[phamilyman]

do remember that samsung is worse than motorola when it comes with WP updates. Unlike HTC whose users got the mango update on time, samsung users went through considerable heartache (and i dont know the current status btw).

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

I was almost sold onto windows phone when I realized it does not allow in-call recording. And there are no workarounds. I like to record voice notes instead of looking for a notepad and this was the reason I am considering moving to android (currently on WM6.5 and android occasionally).

I am not sure about ICS, but in my knowledge, Android also doesn't support true 2 way call recording. There are apps which records your voice and whatever is heard through the speaker (other party's voice) Very few models have 2 way call recording working well.

[Nicky]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Thanks for the inputs though that makes the decision even tougher.

Wildfire S is out of the question because of its specs and price (overpriced). Also, I'v found HTC phones to have poor cams.

I agree with you regarding HTC's comparatively poor camera and poor specs with competition.
It's really tough to make decision because of all these variations.
I would suggest you to mark the requirements and then decide with what you can live and can't live.
I did same while deciding on xperia ray based on my wife's preferences.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by Nicky

I agree with you regarding HTC's comparatively poor camera and poor specs with competition.

We used Samsung in the past incl. Epic $G (CDMA) and Galaxy I5110. Now we are on htc Incredible 2 (CDMA - it is GSM also) and Wildfire S. There is no comparison. I may even say the Sammy's are plasticky, and one almost feels that while htc looks professional while the Sammy looks amateurish. Removing S-on in htc was a pain, but now htc providess a Bootloader Unlock. Not quite S-Off but good enough.

A friend went through the full gamut, and finally settled on the Incredible S due to the far more solid feel.

The question is whether you want gimmicks, like a camera, or a solid workhorse of a phone. htc camera's may not be great but are more than adequate.

Also, Sense is the best front end there is.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

do remember that samsung is worse than motorola when it comes with WP updates. Unlike HTC whose users got the mango update on time, samsung users went through considerable heartache (and i dont know the current status btw).

Noted. Samsung's apathy towards updates is legend. Personally, I'v never used a Samsung till date as I'v never liked their offerings in the catageories I was considering. But the Omnia M specs are too tempting. Can live with a delayed update... as long as they don't just orphan the thing. No idea if thats a possibility. Visited couple places yesterday, but they did not have it in stock, so we could not check it out in person. Checked out the lower end Lumia, and the interface is certainly catchy and fluid. Apps took a tad long to load though. Was elated to find apps on it like Runkeeper, Photo editors, etc., etc.

Does anybody know if Omnia W will get the next WP update?

Originally Posted by Nicky

I agree with you regarding HTC's comparatively poor camera and poor specs with competition.
It's really tough to make decision because of all these variations.
I would suggest you to mark the requirements and then decide with what you can live and can't live.
I did same while deciding on xperia ray based on my wife's preferences.

Well, the requirements are not quite met by WP, but the reasoning is that if they are likely to be met in future updates, then its worth trading them now for the hardware.

Originally Posted by sgiitk

We used Samsung in the past incl. Epic $G (CDMA) and Galaxy I5110. Now we are on htc Incredible 2 (CDMA - it is GSM also) and Wildfire S. There is no comparison. I may even say the Sammy's are plasticky, and one almost feels that while htc looks professional while the Sammy looks amateurish. Removing S-on in htc was a pain, but now htc providess a Bootloader Unlock. Not quite S-Off but good enough.

A friend went through the full gamut, and finally settled on the Incredible S due to the far more solid feel.

The question is whether you want gimmicks, like a camera, or a solid workhorse of a phone. htc camera's may not be great but are more than adequate.

Also, Sense is the best front end there is.

IMHO, hardly any phone has what I'd call a "more than adequate" camera. The Ray has an 8 MP, but see sample pics. Yes, they seem better than the HTCs and Defys, but they are hardly "adequate"! Camera is hardly a gimmick for me at least. I need it for a zillion reasons: Quick pics of boards, books, notes, docs, OCR, receipts, products and so many other things for a thousand reasons. As an eg. see how HTC phones capture text and even colors. Compare that with equivalent Samsungs. You can use the compare tool on gsmarena.

