ghz (on demand 128mhz min) for the duration of the comparison.
SIZE:
I was surprised that the EVO and the Captivate (Galaxy S) were about the same size width and height. I thought the Galaxy S would feel much smaller. Even though the Galaxy was a couple mils thinner and and a couple oz lighter. The way the EVO is tapered at the edges makes me feel that the actual volume of these devices were similar. I would say they are in the same ballpark size wise. The larger screen of the EVO was very obvious. The Evo's screen has 15% larger surface on a device that was about the same size and I liked that.
PERFORMANCE:
1. MENU NAVIGATION: scrolling fluidity appeared to be more or less on par. There were a few times the Galaxy was perhaps slightly smoother with scrolling through menus, but both seemed to stutter occasionally. DRAW
2. BENCHMARKS: Linpack scores were about 7.9 on the EVO and 8.3 on the Galaxy. Obviously the Hummingbird is faster and with Netarchy's custom kernel you can assume that the Snapdragon is optimized for the best possible performance and battery consumption. I imagine once custom kernels come out for the Galaxy, the performance gap will widen. For now, they are pretty close.
Quadrant scores on the EVO was about 560 and the Galaxy was 850. I have gotten higher scores on quadrant with previous kernels. My EVO's previous scores were about 610 on 3.5.1. Netarchy might have dialed back the performance a bit or I might have been on "performance" in Set CPU. Obviously 3D rendering was vastly superior on the Galaxy S, no surprises here.
4. BATTERY LIFE: I ran parallel applications on both devices, running benchmarks, playing games, surfing the web and watching online videos etc etc. I would constitute this as heavy usage. Both displays were set to auto brightness and I would say that the brightness on the screen looked equal to me. Durring this time, the battery on the Galaxy S decreased by 10% and the EVO by 12%. This is not exactly scientific but leads me to believe that the Galaxy has a 20% advantage in power effiency over the EVO. This is despite the fact that the Galaxy is not running an under volted custom kernel. However I was overclocking the EVO. I am not sure if they would be closer if I was running at stock speeds.
I can't wait for the day where I can watch video's and surf for 10-12 hours nonstop so I don't have to think about conserving power.
SCREEN
1. Resolution: The Galaxy was clearly inferior. I discussed this in a previous post. Pentile screen technology deployed n the Galaxy means that true addressable resolution is actually 392x653 not 480x800. This was very noticeable to me in graphics, photos, video and especially text. I hate to say it but Steve Jobs was on to something with his choice of a high resolution TFT. EVO really wins for readability.
2. Saturation and contrast: The Galaxy is superior. It is a matter of preference if you think it looks natural or not but benifits of S-AMOLED were very obvious. Everything was clearly more saturated on the Galaxy.
3. Viewing angle: Galaxy wins again. Deviations from face on viewing produced lower contrast ratios on the EVO's TFT and a kind of greying effect. Viewing angles on the Galaxy were almost 180 degrees with no loss of saturation. Amazing.
4. Brightness: The Maximum brighness setting on the EVO was brighter and more vibrant than the Galaxy S. On minimum brightness the Galaxy was far brighter. I am not sure how these settings relate to power consumption but on Max I prefer the EVO. On minimum the galaxy was still useable in the brightly lit store, the EVO's min setting looked washed out and I wanted to turn it up.
5. White balance: EVO's whites look much better. The Galaxy S' whites look grey or blue this made it feel dirty or dingy to me.
Watching you tube on standard (not HQ) was much more watchable on the EVO than on the Galaxy. This might be a network thing, but resolution, size and even colors looked better on the EVO. I was surprised. HQ on the EVO blew the Galaxy away.
Anyway those are my impressions. I am surprisingly no closer to making a decision. With all the buzz surrounding the S-AMOLED screens I was expecting to be blown away by the Galaxy's display but in reality it was more of a draw. In many ways I felt the EVO's display was superior. If power consumption and processing power were equal I would say EVO. I guess what remains to be seen is how the developer community will embrace these Galaxy S devices and what kinds of perfomance/power enhancements can be applied to the Hummingbird with 45nm. Clearly the EVO has been embraced my the developer community and if Gingerbread can be shoehorned on to the EVO, it will, regardless of HTC's support (Cyanogen for example). I don't want to be left in the cold when Gingerbread arrives.
I will say one thing. The iphone 4's display looks amazing. I have no intrest in owning an iphone because of the limitations of the platform but they really nailed it. I want a device with a 4.3 inch screen, 330 pixel density, TFT white balance and S-AMOLED viewing angles and contrast running android please.

good write-up - seems neutral as far as opinion and also like you took your time. Was looking for a writeup like this, thanks.

violinbf said:
I just got back from the ATT store and did a head to head with the Captivate and my EVO. I had briefly looked at the Vibrant earlier this week but didn't have time to really put it through it's paces. I have a couple more weeks before I have to decide if I keep my EVO and I have been on the fence about keeping it or bringing it back to wait for the Epic.
I figured that I may not be the only one on the fence so here are some of my observations.
For reference, I am fully rooted, running Fresh 1.0.1 and Netarchy's over clocking, under volt, 55 FPS kernel 3.6.4. I was overclocked at 1.152 ghz (on demand 128mhz min) for the duration of the comparison.
SIZE:
I was surprised that the EVO and the Captivate (Galaxy S) were about the same size width and height. I thought the Galaxy S would feel much smaller. Even though the Galaxy was a couple mils thinner and and a couple oz lighter. The way the EVO is tapered at the edges makes me feel that the actual volume of these devices were similar. I would say they are in the same ballpark size wise. The larger screen of the EVO was very obvious. The Evo's screen has 15% larger surface on a device that was about the same size and I liked that.
PERFORMANCE:
1. MENU NAVIGATION: scrolling fluidity appeared to be more or less on par. There were a few times the Galaxy was perhaps slightly smoother with scrolling through menus, but both seemed to stutter occasionally. DRAW
2. BENCHMARKS: Linpack scores were about 7.9 on the EVO and 8.3 on the Galaxy. Obviously the Hummingbird is faster and with Netarchy's custom kernel you can assume that the Snapdragon is optimized for the best possible performance and battery consumption. I imagine once custom kernels come out for the Galaxy, the performance gap will widen. For now, they are pretty close.
Quadrant scores on the EVO was about 560 and the Galaxy was 850. I have gotten higher scores on quadrant with previous kernels. My EVO's previous scores were about 610 on 3.5.1. Netarchy might have dialed back the performance a bit or I might have been on "performance" in Set CPU. Obviously 3D rendering was vastly superior on the Galaxy S, no surprises here.
4. BATTERY LIFE: I ran parallel applications on both devices, running benchmarks playing games, surfing the web and watching online videos etc etc. I would constitute this as heavy usage. Both displays were set to auto brightness and I would say that the brightness on the screen looked equal to me. Durring this time, the battery on the Galaxy S decreased by 10% and the EVO by 12%. This is not exactly scientific but leads me to believe that the Galaxy has a 20% advantage in power effiency over the EVO. This is despite the fact that the Galaxy is not running an under volted custom kernel. However I was overclocking the EVO. I am not sure if they would be closer if I was running at stock speeds.
I can't wait for the day where I can watch video's and surf for 10-12 hours nonstop so I don't have to think about conserving power.
SCREEN
1. Resolution: The Galaxy was clearly inferior. I discussed this in a previous post. Pentile screen technology deployed n the Galaxy means that true addressable resolution is actually 392x653 not 480x800. This was very noticeable to me in graphics, photos, video and especially text. I hate to say it but Steve Jobs was on to something with his choice of a high resolution TFT. EVO really wins for readability.
2. Saturation and contrast: The Galaxy is superior. It is a matter of preference if you think it looks natural or not but benifits of S-AMOLED were very obvious. Everything was clearly more saturated on the Galaxy.
3. Viewing angle: Galaxy wins again. Deviations from face on viewing produced lower contrast ratios on the EVO's TFT and a kind of greying effect. Viewing angles on the Galaxy were almost 180 degrees with no loss of saturation. Amazing.
4. Brightness: The Maximum brighness setting on the EVO was brighter and more vibrant than the Galaxy S. On minimum brightness the Galaxy was far brighter. I am not sure how these settings relate to power consumption but on Max I prefer the EVO. On minimum the galaxy was still useable in the brightly lit store, the EVO's min setting looked washed out and I wanted to turn it up.
5. White balance: EVO's whites look much better. The Galaxy S' whites look grey or blue this made it feel dirty or dingy to me.
Watching you tube on standard (not HQ) was much more watchable on the EVO than on the Galaxy. This might be a network thing, but resolution and colors and size looked better on the EVO. I was surprised. HQ on the EVO blew the Galaxy away.
Anyway those are my impressions. I am surprisingly no closer to making a decision. With all the buzz surrounding the S-AMOLED screens I was expecting to be blown away by the Galaxy's display but in reality it was more of a draw. In many ways I felt the EVO's display was superior. If power consumption and processing power were equal I would say EVO. I guess what remains to be seen is how the developer community will embrace these Galaxy S devices and what kinds of perfomance/power enhancements can be applied to the Hummingbird with 45nm. I don't want to be left in the cold when Gingerbread arrives.
I will say one thing. The iphone 4's display looks amazing. I have no intrest in owning an iphone because of the limitations of the platform but they really nailed it. I want a device with a 4.3 inch screen, 330 pixel density, TFT white balance and S-AMOLED viewing angles and contrast running android please.
OK, well, if you actually made it through all that...do you have any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that detailed comparison post, you'll have to be patient for those specs but no doubt better devices are coming..
The iPhone 4's display is indeed amazing but personally left me wanting a bigger screen (even more so than on the 3gs) & then you would have to accept its platform-network..
I still would like to check out the upcoming Samsung Beam (although I wish it had a faster processor & larger screen, I'm quite curious to see its built-in projector in person).
If you can wait until the end of the year you'll likely have a better idea of the best near-future devices otherwise the EVO with 2.2 is the most appealing to me at present.
BTW, anyone still think official Froyo 2.2 on EVO is going to happen in July?

