HTC Desire HD or iPhone 4?
Mar 7, 2011 at 3:44 AM Post #16 of 27
If all you want to do is browse internet, I'd worry very keenly about battery life, but if you just want to use it occassionally, it's not such a big deal. I find large phones make other problems: getting at certain buttons requires awkward stretches (and my fingers are long), or the use of two hands if you don't want to drop the device. If you are cool with two hands, or awkward finger lunges, then by all means, go for bigger. I am not.
 
Mar 7, 2011 at 7:59 AM Post #17 of 27
If there's one area the iPhone 4 wins, it's the Retina display. Honestly, take 5 seconds to compare it with the displays on the others and you'll take the iPhone.
 
As for battery life: I've read various reviews of Android phones where the reviewer had to switch off everything possible not to have the battery drain fast. With my iPhone on, I have bluetooth and wireless on always and, except for using a car navigation program or serious web surfing, I don't use more than about 5-10% in a day, and even then I've rarely gone through even 30-40%.  I think the difference there is in the very carefully thought-out software design in iOS.  I have had Skype decide once to drain my entire battery over-night, but whatever was causing that has now been fixed in an update.  If I find my battery is draining unusually fast, I can very easily and quickly "quit" open programs without losing anything.
 
Mar 7, 2011 at 10:51 AM Post #18 of 27
I own an iPhone 4 but don't really have much experience with android phones. The iPhone picture/video quality is the best I've seen on a phone. Personally I use iTunes so music is not an issue (and the sound quality is very sufficient). The display on the iPhone is great and I haven't had any troubles surfing with it. Overall a very impressive package IMO. Battery life is the best I've ever had. Oh and, never had any issues with the antenna.
 
Mar 7, 2011 at 12:25 PM Post #19 of 27
About the internet, It's a lot easier to do on the iPhone, but again, there's more to it on the Desire HD - You can download different web clients, add themes, links are a tad easier to go through than the iPhone - But as I said, simplicity the iPhone wins.
 
The battery, I believe the DHD comes with a 1200mAh Battery, I upgraded and bought a 1600mAh battery for $15 a few weeks ago, and it pretty much doubles battery life, I'd say if you're using it all the time, the iPhone still manages to cling on that little bit longer, but in my day to day use, it easily lasts 1 and a half, if not 2 full days before needing to charge - That said, I do run on a low brightness and don't have application data running in the background - I also turn 3G off when I don't need it and almost never have bluetooth on, with all this enabled you'd struggle to run a day with either - But that's just phones of 21st century for ya
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Mar 7, 2011 at 12:29 PM Post #20 of 27
Also, to what Currawong said, the iPhones retina display is absolutely superb, I was expecting the desire HD to just be 'crap' in comparison, but to my suprise it really isn't all that bad - The iPhone definitely has a sharpness with certain things, pictures 'can' sometimes seem clearer and the icons are very neat, the colours are sometimes too vivid though, not neutral enough when taking photos in certain conditions.
I struggle to tell a major difference between the two side by side, really, they look VERY alike with clarity, but if I was to pick a winner just based on technology then the iPhone 4 wins on display.
 
Mar 7, 2011 at 3:01 PM Post #21 of 27
i am a fan for both android and WM.i have BB and htc hd2 and my friend has the desire so i know it well.
browsing on the desire is better than the iphone because of the screen size which makes a huge difference imo even if the res. of iphone 4 is better.
and opera browser is top notch and very fast,sometimes faster than safari and the other way around.you can also download skyfire browser for some flash contents if you like and i use it occassionally.
about the screen resoltuion,retina is sure better but the htc screen is not crap by any means.
the clear advantage of android and WM is obviously customizability.i flash roms all the time and there are many free programs and roms on xda developers if you are into that kind of stuff.
 
finally battery life on any android or wm phone is crap.no way around it.you will have to charge it every day if you make some calls,check emails,few browsing and a couple of youtube video.i really wish that mobile companies make some serious developments for batteries.
 
Mar 7, 2011 at 7:46 PM Post #22 of 27

 
Quote:
i am a fan for both android and WM.i have BB and htc hd2 and my friend has the desire so i know it well.
browsing on the desire is better than the iphone because of the screen size which makes a huge difference imo even if the res. of iphone 4 is better.
and opera browser is top notch and very fast,sometimes faster than safari and the other way around.you can also download skyfire browser for some flash contents if you like and i use it occassionally.
about the screen resoltuion,retina is sure better but the htc screen is not crap by any means.
the clear advantage of android and WM is obviously customizability.i flash roms all the time and there are many free programs and roms on xda developers if you are into that kind of stuff.
 
finally battery life on any android or wm phone is crap.no way around it.you will have to charge it every day if you make some calls,check emails,few browsing and a couple of youtube video.i really wish that mobile companies make some serious developments for batteries.

 
I just got the htc Inspire a few weeks ago (my first smartphone), and I like it a lot. I'm involved with a cellular project at work, and have had the opportunity to use both Android and iPhones side by side. The htc display only suffers by comparison with the iPhone. The htc screen looks great. Text is quite readable, and photos are crisp and vivid, but not overly saturated. I definitely like the Android user experience better than the iPhone, and the larger screen is a bonus for browsing. Battery life is fairly dismal, but as long as you avoid a lot of widgets running, you can get through a day easily. (The Weather Channel widget is a serious battery hog).
 
I've been using Dolphin HD as my web browser, lots of plugins available, and seems pretty fast. I played with Opera and Skyfire too, but I like Dolphin better. The battery cover on the Inspire is amazingly difficult to remove, which is really annoying because I have a pile of those batteries on my bench at work.
 
 
 
 
Mar 7, 2011 at 9:06 PM Post #23 of 27
Thumbs up for Dolphin Browser, using mine with the Red Theme, I love it how you can draw on the screen for shortcuts, e.g. An arrow upwards and it scrolls to the top of the screen for you
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Mar 8, 2011 at 11:56 AM Post #24 of 27
one thing to notice is that safari doesnt resize text if you zoom in like opera browser which is a big deal since the screen is realtivaly small so you will have to scroll all the time if you are reading an article.
 
Mar 8, 2011 at 1:00 PM Post #25 of 27
^ With the iphone 4, the issue is mitigated greatly due to the retina display. (I speak from experience) You can get by on many websites without having to zoom at all since even tiny font is legible. 
 
Mar 15, 2011 at 3:13 PM Post #27 of 27
I'd say go for desire hd, but the display resolution is a drawback.
If you want a closed package go for iphone.
 

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