While everything is important, what does one do with just an awesome shell (build quality) when the stuff that you really want it to do is below par?

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Does anybody know if Omnia W will get the next WP update?

The buzz is that it will.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by clevermax

I am not sure about ICS, but in my knowledge, Android also doesn't support true 2 way call recording. There are apps which records your voice and whatever is heard through the speaker (other party's voice) Very few models have 2 way call recording working well.

thanks, I tested one way recording on android port on my HTC touch, should be good enough for note taking, all i have to do it repeat what the other party says, driving them crazy .

I will continue my research though.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

thanks, I tested one way recording on android port on my HTC touch, should be good enough for note taking, all i have to do it repeat what the other party says, driving them crazy .

I will continue my research though.

Exactly repeating everything the other party is saying will do the job.. Usually we repeat such information for confirmation, like when noting down a phone number etc.

[Samir Taheer]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

IMHO, hardly any phone has what I'd call a "more than adequate" camera. The Ray has an 8 MP, but see sample pics. Yes, they seem better than the HTCs and Defys, but they are hardly "adequate"! Camera is hardly a gimmick for me at least. I need it for a zillion reasons: Quick pics of boards, books, notes, docs, OCR, receipts, products and so many other things for a thousand reasons. As an eg. see how HTC phones capture text and even colors. Compare that with equivalent Samsungs. You can use the compare tool on gsmarena.

While everything is important, what does one do with just an awesome shell (build quality) when the stuff that you really want it to do is below par?

Couldn't agree more on the camera. I just got the new Sony Xperia S and that comes with a 12mp camera and the screen is brilliant. Only downside is the size and the fact that its got built in 32GB of space. There's no slots for sd/microsd or anything of the sorts.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Samir Taheer

I just got the new Sony Xperia S and that comes with a 12mp camera and the screen is brilliant. Only downside is the size and the fact that its got built in 32GB of space.

Damn, my pro quality dSLR (Olympus E-3) has only 10MP resolution, and 8GB storage card. May be I should upgrade my dSLR to a mobile phone. Technology is just getting nuts!

[VW2010]

Damn, my pro quality dSLR (Olympus E-3) has only 10MP resolution

I hope you are not serious comparing these two. I loved my E-3 and its combo with 50-500 was a deadly wildlife combo.

If they can give a bigger size sensor on these phones or just have a sim slot in cameras it would solve our problem

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by VW2010

I hope you are not serious comparing these two.

You think anyone who owns a E-3 wouldn't know?

Originally Posted by VW2010

If they can give a bigger size sensor on these phones or just have a sim slot in cameras it would solve our problem

The sensor on the mobile phone will be tiny compared to the E-3 sensor. But the way mobile phone makers have started playing the same megapixel game amazes me. My wife's ultracompact has more MP than my E-3, now even mobile cameras are racing ahead.

[Raccoon]

Friend, against "counsel", finally ended up buying the Ace Plus. What a waste of $ on an overpriced phone with poor battery. Anyway, we all choose our sufferings...

[mrohit17]

Here You go Senior...straight from the first hand experience. I own a Nexus S which am using as my personal mobile while have a Omnia W for my official needs.

Let me try to put things properly into perspective. The scenario is "If you choose Omnia W over Android then:"...

What You Gain:

1. Good battery life. I had both Androids previously but the battery woes resulted in me trading my android for the Omnia W. I would not say the battery life is great. With Bluetooth continuously on (for Blue & Me) as I drive a lot, about an hour of WiFi browsing, about an hour of gaming, continuous EDGE connectivity on (have 3G but I keep it on EDGE), about 2-2.5 hours of calls and with my official mail and yahoo and gmail configured I get about 1.5 days of battery life which is good compared to any Android which will give max. 1 day with above use.

2. Amoled screen. Wonderful believe me.

3. Fluid OS: Now not exactly a gain because in normal daily life Androids are great, only thing is I have not had a single hang in Omnia W compared to Nexus which has stopped some processess unexpectedly a couple of times in the last one year or so, but then it comes back to normal self quickly. With Omnia W no such thing noticed in last 1.5months use.