SMARTPHONEPC said:
Thanks for that detailed comparison post, you'll have to be patient for those specs but no doubt better devices are coming..
The iPhone 4's display is indeed amazing but personally left me wanting a bigger screen (even more so than on the 3gs) & then you would have to accept its platform-network..
I still would like to check out the upcoming Samsung Beam (although I wish it had a faster processor & larger screen, I'm quite curious to see its built-in projector in person).
If you can wait until the end of the year you'll likely have a better idea of the best near-future devices otherwise the EVO with 2.2 is the most appealing to me at present.
BTW, anyone still think official Froyo 2.2 on EVO is going to happen in July?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, they did release the source fairly quickly (about a month or two after launch, idk exactly since I got my evo a week before the launch), and both sprint and htc said we should have it in july. I guess I'll wait until the 31st to make any solid predictions, but to me the release date is still up in the air.
btw- Great review. Was interested in the galaxy because of its performance but i'd rather have better looking movies than games so the evo's still on top...for now lol.

SMARTPHONEPC said:
Thanks for that detailed comparison post, you'll have to be patient for those specs but no doubt better devices are coming..
The iPhone 4's display is indeed amazing but personally left me wanting a bigger screen (even more so than on the 3gs) & then you would have to accept its platform-network..
I still would like to check out the upcoming Samsung Beam (although I wish it had a faster processor & larger screen, I'm quite curious to see its built-in projector in person).
If you can wait until the end of the year you'll likely have a better idea of the best near-future devices otherwise the EVO with 2.2 is the most appealing to me at present.
BTW, anyone still think official Froyo 2.2 on EVO is going to happen in July?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree about the iphone's screen size. It is just a little too small for 2010. The clarity however is really compelling. It is the first time I have been able to read text on web pages without zooming. Browsing and reading text is probably what I do the most on my phone, even more than making calls.
The Beam looks cool! I haven't seen that yet. The projector could be really useful for business presentations and also movie watching. No need for a TV or HDMI out when you can just project Avatar on the wall! Contrast and brightness seems a bit low.
I don't now about official Froyo in July. HTC has said before the end of the year. Sense integration will take some time since it permeates Andoid extensively. I have this feeling that the Epic might be released with Froyo in late August early September. Samsung's Touch Wiz seems less pervasive than Sense and Samung seems hellbent on taking down HTC. Samsung has said Froyo will be available on Galaxy S phones in Korea in early August. I will be happy with Cyanogen 6 which should be any day now.

violinbf said:
I agree about the iphone's screen size. It is just a little too small for 2010. The clarity however is really compelling. It is the first time I have been able to read text on web pages without zooming. Browsing and reading text is probably what I do the most on my phone, even more than making calls.
The Beam looks cool! I haven't seen that yet. The projector could be really useful for business presentations and also movie watching. No need for a TV or HDMI out when you can just project Avatar on the wall! Contrast and brightness seems a bit low.
I don't now about official Froyo in July. HTC has said before the end of the year. Sense integration will take some time since it permeates Andoid extensively. I have this feeling that the Epic might be released with Froyo in late August early September. Samsung's Touch Wiz seems less pervasive than Sense and Samung seems hellbent on taking down HTC. Samsung has said Froyo will be available on Galaxy S phones in Korea in early August. I will be happy with Cyanogen 6 which should be any day now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I hope the iPhone 4 screen will motivate competitors to raise their bar but its awesome text clarity still seems tiny sans zooming regardless of its legibility so I'm hoping for larger screens. I was also disappointed with how weak the iPhone 4 speaker seemed. Didn't seem to compare to the EVO's speaker. The Samsung Beam apparently has "65 decibel" stereo speakers..
Here is a much longer (11 min) Samsung Beam video & I've seen other videos showing off annotated powerpoint slideshows & projection capabilities. Here is the Samsung link for its Beam model. Again I wish they put in a faster processor & larger screen but they claim up to 50" projected (a viewing size of five to 50 [email protected] meters) !
I prefer Launcher Pro or even stock 2.2. to Sense or Touchwiz & I hope Cyanogen 6 delivers (EVO has all that inspired dev support that new Samsung devices have yet to materialize which is a significant selling point ATM)
- Let us know what you decide

If I was aware of the Captivate, I would have waited for it instead of switching to spring. It's too late now.
Captivate
+faster cpu and gpu
+better battery life
+much lighter
+thinner
+screen is better in some ways
+16gb internal storage
+AT&T network (what I came from) is better around here
+Might end up selling more Galaxy S phones and hence have better all around support
+bluetooth 3.0
Evo
+4g (although 3g on other carriers is often just as fast)
+kickstand
+better front and rear cameras (but probably not by much)
+great user support community
+larger screen for the real estate
I'd like to see some solid reviews but I would call the Captivate a winner. I mainly bought the evo because it was the first android phone with supposedly a quality camera. Unfortunately, that hasn't proven true. If the camera isn't going to be all that good, I would prefer to have something that is better in most other ways.

Minjin said:
If I was aware of the Captivate, I would have waited for it instead of switching to spring. It's too late now.
Evo
+4g (although 3g on other carriers is often just as fast)
+kickstand
+better front and rear cameras (but probably not by much)
+great user support community
+larger screen for the real estate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please show me a carrier that gets 4 Mbps on 3G.
Even so, that won't be a plus once the Epic is out.... but then that phone alone has its own set of pros and cons.

deleted...............

Every single one Ive seen has been way way way to blue tint

hydralisk said:
Please show me a carrier that gets 4 Mbps on 3G.
Even so, that won't be a plus once the Epic is out.... but then that phone alone has its own set of pros and cons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've pulled 4-4.4 Mbps on AT&T 3G on a 3GS (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area in PA). T-Mobile's 3G can also pull those speeds in certain areas (ones upgraded to 21Mbps).

These Galaxy S phones look like great devices. But I keep saying, I'm gonna have to wait for the next Galaxy S generation to see if Samsung actually starts supporting their devices (and see how big the community for their devices grows) before I jump from an HTC android device.
I'm gonna head to T-Mobile tomorrow just to play around with a Vibrant though. I'm really looking forward to it! The new TouchWiz (though kind of an eyesore) has some really cool features that I wish HTC would come stock on Android (or be added into Sense).
The lower resolution is a bit of a bummer but does the S-AMOLED screen make up for it even the slightest? After playing with my cousin's iPhone 4, I noticed that even though the screen is very sharp and crisp, it's only noticeable when it's up close right in your face. When held at regular viewing length, the screen really looks no different than my EVO. In fact, my cousin even admitted that he preferred the EVO at regular viewing length because the screen was bigger and easier to read.
Hopefully other companies do what Apple decided not to do and put that high resolution to good use on a large 4 inch+ screen.

hydralisk said:
Please show me a carrier that gets 4 Mbps on 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile: 6.10 down / 1.29 up using Speedtest.net's Android app on the Samsung Vibrant yesterday (7/26) in Brooklyn, NY.
4.82 and 5.00 down speeds achieved within the same 5 minutes in the same spot (in case the 6.10 was a fluke).

A few things:
The screens on the different galaxy s models look different when compared side by side so you will have to wait for the epic too actually see what it will look like.
Nand on the other devices is partitioned in a ****ty way so speed can be an issue with the s in some ways. The epic should not have those issues with only 1gb.
The evo, hacked, is at their peak of its power so comparing it to a stock unit isn't fair.

