The line of thinking is exactly what I wrote. Within a months time there were Android devices debuting with as old as 1.6 and as new as 2.2. The pace is too fast and there seems to be almost no backwards compatibility from what I've read. To make matters worse, some of the relatively new hardware can't even run 2.2. There are only a select list of devices that can, and combined with poor compatibility with old software I wonder if something I buy on an app store will even work with my unit 3 months from now. Say what you will about iOS and probably WindowsPhone7, but at least the operating system is upgraded in steps instead of mass wholesale changes.
I've not used Safari, except very briefly, so I can't comment, but all the people I read posts from and talk to in person say the browser in iOS is one of the best, if not the best. I watched your video, and found nothing interesting except the gestures, which is very cool. I've never owned a hand held web surfer before so the experience from any browser will take some getting used to.
The gray scale gradient was the example I used because it was the easiest to see. There are ample ways in which the 4G totally obsoletes the screen performance of the Galaxy, but they may not be as apparent as the glaring example I mentioned. I know nobody uses a phone from such an extreme angle, but it was meant to show which screen was actually superior in all respects. Even at extreme angles the blacks in the 4G are the best, and color accuracy is much better also. The pictures they post tell of how great the 4G screen is, then they decide the opposite in the review's text. I don't know what they were thinking. The image quality difference is orders of magnitude greater on the 4G. In the picture I posted, you can see the strawberries towards the upper right on the 4G look like real strawberries. The Galaxy seems to bloom them greatly fuzzing them making them less real. The upper left of the image of the greenery, you can see individual leaves in the clump on the top left side, whereas the Galaxy blurs them together. The image of the sun setting over the water on the lower left looks much more like actual sunlight reflecting off the water because the waves are more crisp and the light is clearer. All of the pictures on the Galaxy seem to have a gray filter on them tinting it towards unnatural. The most telling is the sky in the last picture on the bottom. The Galaxy makes the blue far too dark and the clouds look grainy, while the sky on the iPhone looks like the sky I can see by standing out on a partly cloudy day. The fine mist that is the cloud just disappears into the blue creating a realistic skyscape. Once again you bring up the size of the screen as a positive for the Galaxy, but I again remind you that is completely personal preference, and cannot be associated with any rating for these devices. If we're talking big screen TVs I'm totally with you, but you don't pocket your HDTV, either. Screen size is about balance.
Regarding the camera, perhaps you have a good actual camera, but I do not. My Canon P+S is about 8 years old and it's pictures are pretty terrible. It's big and bulky so I never have it with me for moments I'd like to capture. I'm looking forward to having a decent camera with me at all times, and while it isn't a deal breaker, I'd like to have the best camera I can get.
Regarding sound quality and rockbox, even rockbox won't fix hardware deficiencies, unless you are getting pure digital out of the unit, and thus carting around a DAC and amp, which I find laughable in the attempt to be 'portable' while towing a brick around everywhere you go. I want a player that sounds good with decent portable phones without any other devices. As for rockbox itself, I don't know too much about it other than it has an EQ and people talk incessantly about it here.
I'd love if this unit were as good as you talk about, but it clearly isn't. Perhaps they will learn from their mistakes with this unit to out do the iPod Touch 4G when they come out with the next model.
Lets be clear on one point. I'm very much not an Apple fanboy. I'm calling it as I see it, and would totally disown the upcoming 4G iPod Touch if there were truly a device that betters it. I've never owned a Mac. The only iPod I've owned was a first generation 5GB years ago. Since then I've been using a basic Zune, a direct competitor to iPods, simply because it was small and did what I needed, until I wanted significantly more functionality. I first looked at the Zune HD and was impressed enough to buy it on the spot, however whispers of the Zune meeting its end combined with almost zero apps made me wish it weren't so.
