3 Android phones, compared

This Christmas, it looks like Android phones (collectiviely) will be the big sellers. In fact, some analyst reports predict that Android phones will outsell iPhones and Blackberrys by 2012.

There are some differences between the handsets on which Android is offered, though.

I've been using three, in particular, over the last few months. They are the HTC Desire, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and the Samsung Galaxy S. So which would I recommend? Overall, it's a toss-up between the Galaxy S and the Desire, with the X10 lagging on the latest version of Android and not quite as smooth on the touchscreen (although it has, by far, the best camera).

Here's my scorecard for each phone.

Screen
X10 -- 4.0 inches; bright
Desire -- 3.7; decent, but poor outdoors
Galaxy S -- 4.0, best of the three, super-Amoled

Android version
X10 -- 1.6, oldest; soon upgradeable to 2.1
Desire -- 2.1, soon upgradeable to 2.2 (Froyo) on unlocked phones
Galaxy S -- 2.1, soon to be upgradeable to 2.2 (Froyo) on unlocked phones

Camera
X10 -- 8MP; very good; also has its own dedicated camera button
Desire -- 5MP; average
Galaxy S -- 5MP; average; but only one of three to have second, front-facing camera. Also, HD-recording.

Battery life
X10 -- 1 day
Desire -- 1 day
Galaxy S -- 1 day

Design
X10 -- has its own dedicated camera button; nice feel, but edges
Desire -- nice curves, nice materials; practical rubberised back casing
Galaxy S -- glassy

Touch
X10 -- average; not as smooth as rivals
Desire -- very good, iPhone quality
Galaxy S -- very good, iPhone quality

Memory
X10 -- 8GB
Desire -- 8GB
Galaxy S -- 8GB

Price/availability
X10 -- from free on O2 billpay
Desire -- €120 on Vodafone billpay or from €40 on Meteor billpay
Galaxy S -- from free on 3 Ireland billpay

Comments

[CanuckJacq]

My Desire is already running 2.2 and has HD recording now :)

Big beef with it is the tiny amount of on-board memory and that most of the Google Apps have to be on the phone, and can't be stored to the memory card. I'm always having to clear data and uninstall apps.

That said, my next phone will have a keyboard. Touchscreens are nice but not good for productivity.

[Rejoyce1976]

My Desire has been on 2.2 for about 2 months and the Android 2.2 (Froyo) update unlocked 720p HD Video.

[ruairi]

Yeah....My Desire (on Vodafone) is on 2.2

[Nutterguy]

In fairness the HD video and the camera of the Desire in general even on 2.2 are horrible. My old Nokia N95 took far better photos and comparable quality video but at 25fps rather than 5-10fps.

The limited storage space is also really annoying with Flash taking up 9Mb and Skype taking 12Mb.

Also have to agree that Touchscreen keyboards are definitly not as good as the real deal.

Probably going to replace my Desire with a Nokia N8 or E7 soon.

[Andrew Griffith]

My wife's HTC Desire (eMobile) came with FroYo (2.2) out of the box. For someone with no initial demand for apps & productivity tools, she's grasped the benefits very quickly! I'm trying to hide my disappointment, as I'm still stuck in winmo 6 land with a motorola q9 (definitely not a recommendation).

[John quinn]

Galaxy s on voda comes with 16GB.

[Stephen Downey]

I have a X10 and I have to issue a word of warning about the battery. Giving it a battery life of 1 day is very generous. I have often had a dead phone by 5/6 in the afternoon. This is with very light voice calls and an automatic fetch of emails every 10 minutes. Apparently, this is set to improve with the impending update to 2.1 otherwise I will have to change handset.

On the plus side, the camera is excellent with 8mp and facial recognition so all photos are tagged automatically.

[ruairi]

Having been an iPhone user, I switched over to Desire.

Generally I love it, but i don't buy that Android is better than iOS. They are both fine in my opinion.

I love the Desire, but the camera is terrible on it.

Other than that, as a bit of hardware, its great.

[Donncha O Caoimh]

Nutterguy - try using Swype, it makes typing on a touchscreen so much better! It's bundled with the Galaxy S.

[John Doran]

so, the Galaxy S is the one to go for then!?

[Singles Dating Website]

+1 to Samsung Galaxy. Not only for its quality, but look at it... It's really beautiful

[Best MP3 Players]

wow,i like it.it looks nice.

[air jordan 1]

He knows most who speaks least