SMARTPHONEPC said:
Yeah I hope the iPhone 4 screen will motivate competitors to raise their bar but its awesome text clarity still seems tiny sans zooming regardless of its legibility so I'm hoping for larger screens. I was also disappointed with how weak the iPhone 4 speaker seemed. Didn't seem to compare to the EVO's speaker. The Samsung Beam apparently has "65 decibel" stereo speakers..
Here is a much longer (11 min) Samsung Beam video & I've seen other videos showing off annotated powerpoint slideshows & projection capabilities. Here is the Samsung link for its Beam model. Again I wish they put in a faster processor & larger screen but they claim up to 50" projected (a viewing size of five to 50 [email protected] meters) !
I prefer Launcher Pro or even stock 2.2. to Sense or Touchwiz & I hope Cyanogen 6 delivers (EVO has all that inspired dev support that new Samsung devices have yet to materialize which is a significant selling point ATM)
- Let us know what you decide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not trying to threadjack, but the beam... the projector is niche, but it kinda makes me feel funny in my pants. not for sprint though, so we'll have to wait for at least a year for something like that in the u.s.

I really only want a powervgx gpu because those phones are going to have the best gaming experience. Adreno's hardware is nothing to turn your nose up at, and they can draw like 22M triangles/second but their fillrate leaves something to be desired.
The bottom line is to get games to run optimally on any gpu, they have to be configured to run with your gpu. The fact that the iphone has a powervgx, means that the droidx, samsung galaxy, and any other phone with a powervgx will by default have a smoother, more compatible gaming experience out of the box.
That and qualcomm won't give us any decent drivers for the adreno. I wish they would just OS their userland drivers and let the community show off the muscle of the adreno.

ohmyggg said:
T-Mobile: 6.10 down / 1.29 up using Speedtest.net's Android app on the Samsung Vibrant yesterday (7/26) in Brooklyn, NY.
4.82 and 5.00 down speeds achieved within the same 5 minutes in the same spot (in case the 6.10 was a fluke).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Proof with screen shots then, cause I don't believe that.
Sent from my EVO using XDA App

deprydation said:
Proof with screen shots then, cause I don't believe that.
Sent from my EVO using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mo really can get those speeds.
To the person who said 4mbps on AT&T, you're either reading (holding? ) it wrong, or you're a troll. Unless you're in Chicago (their only 7.2 market so far) you physically can't get above 3.2mbps. The best I ever got on AT&T is 2.8mbps

deprydation said:
Proof with screen shots then, cause I don't believe that.
Sent from my EVO using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See 7/26 results from 9:04, 9:08, and 9:09am.
View attachment 368815

Anyone switch from the Epic?

I have had an Epic since launch and i do love the phone. The battery life isn't the greatest and the keyboard misses keys, but i do love the screen, camera and GPU.
I have the opportunity to switch to a Shift if i please, so i'm wondering if anyone has switched from the Epic and if they life the Shift better and why, and also what they don't like better.
The FFC is no issue for me, and i do understand the screen is a downgrade and so is the camera (just slightly though).
I'm looking for feedback on how the battery compares, any lag, keyboard, responsiveness, etc.
Thanks

I would suggest reading through here

BrandoKC said:
I would suggest reading through here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read that, it includes the Evo as well. I'm looking for answers to my questions about the comparisons.

I switched from an Epic to a Shift (w/i my 30 days) and let me say I for one am more satisfied. It is completely personal preference, I do not use a FFC for anything and do not play any games really and preferred the portability. The Epic would be the choice if you play a lot of games but for me personally the 2.2 and probable support (i.e. 2.3) plus the smaller size pushed me in the direction of the Shift. Coming from someone who had a the Epic for almost 3 and a half weeks the phone of great but I just was worried that the lack of Samsung support for the phone would make the purchase seem dated in a few months.
Hope this helps!

mheat3 said:
I switched from an Epic to a Shift (w/i my 30 days) and let me say I for one am more satisfied. It is completely personal preference, I do not use a FFC for anything and do not play any games really and preferred the portability. The Epic would be the choice if you play a lot of games but for me personally the 2.2 and probable support (i.e. 2.3) plus the smaller size pushed me in the direction of the Shift. Coming from someone who had a the Epic for almost 3 and a half weeks the phone of great but I just was worried that the lack of Samsung support for the phone would make the purchase seem dated in a few months.
Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, mind if i pick your brain?
1) How does the keyboard compare?
2) Does it lag at times?
3) What battery life were you getting with the Epic and now with the Shift?
4) Do you miss the Epic screen?
Thanks!

1) How does the keyboard compare? about the same, although i rarely use the keyboard except for longer messages/emails
2) Does it lag at times? not in my experience so far
3) What battery life were you getting with the Epic and now with the Shift? about the same, with an edge to Shift (i got two days on my last charge)
4) Do you miss the Epic screen? at times (sunlight etc) but overall its not that big of a deal

zeravla531 said:
Awesome, mind if i pick your brain?
1) How does the keyboard compare?
2) Does it lag at times?
3) What battery life were you getting with the Epic and now with the Shift?
4) Do you miss the Epic screen?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am the "only" one who seems to have a slow shift. I could ramble more but I will stick to the questions asked and answer them from the experience I've received with my phone.
1. I make less mistakes typing on the shift hardware keyboard.
2. Yes. Comparing it to evo and epic, yes.
3. Honestly, I don't remember anything that makes a major difference in battery life between the two that would stand out (except for one thing). I can charge the shift and use it and the battery level will increase. I cannot do the same with the epic. The shift seems, notice I said seems, to take less time to fully charge than the epic.
4. I miss the epic's larger screen. The colors were bright and the blacks were definitely black. Comparing either htc to the epic, the htc's colors look blah and washed out. They aren't really but the colors on the epic are vibrant, dare I say exaggerated, when compared to whatever in real life. The epic screen is definitely in the eye candy category.
Most of the other shift owners out there will probably disagree with me. It's kinda like windows. With a fresh install, or straight out of the box, that's the fastest its ever going to run. From that point on, its all downhill. The more you install on it, the slower it will get. That is just my opinion.

I had an epic from launch and my wife has a shift. The screen is really not that much of a downgrade except in terms of size. Its very quick and will only get faster once oc kernels. Personally I jumped to the evo because I like the big screen but that is just a preference thing.
As to the keyboard it is light years ahead of the samsung. The only issue I've had is that with a case on hitting the top row can be a little difficult but then again I have fat fingers. My wife absolutely loves the phone and I would readily recommend it to anyone who either thinks the evo is too big or wants a physical keyboard.
I do not miss the screen at all. Finally I was getting 28 hours on bonsai4all with the epic. My wife spends a lot of time on facebook and browsing the web and its generally around 20% when she plugs it in at night so its pretty decent. It does charge significantly slower than my evo or the epic but if you charge it over night you'll never notice.
Sent from my cm7 Evo 4G!

Between the Samsung Epic and the HTC EVO Shift 4G, I would recommend the Epic. Samsung already has an FroYo 2.2.1 update in place. The push back comes from Sprint as they the update is still being reviewed by their QA/QC team so FroYo 2.2.1 is not just a dream for those who have the Samsung Epic. The Epic has Corning's Gorilla Glass instead of regular glass like on the HTC EVO Shift 4G. The Gorilla Glass is resistant to not only scratching, but cracking and shattering if dropped. A drop from 1 meter on to a non cushioned surface such as carpeting will have you kissing your LCD on the HTC EVO Shift 4G goodbye. You also get a SAMOLED screen which has a more vivid display of colors, microSD 8x larger on the Samsung Epic, $50 worth of free movie/television episode rentals as well as a CPU which is still faster than the one in the HTC EVO Shift 4G which is a 2nd generation CPU for the Snapdragon. I personally feel the $50 difference more for the Samsung Epic over the HTC EVO Shift 4G is worth it.