4. Good Keyboard: Good windows keyboard even with 3.7 inch screen the keyboard of WM7.5 works extremely well, for an Android I have noticed you need atleast 4 inch screen for ease. But then you have swype/swiftkey in Android which make things easier but 4" is a must.

5. Social Networking intergration in OS. WM7.5 intergrates facebook and twitter into the OS but this is harldy a plus point as good apps are available in android that work similarly.

Thats it....

What You Lose:

1. Customisation, ease of use (read shortcuts), speed dialling etc. The new user interface is cool but over a period of time you get bored and then you cannot do much for that. Android is best here.

2. Gaming. Most of the games in WM7.5 are chargeable. Sure there are some free games but not of the league of Android which has far number of games for free but you need to choose good ones. If ready to pay then similar good quality games are available and work well on both platforms.

3. Applications: same for games goes for applications too but here most necessary apps are easily available. Android has far more options. I had a tough time selecting a free phone T9 type dialer to easily access contacts by name. Otherwise going to ponebook and then searching and selecting the contact is a lengthy process, android is better here. Similarly you do not have a free proper document scanner in WM7.5.

4. Multi home screens, makes life really easier in Android. WM7.5 same boring tiles everytime. Also you could accomodate lot of apps shortcuts on screen on android, tiles in Mango take lot of space and you will need to scroll up/down.

5. Better surfing: For some reason Omnia W does not connect to www.team-bhp.com can you believe that. Shows error 406. Did not investigate it further, happily surfing on my Nexus.. Other sites OK no issue found yet.

6. Easy file management: File transfers through Zune in WM 7.5 are pain also transfers through bluetooth not allowed. Android just works like a USB stick.

Other functionalities like mail integration, editing mode, car-bluetooth connectivity etc. work well on both, infact with Omnia W my Blue & ME even reads the messages received to me. Camera is handset specific and work nicely on both.

In a nutshell WM7.5 loses out on convenience and ease of use. The only real gainer is battery life which is just better. In case of extended use the good battery of WM7.5 assists me in non stop connectivity, but for those moments where I need those fun moments my Nexus is there. Mango is there but just not there, ICS has made things only better for android. Now I am just waiting for Motorola to release Razr Max with 3300 mAh battery so that I may trade my omnia w with it. Till then the Omnia W serves me well....well almost. To go a step further with advice having tried interfaces of Motorola, Samsung, HTC on Android and now with Nexus S let me tell you that the pure Google Experience beats all. Others just add up on crapware and fill memory.

Originally Posted by Raccoon

A friend is considering purchase of a Windows phone, namely Samsung Omnia W or Focus.

While these phones seem to have amazing hardware for the price, which will not be found in Android, I'd like to know how a Windows phone will compare to someone sold to Android.

I am aware of limitations like no removable storage, no Bluetooth transfers, etc., but what about the app. front? Apps that will need to be used extensively are maps/navigation, FB, Whatsapp, Yahoo, browser, Youtube, dictionaries, etc. (seems there no Opera for Win??). Even stuff like Goggle Goggles, Gesture Search, etc., does not seem to be available for Windows. Thats what I could glean from some quick reading on the net.

Actually the Defy Plus was being considered as its in the same price range, but it looses out due to the poor still and video cam performance. Also no SAMOLED screen. In fact no Android hardware seems to be in the same league.

Would really appreciate if anybody here using both OSs extensively can comment on how it would be to put up with Windows after Android.

[Raccoon]

^^^Thanks mate! That was the most detailed post I'v read about the differences. Those seem to be some very serious shortcomings. But question is how many of those defects MS will address during the lifespan of a WP that one buys today. The only thing that makes me consider it is the much better hardware which one cannot get at this price point and of course battery back up. Sigh... choosing a ph gotta be one of life's most difficult decision... :(

Btw, what do you think about navigation on WP compared to Andy? Similar issue with v limited solutions, I guess?