wireless.praying.mantis said:
Between the Samsung Epic and the HTC EVO Shift 4G, I would recommend the Epic. Samsung already has an FroYo 2.2.1 update in place. The push back comes from Sprint as they the update is still being reviewed by their QA/QC team so FroYo 2.2.1 is not just a dream for those who have the Samsung Epic. The Epic has Corning's Gorilla Glass instead of regular glass like on the HTC EVO Shift 4G. The Gorilla Glass is resistant to not only scratching, but cracking and shattering if dropped. A drop from 1 meter on to a non cushioned surface such as carpeting will have you kissing your LCD on the HTC EVO Shift 4G goodbye. You also get a SAMOLED screen which has a more vivid display of colors, microSD 8x larger on the Samsung Epic, $50 worth of free movie/television episode rentals as well as a CPU which is still faster than the one in the HTC EVO Shift 4G which is a 2nd generation CPU for the Snapdragon. I personally feel the $50 difference more for the Samsung Epic over the HTC EVO Shift 4G is worth it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree entirely. While the update may not be a dream, it is indicative of the kind of support samsung has for their devices and for a top-of-the-line phone to be A) Released without the most recent OS Update and B) Go more than four months without being updated is just pathetic and it doesn't bode well for a Gingerbread update which is again pathetic. With Samsung's showing at CES its clear that the already released SGS devices are a distant memory in their minds which is sickening. I will never and I repeat never buy another Samsung product after how I felt treated by their customer support.
As for the Hummingbird processor being faster you are only partially correct. The 800MHz processor in the Shift is underclocked to that speed and has been successfully overclocked to a stable 1.9GHz whereas nothing similar has been done on the Epic (people who bring up the supposed 1.6GHz achieved on the epic was not real) and have more than doubled the scores the Epic or any other currently released device has ever achieved in any benchmark. The one thing the Epic and any Hummingbird based phone has the upper hand in is graphics processing and I will admit that it is leaps and bounds ahead of any other processor on the market in that aspect. But as I know no one who uses their phone as a serious gaming platform its a non-issue.
Finally, as to the screens: I sold TVs for quite a while. I can pick out the difference between a Samsung first gen LED TV and a second gen. I can tell you within a reasonable margin of error the color contrast ratio on any television (by reasonable I mean within say a hundred on a lower end tv and within a few thousand on the high end LEDs). I can look at a TV and tell you how well the color is calibrated in it within a few images.
Can I see the difference between the SAMOLED and the SLCD? Yes, I can. But even to my very trained eyes it is negligible. Very negligible. My wife, a person who cannot tell you if we have a LED, LCD, or Plasma television despite being with me when we bought it can't tell the difference at all.
And the gorilla glass? Yes its strong. But if you drop your phone, bad things happen. Period. If you worry about dropping your phone, save the $50 you would waste on an absolute POS and get an Otterbox case or something in that vein. I can promise you'll be much happier.
~~EDIT~~
I just noticed your 'mistake' in the spelling of shift. You've been reported for cursing and trolling.

kenvan19 said:
I disagree entirely. While the update may not be a dream, it is indicative of the kind of support samsung has for their devices and for a top-of-the-line phone to be A) Released without the most recent OS Update and B) Go more than four months without being updated is just pathetic and it doesn't bode well for a Gingerbread update which is again pathetic. With Samsung's showing at CES its clear that the already released SGS devices are a distant memory in their minds which is sickening. I will never and I repeat never buy another Samsung product after how I felt treated by their customer support.
As for the Hummingbird processor being faster you are only partially correct. The 800MHz processor in the Shift is underclocked to that speed and has been successfully overclocked to a stable 1.9GHz whereas nothing similar has been done on the Epic (people who bring up the supposed 1.6GHz achieved on the epic was not real) and have more than doubled the scores the Epic or any other currently released device has ever achieved in any benchmark. The one thing the Epic and any Hummingbird based phone has the upper hand in is graphics processing and I will admit that it is leaps and bounds ahead of any other processor on the market in that aspect. But as I know no one who uses their phone as a serious gaming platform its a non-issue.
Finally, as to the screens: I sold TVs for quite a while. I can pick out the difference between a Samsung first gen LED TV and a second gen. I can tell you within a reasonable margin of error the color contrast ratio on any television (by reasonable I mean within say a hundred on a lower end tv and within a few thousand on the high end LEDs). I can look at a TV and tell you how well the color is calibrated in it within a few images.
Can I see the difference between the SAMOLED and the SLCD? Yes, I can. But even to my very trained eyes it is negligible. Very negligible. My wife, a person who cannot tell you if we have a LED, LCD, or Plasma television despite being with me when we bought it can't tell the difference at all.
And the gorilla glass? Yes its strong. But if you drop your phone, bad things happen. Period. If you worry about dropping your phone, save the $50 you would waste on an absolute POS and get an Otterbox case or something in that vein. I can promise you'll be much happier.
~~EDIT~~
I just noticed your 'mistake' in the spelling of shift. You've been reported for cursing and trolling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concur -_-
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

kenvan19 said:
I disagree entirely. While the update may not be a dream, it is indicative of the kind of support samsung has for their devices and for a top-of-the-line phone to be A) Released without the most recent OS Update and B) Go more than four months without being updated is just pathetic and it doesn't bode well for a Gingerbread update which is again pathetic. With Samsung's showing at CES its clear that the already released SGS devices are a distant memory in their minds which is sickening. I will never and I repeat never buy another Samsung product after how I felt treated by their customer support.
As for the Hummingbird processor being faster you are only partially correct. The 800MHz processor in the Shift is underclocked to that speed and has been successfully overclocked to a stable 1.9GHz whereas nothing similar has been done on the Epic (people who bring up the supposed 1.6GHz achieved on the epic was not real) and have more than doubled the scores the Epic or any other currently released device has ever achieved in any benchmark. The one thing the Epic and any Hummingbird based phone has the upper hand in is graphics processing and I will admit that it is leaps and bounds ahead of any other processor on the market in that aspect. But as I know no one who uses their phone as a serious gaming platform its a non-issue.
Finally, as to the screens: I sold TVs for quite a while. I can pick out the difference between a Samsung first gen LED TV and a second gen. I can tell you within a reasonable margin of error the color contrast ratio on any television (by reasonable I mean within say a hundred on a lower end tv and within a few thousand on the high end LEDs). I can look at a TV and tell you how well the color is calibrated in it within a few images.
Can I see the difference between the SAMOLED and the SLCD? Yes, I can. But even to my very trained eyes it is negligible. Very negligible. My wife, a person who cannot tell you if we have a LED, LCD, or Plasma television despite being with me when we bought it can't tell the difference at all.
And the gorilla glass? Yes its strong. But if you drop your phone, bad things happen. Period. If you worry about dropping your phone, save the $50 you would waste on an absolute POS and get an Otterbox case or something in that vein. I can promise you'll be much happier.
~~EDIT~~
I just noticed your 'mistake' in the spelling of shift. You've been reported for cursing and trolling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, I will never buy another Samsung phone due to the issues we've had with the Moment.
kenvan19 said:
~~EDIT~~
I just noticed your 'mistake' in the spelling of shift. You've been reported for cursing and trolling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did I miss something?
**Edit**
I guess I did, I see it was edited by mod, darn it

zeravla531 said:
I have had an Epic since launch and i do love the phone. The battery life isn't the greatest and the keyboard misses keys, but i do love the screen, camera and GPU.
I have the opportunity to switch to a Shift if i please, so i'm wondering if anyone has switched from the Epic and if they life the Shift better and why, and also what they don't like better.
The FFC is no issue for me, and i do understand the screen is a downgrade and so is the camera (just slightly though).
I'm looking for feedback on how the battery compares, any lag, keyboard, responsiveness, etc.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am currently using both devices. I'm yet to have a full days use with the Shift but ill post back when I can give an honest and educated opinion. I've used the Epic for about 2 months so I know that phone fairly well.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

'Mistakes" happen.

kenvan19 said:
I disagree entirely. While the update may not be a dream, it is indicative of the kind of support samsung has for their devices and for a top-of-the-line phone to be A) Released without the most recent OS Update and B) Go more than four months without being updated is just pathetic and it doesn't bode well for a Gingerbread update which is again pathetic. With Samsung's showing at CES its clear that the already released SGS devices are a distant memory in their minds which is sickening. I will never and I repeat never buy another Samsung product after how I felt treated by their customer support.
As for the Hummingbird processor being faster you are only partially correct. The 800MHz processor in the Shift is underclocked to that speed and has been successfully overclocked to a stable 1.9GHz whereas nothing similar has been done on the Epic (people who bring up the supposed 1.6GHz achieved on the epic was not real) and have more than doubled the scores the Epic or any other currently released device has ever achieved in any benchmark. The one thing the Epic and any Hummingbird based phone has the upper hand in is graphics processing and I will admit that it is leaps and bounds ahead of any other processor on the market in that aspect. But as I know no one who uses their phone as a serious gaming platform its a non-issue.
Finally, as to the screens: I sold TVs for quite a while. I can pick out the difference between a Samsung first gen LED TV and a second gen. I can tell you within a reasonable margin of error the color contrast ratio on any television (by reasonable I mean within say a hundred on a lower end tv and within a few thousand on the high end LEDs). I can look at a TV and tell you how well the color is calibrated in it within a few images.
Can I see the difference between the SAMOLED and the SLCD? Yes, I can. But even to my very trained eyes it is negligible. Very negligible. My wife, a person who cannot tell you if we have a LED, LCD, or Plasma television despite being with me when we bought it can't tell the difference at all.
And the gorilla glass? Yes its strong. But if you drop your phone, bad things happen. Period. If you worry about dropping your phone, save the $50 you would waste on an absolute POS and get an Otterbox case or something in that vein. I can promise you'll be much happier.
~~EDIT~~
I just noticed your 'mistake' in the spelling of shift. You've been reported for cursing and trolling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BTW...my "untrained" eye can definitely see the difference. But again...ill give my full opinion after a days use. Thus far the Shift definitely has its advantages.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

wireless.praying.mantis said:
'Mistakes" happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They rarely happen with such precision.
Sent from my cm7 Evo 4G!

herbthehammer said:
I am the "only" one who seems to have a slow shift. I could ramble more but I will stick to the questions asked and answer them from the experience I've received with my phone.
1. I make less mistakes typing on the shift hardware keyboard.
2. Yes. Comparing it to evo and epic, yes.
3. Honestly, I don't remember anything that makes a major difference in battery life between the two that would stand out (except for one thing). I can charge the shift and use it and the battery level will increase. I cannot do the same with the epic. The shift seems, notice I said seems, to take less time to fully charge than the epic.
4. I miss the epic's larger screen. The colors were bright and the blacks were definitely black. Comparing either htc to the epic, the htc's colors look blah and washed out. They aren't really but the colors on the epic are vibrant, dare I say exaggerated, when compared to whatever in real life. The epic screen is definitely in the eye candy category.
Most of the other shift owners out there will probably disagree with me. It's kinda like windows. With a fresh install, or straight out of the box, that's the fastest its ever going to run. From that point on, its all downhill. The more you install on it, the slower it will get. That is just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wrong. I just discovered that it was an unknown app that was causing my slowdowns and lag. I haven't figured out which one or combination of apps was causing the problems. I uninstalled just about everything I downloaded then I noticed a dramatic speed increase all of a sudden. Less is more. My shift is snappy like everyone elses now.

herbthehammer said:
I was wrong. I just discovered that it was an unknown app that was causing my slowdowns and lag. I haven't figured out which one or combination of apps was causing the problems. I uninstalled just about everything I downloaded then I noticed a dramatic speed increase all of a sudden. Less is more. My shift is snappy like everyone elses now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming the app(s) was nothing embarrassing, would you please share what it was?
Edit: just read your other post where you state you do not know.

Just bought the EVO Shift 4g and I still have my Epic 4g. My wife has the EVO 4g. I have got to say that “day 1” impressions on the little Shift are HIGH.
The display is not as big as the Epic’s or EVO’s, but the text is SUPER crisp, especially when compared to the Epic. The blacks and color contrast is better on the Epic but the difference is not too bad. It’s the texts that are not even comparable. The Shift wins hands down in that category.
Battery after one day is superior on the Shift.
Keyboard, despite the fact it’s missing the top row that the Epic has, is much better in feel and actually records EVERY one of my inputs. I was constantly having issues with the Samsung Epic’s keyboard not responding to all of my inputs.
Quality is a no brainer here. The Shift feels like one SOLID piece when compared to the Epic. The Epic's slider does automatically slide all the way to the open position with little effort, but is EXTREMELY cheap in its feel. Simply put, you know that the Epic is a slider and the Shift feels like one solid piece.
The Shift feels perfect in size when used as a phone. There’s a new concept! It is a phone.
Overall I am extremely pleased with the overall experience. I will continue to report back with the differences noted in the upcoming days.
One last thing. I can’t believe that this bad boy is only running at 800 MHz because it is as or more responsive than my Epic. Trust me, I tried ALL ROMs out there for the Epic and the Shift is definitely holding its own. I could only imagine what it will feel like once rooted with a solid overclocking kernel.

1) How does the keyboard compare?
The Shift wins hands down. Once you get used to the size difference there's no comparison. I've never missed a key whereas the Epic was notorious for that.
2) Does it lag at times?
Not in my experience. I've been using it for about 2 days consistently and while surfing the web, listening to music and bouncing between messages I haven't experienced any lag. Maybe its too new for that to be a factor.
3) What battery life were you getting with the Epic and now with the Shift?
Equivalent with the Epic being slightly better at times. I generally have music playing consistently thoughout the day. At the time I'm using both the Epic and the shift with the Epic being the device I play music on. Listening to music all day I was charging my Epic by about 8 pm after taking from the charger at about 11. I was charging my Shift shortly after that after a day of constant messaging and occasional internet browsing. I would assume music consumes more battery. But I haven't tried the same music listening rate on the shift yet.
4) Do you miss the Epic screen?
Yes but not enough to sway my thoughts either way.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

any suggestion for the next phone

I used to be htc fan and but now I am considering to move to samsung.
Nexus S seems a phone almost perfect.
but I really like a phone with big screen size from 4.3" to 5".
Any recommendation of a phone having similar quality/specification as Nexus S?
thanks.

I think you might have to wait for HTC to release their Pyramid handset with 4.3" screen and 1.2Ghz dual core cpu
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/03/htc-pyramid-emerges-from-the-mists-of-speculation-with-a-1-2ghz/

I don't recall the name of the device off the top of my head, but AT&T announced a Galaxy S variant with a 4.5" inch screen coming soon. That sounds like what you might be looking for.
It's called the Infuse 4g.

cheetah2k said:
I think you might have to wait for HTC to release their Pyramid handset with 4.3" screen and 1.2Ghz dual core cpu
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/03/htc-pyramid-emerges-from-the-mists-of-speculation-with-a-1-2ghz/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Want that phone. Want it so bad o.o
distortedloop said:
I don't recall the name of the device off the top of my head, but AT&T announced a Galaxy S variant with a 4.5" inch screen coming soon. That sounds like what you might be looking for.
It's called the Infuse 4g.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is of course the Motorola Atrix 4G which also has a 4.5in screen and is dualcore and has a gig of ram.

kenvan19 said:
There is of course the Motorola Atrix 4G which also has a 4.5in screen and is dualcore and has a gig of ram.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it's not SAMOLED Plus, or even SAMOLED (regular). If you're looking for something similar to the Galaxy S, seems like that would be a major part of what you're looking for, since that's the most distinguishing feature of the Galaxy S derivative phones. But that was an assumption I made, not part of the specific request of the OP.
I'm so hooked on SAMOLEDs that I can't imagine using anything else. The iPhone 4 comes close, but all those other LCD screens are just butt-ugly to me now that I'm used to SAMOLED. YMMV.

distortedloop said:
But it's not SAMOLED Plus, or even SAMOLED (regular). If you're looking for something similar to the Galaxy S, seems like that would be a major part of what you're looking for, since that's the most distinguishing feature of the Galaxy S derivative phones. But that was an assumption I made, not part of the specific request of the OP.
I'm so hooked on SAMOLEDs that I can't imagine using anything else. The iPhone 4 comes close, but all those other LCD screens are just butt-ugly to me now that I'm used to SAMOLED. YMMV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to feel similarly when I had my Epic 4G. But I got so fed up with it I finally traded it for an Evo and sure, I could tell it wasn't a SAMOLED but it wasn't as bad as I had thought. If a better phone comes along, I'd be more than willing to trade in the Nexus S. Its just a matter of the pros out weighing the cons (IE: something being so great about the other phone that it makes me forget about the lack of Google updates).

kenvan19 said:
I used to feel similarly when I had my Epic 4G. But I got so fed up with it I finally traded it for an Evo and sure, I could tell it wasn't a SAMOLED but it wasn't as bad as I had thought. If a better phone comes along, I'd be more than willing to trade in the Nexus S. Its just a matter of the pros out weighing the cons (IE: something being so great about the other phone that it makes me forget about the lack of Google updates).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. I'm not as enamored of the first in line for Google updates as most. It's the overall experience I want. Display is the most important to me, in terms of size and appearance. I'd have a tough time going for something where the blacks aren't the inky blacks of the (S)AMOLEDs, but some android phone with an iPhone 4 display of 4" or 4.3" and otherwise superior tech to Sammy's current offerings would certainly tempt me away.
I'm in no rush for dual core on my phone until there's actually an advantage in having it for the normal everyday stuff I do (email, text, web, some apps...not a big gamer here).
I tried an EVO for 30 days. Sprint service was worse than T-Mobile's, the "3G" speeds were slower than my iPhone and i9000 and Nexus One were on EDGE only. I didn't care for the yellowish tint of my screen, which separated after just 13 days. Never will go back to that one! I'm sure mine was just a lemon on the screens, but the Sprint service was being attacked by everyone at the time, and when I had it, 4G was just a random on/off testing thing downtown, nowhere near where I live and work.

distortedloop said:
Agreed. I'm not as enamored of the first in line for Google updates as most. It's the overall experience I want. Display is the most important to me, in terms of size and appearance. I'd have a tough time going for something where the blacks aren't the inky blacks of the (S)AMOLEDs, but some android phone with an iPhone 4 display of 4" or 4.3" and otherwise superior tech to Sammy's current offerings would certainly tempt me away.
I'm in no rush for dual core on my phone until there's actually an advantage in having it for the normal everyday stuff I do (email, text, web, some apps...not a big gamer here).
I tried an EVO for 30 days. Sprint service was worse than T-Mobile's, the "3G" speeds were slower than my iPhone and i9000 and Nexus One were on EDGE only. I didn't care for the yellowish tint of my screen, which separated after just 13 days. Never will go back to that one! I'm sure mine was just a lemon on the screens, but the Sprint service was being attacked by everyone at the time, and when I had it, 4G was just a random on/off testing thing downtown, nowhere near where I live and work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I left Sprint for all of those reasons, but I loved the Evo. It was miles better than my Epic and the screen was actually quite good, though admittedly not as good as on the NS or Epic. The one downside was that I am quite enamored with dark backgrounds and those just don't look as good on a standard LCD. So on the Evo I switched to colorful which was a nice change to be honest, considering how dark I keep my SNS for battery life.

Hey i got this from a dutch forum, but Samsung is gonna release the Galaxy S2 in a while, its suppossed to have a 4.5" screen with super amoled plus, so goodby to pentille technology, which means more sub pixels per pixel!
Here's the link, its in dutch so if you have any questions about the article i would gladly help!
//tweakers.net/nieuws/72430/samsung-galaxy-s2-heeft-4-komma-5-inch-super-amoled-plus-scherm.html

distortedloop said:
I'm so hooked on SAMOLEDs that I can't imagine using anything else. The iPhone 4 comes close, but all those other LCD screens are just butt-ugly to me now that I'm used to SAMOLED. YMMV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. Almost to the point where samoled has ruined things for me. Any new non-samoled phone I get, I'll be disappointed with how it's not samoled. I just can't get over how awesome the blending of blacks on screen to the screen bezel is. Truly epic.

jivemaster said:
I agree. Almost to the point where samoled has ruined things for me. Any new non-samoled phone I get, I'll be disappointed with how it's not samoled. I just can't get over how awesome the blending of blacks on screen to the screen bezel is. Truly epic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are looking for a phone that still works in AWS (1700+2100) band, then
Galaxy S 4G, might be the next best choice
T-Mobile site
http://galaxy-s.t-mobile.com/4G?uid=Discover_1_2

Thank you. exciting news. Just wondering when it will be released?
Fmbl said:
Hey i got this from a dutch forum, but Samsung is gonna release the Galaxy S2 in a while, its suppossed to have a 4.5" screen with super amoled plus, so goodby to pentille technology, which means more sub pixels per pixel!
Here's the link, its in dutch so if you have any questions about the article i would gladly help!
//tweakers.net/nieuws/72430/samsung-galaxy-s2-heeft-4-komma-5-inch-super-amoled-plus-scherm.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Just see the galaxy s II is out in show.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/13/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-official-tegra-2-4-3-inch-super-amoled-plu/
Hardware specification is quite good. my dream phone is a little bit bigger and a little bit higher screen resolution.
I really don't like the top/bottom black stripe. Won't removing them make the phone more compact? Honestly I would still prefer Desire HD's design. But HTC is a bit behind in hardware specification.

Galaxy S2, no orion

leaked specs from MWC, big surprise no orion on the samsung.
http://www.droiddog.com/android-blo...-2/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Last I heard, Samsung was going to Tegra chips, not Qualcomm. If those specs are true, I'll likely go elsewhere for my next phone.

This makes no sense... Adreno 205 is actually a downgrade from what we have.

Doesn't matter, never again am I getting a Samsung phone (I do however love the developers for putting such effort into being the software updaters of the Fascinate). Next phone is a Bionic, guaranteed.

s44 said:
This makes no sense... Adreno 205 is actually a downgrade from what we have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, at best, it'd be on par with what we have. The only thing that combo has going for it is multi-core.
TheSonicEmerald said:
Doesn't matter, never again am I getting a Samsung phone (I do however love the developers for putting such effort into being the software updaters of the Fascinate). Next phone is a Bionic, guaranteed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why? If they leave the phone completely open as they have done with this, devs will come on board and fix whatever issues there are. You can always fix the software side, but you can't fix hardware.

Unless Samsung makes their phones out of something a little more solid than plastic, and improves theirs GPS, call quality, and signal, Motorola is doing to have the edge in all these areas. Themes and custom roms are good enough for me, and Tegra 2 is speedy enough to last for a pretty long time.

Different specs posted on Android Central that look more believable to me, see here

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/10/samsung-dubs-its-mobile-processors-exynos-dual-core-4210-forme/
Looks like they will be using their own processors

Many different specs on many retailers sites, the confusion persists...
For me, if it keeps being 800x480, then better wait for qHD devices...

BGR has a review of the Atrix. Here is what they say about the qHD screen:
"The 4-inch display on the ATRIX packs a whopping 960 x 540 pixels into what Motorola is calling a qHD display. While the resolution is quite high, the display to us still looked pretty pixelated. It’s a little odd that the display on the Motorola DROID X actually looks better than the qHD display, in terms of clarity. Colors, however, look great and the panel is very bright and evenly lit. The screen on the ATRIX also fares very well in the touch sensitivity department with a solid and reliable capacitative touch screen."
http://www.bgr.com/2011/02/09/motorola-atrix-4g-review/
More pixels doesn't mean better. The Droid X screen isn't very good to begin with, and they say it looks worse than that. The youtube videos of the Atrix from CES don't flatter the screen either. Unless Google optimizes everything for the qHD display, it only has limited uses and with this screen at least, many visual drawbacks. qHD on the Atrix, another numbers game with little gain.

I can't get enough of sammies super amoleds...

silverwolf0 said:
"The 4-inch display on the ATRIX packs a whopping 960 x 540 pixels into what Motorola is calling a qHD display. While the resolution is quite high, the display to us still looked pretty pixelated. It’s a little odd that the display on the Motorola DROID X actually looks better than the qHD display, in terms of clarity.
...
More pixels doesn't mean better... qHD on the Atrix, another numbers game with little gain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many thanks for these info
Thought it was really better with higher res

If it were a "revolutionary" retina display it would be good.

silverwolf0 said:
BGR has a review of the Atrix. Here is what they say about the qHD screen:
"The 4-inch display on the ATRIX packs a whopping 960 x 540 pixels into what Motorola is calling a qHD display. While the resolution is quite high, the display to us still looked pretty pixelated. It’s a little odd that the display on the Motorola DROID X actually looks better than the qHD display, in terms of clarity. Colors, however, look great and the panel is very bright and evenly lit. The screen on the ATRIX also fares very well in the touch sensitivity department with a solid and reliable capacitative touch screen."
http://www.bgr.com/2011/02/09/motorola-atrix-4g-review/
More pixels doesn't mean better. The Droid X screen isn't very good to begin with, and they say it looks worse than that. The youtube videos of the Atrix from CES don't flatter the screen either. Unless Google optimizes everything for the qHD display, it only has limited uses and with this screen at least, many visual drawbacks. qHD on the Atrix, another numbers game with little gain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A display is only as good as the media its displaying. If Moto doesn't beef up their icons, then the extra res wont matter. That being said, the phone is capable of much better resolution than any phone, bested only by the iPhone, however, the SF has us all spoiled in the color depth and clarity dept.

Isn't the sub pixel density much higher on the new samsung screens? If so, count me in. This phone is pretty good as is, has a great dev community and with a better screen and faster internals, what's not to like? Please don't say "lack of froyo on the fascinate," because it did take a long time, but we have it now.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Its not the "lack" of froyo, my friends refuse to mod their phone and they dont have it. Its the lack of support, I really used to like samsung, but in overall product I was really let down by this product.
I am taking it as far as I might not get one of their TVs now, I have a friend who had to get his replaced, and my dads 3D wont work. Just feels like samsung is falling down all around me.

To be released this month
What a slap in the face -- I just got my fascinate a week ago. lol.
Looks like the only way I'll ever see 2.3 (or anything official beyond 2.1) will be by buying up a GS2

nmyeti said:
Isn't the sub pixel density much higher on the new samsung screens? If so, count me in. This phone is pretty good as is, has a great dev community and with a better screen and faster internals, what's not to like? Please don't say "lack of froyo on the fascinate," because it did take a long time, but we have it now.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The pixel density is claimed to be higher, but there was a side by side done with those screens, and it wasn't that much of a difference to the naked eye. I wouldn't get my hopes up....just sayin'
And you have to realize, we have it, and its floating around the internet now, but most users neither have the time or the know-how/balls to install something like that. Those are the people I truly feel sorry for, they're getting duped.

khanable said:
To be released this month
What a slap in the face -- I just got my fascinate a week ago. lol.
Looks like the only way I'll ever see 2.3 (or anything official beyond 2.1) will be by buying up a GS2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should have ~15 days to return the phone if you "don't like it", if you really want the second one that badly.

KitsuneKnight said:
You should have ~15 days to return the phone if you "don't like it", if you really want the second one that badly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm more than content with the phone.. esp with all the XDA dev love
I just have a horrible habit of buying tech and then a >month later a new version releases. lol.

Atrix \ Galaxy S2 Comparison

I have prepared this thread to help myself and others compare and contrast the different phones and hopefully come to a decision here. If anyone has anything to add to the comparison that I have missed, please list it and we can get it all chocked up.
For the record. I have only listed something as a "Disadvantage" if I believe that the category is below what we would expect of the average Android.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advantages:
ATRIX
Battery Life - This is a big thing for me. I can make my vibrant last through a 14 hour day by crippling every single possible feature. But people here are saying that the Atrix runs solid though 30 hour periods. This is a huge plus for me.
Higher Resolution (even if its fake) - Even though this resolution is fake and can actually cause text to blur, I can say first-hand that I saw the screen in action at a local wal-mart and found it to be acceptable by my standards. I think it may help overall with browsing. The GS2 has a larger screen size, and no pentile matrix display, which could possibly be considered better. This is one that may work out to be a tie.
Tegra 2 - I list this as an advantage not because it is faster, the various benchmarks for either processor seem to be inconclusive at this point. I am listing it as an advantage because it has its own series of games optimized specifically for it, and because Google has chosen to build their framework around tegra 2.
Webtop - I am initially hesitant to even mention this. The phone has a webtop environment, it is most likely Debian Linux and it is said to also be very sluggish. If, in the future, devs gain access to this environment and find ways to optimize it and add in worthy apps such as Chrome and open office, then this will be a massive advantage, but right now it is pretty much just a gimmick.
The webtop interface retains its session when you disconnect it. So you can plug the phone back into another dock and go right back to what you were doing. This is one of the good things about webtop.
Laptop Dock - We all know it is hideously overpriced right now and maybe in the future a cheaper solution will be available. But regardless of how you get the dock, it is an advantage to run your apps in full screen, even if you don't use the sluggish webtop interface and firefox.
The dock charges your phone, but plays sound through your atrix speakers, it has no speakers of it's own, you can answer calls by removing the phone, picking it up on bluetooth or by just yelling at it from behind the laptop. The phone retains its session when you remove it and there is no special unmounting procedure, you just grab it and run.
GALAXY S2
Screen - Bright beautiful and extremely rich. Those who have seen the screen firsthand have claimed that there is nothing like it at all and that it is miles above even the old Super Amoled display. The 4.3 inch size is also a bonus for those of us with large hands. This is probably the best overall feature of the Galaxy S2.
Camera - 8 Megapixels, and 2 megapixel front facing camera. People say that megapixels don't really matter in the long run but the Atrix camera is also said to have a purple wash to it and that the video can be splotchy in certain situations.
Design - Even though it looks way too much like the iPhone, this phone actually looks exceptionally nice. I like the three button design much better than the 4, the search button is pretty useless overall. The thinness of this phone is also amazing if you are into that sort of thing. Naturally it may come down to the US carriers to ruin the design, but by it will likely be summer before that happens.
32GB internal storage - Expect to pay for it, but it is there, you get 64 gigs total with this phone.
Gingerbread - The Atrix won't likely get gingerbread until at least this summer, this phone will have it much sooner if you get the international version coming sometime this quarter.
Gyroscope - This phone has it, do any apps support it? Not sure, but it is there.
NFC - In the off chance that any stores upgrade to NFC this year, you will have the ability to use it. NFC may have other uses that we haven't envisioned yet. It is a protocol, so it can be applied to just about anything. You could potentially set it up to unlock your home, cars could start with it, whatever.
So it has a lot of potential use other than having your money stolen from you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disadvantages:
ATRIX
Bootloader - To sum it up for those not familiar, the phone can be rooted, a custom ROM can be flashed, but the kernel cannot be altered at all. (someone will likely correct me here) but if part or all of the webtop code is contained in the kernel somehow it will be difficult to alter it to add new software or make it run more efficiently. This would be a terrible shame.
I can tell you that Team Whiskey has made my Vibrant browse faster than I have seen in Atrix videos, with half the memory and a single core processor. It is scary to think of what this phone could actually accomplish if Moto decided to allow it.
Motoblur - I read that this requires you to sign up for an account before you can even use the phone. I find it alarming that Motorola has decided to help themselves to all this information and it makes me wonder just exactly what they really have access to and why.
Crippled FM radio - WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY. All of these phones have both transmitters and receivers for FM. So can someone tell me why in god's name anyone would disable them? FM radio has many more uses than just listening to local stations and why again should I have to burn my limited data on
internet radio when there is a receiver right in my phone?
GALAXY S2
Heat - My current Galaxy S runs very hot already, if the screen is active while the phone is being charged it will heat up to what seems to be a very dangerous temperature. The pre-release Galaxy S2 was said to be scorching hot after running with the screen on and the charger active.
Fail File System, Hideous and crippling lag - Update: the galaxy S2 is said to not use RFS. Chock one up for Samsung.
Updates - Samsung has a horrible reputation for updates when working with US carriers, even for new phones. If it was not for this community I would have likely given up on Android and Samsung altogether. Although I know that part of the update delay has been t-mobile, it is also in Samsung's interests to ship out new phones instead of updating their old ones.
Battery Life I have a feeling that Samsung tried to push the limits to get their phone to be as thin as possible and I am worried that they have done so at the expense of battery life. We won't know for sure until it gets in people's hands but I expect the battery life to be subpar.
NO HID Bluetooth Support (possibly) - I have had a black wiimote sitting here for 6 months waiting to connect to my Vibrant. I love emulated classics but action games are near impossible to play with the on-screen kb. So if you want this feature, I would make sure that the GS2 has it first, because it is not likely that it will.
Availability - What it really comes down to now. Unless you want to shell out over 1000 for the phone, you will probably need to wait 5 months from now for any kind of US availability this summer. And don't doubt that those versions will become crippled and even more bloated in the process. But again there is no locked bootloader here.
Ok I think that covers it. Having written all this down, I think I am really leaning more toward the Atrix. There just doesn't seem to be anything else out there now that will be able to match it at the moment. And as you can see, our experience with Samsung has not been exceptional.

Good comparison there. I am also looking at the exact 2 models and thank you very much, looks like Atrix will too be my choice.
I guess I'll get the atrix laptop dock too and prays for the devs here to make it all better. Otherwise, I think its still a good piece of hardware I don't mind owning.

""Samsung's dual-core, Gingerbread-powered Galaxy S II has appeared on Play.co.uk alongside a tentative SIM-free price and release date. According to Play, which is currently taking pre-orders for the phone, it'll ship Mar. 31 for £599.99 (~$960). Pre-release prices are never guaranteed to be accurate and are always subject to change, but £599 seams like a realistic price point for the Galaxy S II, as it's slightly higher than current single-core offerings from other manufacturers.""
Just published at androidcentral. £599.99 (~$960)?? Get a grip..

Not bad, just a couple of things to note that I thought of while reading. First, the screen resolution can be arguable considering the Pentile screen that the Atrix uses. That gives the SGS2 more sub pixels, but then it's a bigger screen, so less (I believe) pixel density still... it's really kind of a toss up, but I think they will both look great. I think the lower resolution and bigger screen on the SGS2 will look just fine with the full 3 subpixels per pixel.
Also, the SGS2 looks nothing like an iPhone. I wish people would stop saying that about every phone that comes out. Apparently every square black phone with a screen is an iPhone now.
And also it's been reported that the SGS2 does not use RFS.

The Galaxy S2 looks like a great phone, but even as much as I hate Motorola's implementation of the lockdown...I can't *STAND* Samsung for updates. They've promised up and down that they would release updates for every phone since Android came out, and they've delivered on about 3 of those promises...out of probably 20. They are *HORRIBLE* at updating devices and they don't even apologize when they cancel. I would *never* buy a Samsung on the hopes that it would get an updated OS.
As for the screens, I don't really notice much of a difference. I'm a pretty severe audiophile and videophile and although I can tell a difference it's absolutely not enough to make me go with one phone over another. I'm coming from an iPhone 4 which has the best screen to date on a mobile phone...and even between that and my Atrix I barely see a difference. They're both fantastic screens.

hotleadsingerguy said:
The Galaxy S2 looks like a great phone, but even as much as I hate Motorola's implementation of the lockdown...I can't *STAND* Samsung for updates. They've promised up and down that they would release updates for every phone since Android came out, and they've delivered on about 3 of those promises...out of probably 20. They are *HORRIBLE* at updating devices and they don't even apologize when they cancel. I would *never* buy a Samsung on the hopes that it would get an updated OS.
As for the screens, I don't really notice much of a difference. I'm a pretty severe audiophile and videophile and although I can tell a difference it's absolutely not enough to make me go with one phone over another. I'm coming from an iPhone 4 which has the best screen to date on a mobile phone...and even between that and my Atrix I barely see a difference. They're both fantastic screens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The updates aren't really an issue for people who visit sites like this. I would never rely on Samsung to update my phone. My Captivate has been running 2.2 for ages while they just released the update for everyone else. Yes, Samsung sucks at updating, but the hacking community will always get it done regardless.

I must be the only one, but i use the search hotkey absolutely all the time. I love it and I realize that you can hold menu for the same effect on the SGS2, but i'd prefer to have the 4th hotkey than their ugly stupid home button. It is not an iPhone, embrace uniqueness samsung.

eallan said:
I must be the only one, but i use the search hotkey absolutely all the time. I love it and I realize that you can hold menu for the same effect on the SGS2, but i'd prefer to have the 4th hotkey than their ugly stupid home button. It is not an iPhone, embrace uniqueness samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really miss the hardware home key! The orientation of the 4 buttons makes it a bit awkward to thumb navigate since its so close to the bottom. Its actually one of the things about the sgs2 that is making me think twice about my atrix. Despite how much I love it.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

Man_of_Leisure said:
I really miss the hardware home key! The orientation of the 4 buttons makes it a bit awkward to thumb navigate since its so close to the bottom. Its actually one of the things about the sgs2 that is making me think twice about my atrix. Despite how much I love it.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't mind if the buttons were hardware, thats another debate. I just want all four of them!
The back button is beyond crucial. Maybe back and home should be two hardware with the other capacitive? For symmetry, obviously a concern for samsung .

I definitely want the new Galaxy S 2. I've heard that the Atrix was a huge let down. I used to own a Captivate and I loved everything about it except the ****ty build quality and lack of flash for the camera. It was so smooth with voodoo and custom roms. The Galaxy S 2 will have an amazing screen and I think it will do average on battery consumption. Just my 2 cents
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

King Shady said:
I definitely want the new Galaxy S 2. I've heard that the Atrix was a huge let down. I used to own a Captivate and I loved everything about it except the ****ty build quality and lack of flash for the camera. It was so smooth with voodoo and custom roms. The Galaxy S 2 will have an amazing screen and I think it will do average on battery consumption. Just my 2 cents
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
****ty build quality? Like hardware wise? I personally think the Captivate is the nicest of all of the Galaxy S phones. The hardware itself has been absolutely wonderful for me. The software quality leaves a lot to be desired from a stock standpoint though.

AJerman said:
****ty build quality? Like hardware wise? I personally think the Captivate is the nicest of all of the Galaxy S phones. The hardware itself has been absolutely wonderful for me. The software quality leaves a lot to be desired from a stock standpoint though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The plastic build was a huge downgrade for me, especially coming from a beautiful iPhone 4. I'm much happier with the Inspire 4G now though. HTC Sense is amazing and super smooth, and HTC build quality is great. The phone feels ultra solid.

SGS2 is apparently RFS-free. Also, some versions will have Tegra2 instead of Exynos - hope this includes us.
People knock Samsung's plastic designs, but they're actually a lot harder to break than the "well-built" iPhone 4.

Very good write up man, these are the posts that I like to see.
By looking at my signature, you can see that I just got the Atrix as well, and I love the phone. Amazingly fast, awesome screen (love the higher density and the effect itbhas on the overall experience), and the battery is pretty good too.
I'm seriously thinking about buying the laptop dock, but I don't know how well that will perform, and I haven't seen any live videos of it.
I really like the design and specs of the GS 2, but there are a lot of possible problems holding me back....
Rooted/ROM Captivate (For Sale)
Rooted Atrix

FLAC Vest said:
Very good write up man, these are the posts that I like to see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot, bro.
I am no engineer and I can't build tools. But I can put a few thoughts together and provide someone with some information.
This is an amazing community and what people do here is outstanding, I just want to do what I can to add to that.

King Shady said:
The plastic build was a huge downgrade for me, especially coming from a beautiful iPhone 4. I'm much happier with the Inspire 4G now though. HTC Sense is amazing and super smooth, and HTC build quality is great. The phone feels ultra solid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S2 looks like meizu m9

I have both and a Galaxy S 2 on order
Why? I really liked the Captivate. My plan was to use both but the Atrix is so much more fun to use I'm selling the Captivate. Well, maybe. Maybe not.
Yesterday after I removed the SIM card and replaced it, the Atrix went bonkers with freezes and instability issues. After numerous soft resets, two factory resets and replacing the SIM card, SD card and battery a couple of times it seems to be back to normal. I suspect I had reinserted the SIM card incorrectly but maybe there was another issue.
So why would I pay $1000 for the Galaxy S 2? The Captivate was that much fun. Although I'm sure we will be able to do more custom rom's shortly on the Atrix, the Galaxy S 2 sounds like an even bigger blast than either. And boy oh boy does that LG 3D look interesting. But you have to draw the line somewhere.
Here is what the Atrix has that the Captivate does not:
1-better graphics and screen quality, dynamic and vivid visuals, a joy to read and watch (text as well as video quality is sharp and crisp, very clear)
2-more interactive features with outside devices (i.e. computers)
3-interacts more efficiently with e mail, voice and text programs (really like the way it handles multiple incoming calls especially when you are already on one-notification, instructions and directions for handling)(I can now actually use Excel spreadsheets and Word documents) (works well with contacts)
4-updated browser can handle more types of video content and pop up windows better
5-it feels better when you hold and talk or watch or do most anything with it (I did make one call and even though I could hear the other party clearly they could not hear me-I do not what happened.)
My friends all tell me I should get an iphone. I had one for years and the Androids are far more fun. I'll never return. I don't think. LG 3D anyone?

I think Tegra2 is actually a disadvantage for Atrix 4G.
As a new generation dualcore processor, it's early, but not strong.
It's video playback ability of H.264 is limited, but H.264 is currently the most frequently played format.
It has no neon support, big loss on processing power.
Till now Tegra2 has not proven itself in Graphics power. In benchmarks it's no superior to Hummingbird.
However the performance of Mali400MP on GS2 is also questionable, so just wait and see...

hotleadsingerguy said:
The Galaxy S2 looks like a great phone, but even as much as I hate Motorola's implementation of the lockdown...I can't *STAND* Samsung for updates. They've promised up and down that they would release updates for every phone since Android came out, and they've delivered on about 3 of those promises...out of probably 20. They are *HORRIBLE* at updating devices and they don't even apologize when they cancel. I would *never* buy a Samsung on the hopes that it would get an updated OS.
As for the screens, I don't really notice much of a difference. I'm a pretty severe audiophile and videophile and although I can tell a difference it's absolutely not enough to make me go with one phone over another. I'm coming from an iPhone 4 which has the best screen to date on a mobile phone...and even between that and my Atrix I barely see a difference. They're both fantastic screens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 great post!

King Shady said:
The plastic build was a huge downgrade for me, especially coming from a beautiful iPhone 4. I'm much happier with the Inspire 4G now though. HTC Sense is amazing and super smooth, and HTC build quality is great. The phone feels ultra solid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See, I don't understand that. There is far less plastic on the Captivate than the majority of the phones out there. The front is all glass, and the back is mostly metal. It's only the top and bottom on the back that are plastic, and they have both felt very solid to me since I got the phone on launch day. I came from an iPhone 4 as well, and granted nothing compares to the iPhone 4 in build quality, the Captivate definitely doesn't seem bad at all to me.
As long as you're happy with what you have now though, that's what matters. I just think the Inspire is a bit of a waste of money considering it's lack of power compared to all the other phones coming out now. It feels like it's last generation still. I did play with it a little at the AT&T store though, and it seemed nice. If it had come out last summer with the Captivate (even if it didn't have 4G), I might have gotten it. Now I'm going to wait until a dual core offering I like though.