HTC Desire vs. Samsung Galaxy S

The HTC Desire & Samsung Galaxy S are the two best Android Devices out on the market at the moment, so we decided to put them up against each other to give you an idea of which is better at what. If you have anything you would like to know that isn’t covered in this brief post, leave a comment. So hit the break to get into it.

Desire vs Galaxy S

	HTC Desire	Samsung Galaxy S
Battery Life	Pretty bad at first, but as with most batteries, after a few charges it can hold itself up for a full day with non-intensive use. If you have GPS going and like to listen to music, you can kiss your battery goodbye fairly quickly	Not too bad given that it has a larger screen. Intensive use sees it last a bit longer than the Desire but you also have to factor in the extra 100mAh that the battery (1500mAh) has over the Desire (1400mAh). Will stop you from taking photos & listening to music when the phone begins to go flat
Display	Vivid colouring, but not as deep & clear as the Galaxy S. Very responsive.	Deep & clear colours and text. By far the best display on any Android Device.
User Interface	Sense UI is the by far the greatest User Interface available on the Android platform. It’s intuitive and brings a whole new layer to Android. Only downside is that it can be quite CPU intensive and slow, even when powered by a 1GHz CPU.	Samsung’s UI is.. sub-par. It doesn’t look at all professional and makes the phone feel kind of comical, which is a complete let down. I also found that it freezes all the time, but this has apparently been fixed by Samsung in an update.
Speaker	Fairly loud, but not the greatest quality sound. Doesn’t distort when up as loud as it goes.	Also fairly loud, quality is pretty good. Neither of the phones will blow your mind in terms of sound quality
Carrier Apps	Telstra has managed to pack 19-20 carrier applications on to the Desire, and after a while they will begin to annoy the hell out of you as they get in the way and do nothing but link you to websites. And if you’re connected to WiFi, they won’t even do that. They aren’t removable.	Optus has only put 4 carrier apps on to the Galaxy S and they at least seem to have a use, such as checking how much you’ve spent on your account. They are also no removable.
Usability	Very usable, pretty quick and easy to get a grasp of. You’ll continue to find new features for the first few weeks as some features are hidden away nicely.	Very simple to get a grasp of, if you’re coming from an iPhone you’ll have no problems what so ever.
Camera/Video	Can shoot 5MP photos that are quite clear and look brilliant if you size them down a bit. Video is pretty basic, but 720p is coming with the 2.2 update whenever that comes.	Also shoots 5MP photos that are pretty clear (see review). Video can be shot in 720p (see review again) and can look jelly-like when moved quickly. Comes with a front-facing camera for all your video calling needs. Has no camera flash and “night mode” makes photos look very noisy.
Updates	HTC update their devices usually quite quickly and are willing to tell you when an update is available. 2.2 is expected before Christmas.	Samsung have not been great with updates in the past, such as not telling people if their device can be updated. Updates for the Galaxy S should be available soon.
CPU/GPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 @ 1GHz (pdalab)	Samsung-Intrinsity S5PC110 @ 1GHz (pdalab)
Cost	The Desire will set you back $49/mo on Telstra or $768 outright which is cheaper than the Galaxy S. $729 from MobiCity	The Galaxy S will also set you back $49/mo on Optus but it’s $839 outright through Telechoice. $829 from MobiCity

Posted in: Phones, and Reviews

http://www.neeravbhatt.com Neerav

You forgot to say that the Galaxy S has no camera flash for the 5MP min camera, night mode photos have lots of noise and look terrible
- http://ausdroid.net/ Buzz Moody
  
  Thank you sir, updated . Have you still got your Galaxy S?
Deeksy

Seems like it’s neck and neck to me. Sense UI vs better screen seem to be the only major differences. If only Virgin would send me my Galaxy S…
http://petegraham.com Peter Graham

Great review buzz .. its a pretty close race between the two phones .. is it possible to add side by side tech specs to the review as well? .. just to make it a bit more comprehensive.
palndrumm

I’m having a difficult time deciding between these two phones. If it was just the phone I think I’d have a very slight preference for the Desire, but Telstra’s crapware and limited data allowance has me leaning towards the Galaxy S…
- Schmak
  
  Titanium Backup (free download from the Market) will uninstall the bloatware
  
  Also 2.2 for HTC Sense handsets should start appearing this week…
  - Ian
    
    Titanium backup only works if your phone is rooted.
TechHead

Agree with Peter. Audio & Video file format support would be my desire in particular.
TechHead

Well, you did say it was brief, so I guess spec detail doesn’t fall into that category.
mark

i want a desire. but i will not put up with telstra’s intrusive apps. their exclusive period is about to end.. is there any news of other carriers having desire’s??
- palndrumm
  
  Unfortunately I don’t think Telstra’s exclusive on the Desire is about to end – from memory the original 3 months exclusive period was extended to 6 months.
  
  (I’d love to be wrong on that though…)
  - mark
    
    thats depressing. i can bring myself to get a galaxy s either because it look so much like an iphone. superficial i know.. but i hate apple and iphones
- andrew
  
  mate, dont let this be a reason not to get the desire.
  I have a desire and whilst they are slightly annoying it is certainly no reason not to get the phone (the only reason they are annoying is they clutter the menu – which you use rarely anyway because u have 7 home screens to customise as u please). They dont take up much space either as they are just shortcuts to websites! approx 4kb each.
  im very happy with the phone. I would recommend it without a doubt
Wrinks

Exclusivity ends 21st October (launched 21st April) …
Wrinks

Wildfire on Telstra exclusivity begins August – period unknown …
http://ausdroid.net Buzz Moody

I’m currently away from a computer to add specs, but GSM Arena does it well

http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=3077&idPhone2=3115
- TechHead
  
  Thanks for the GSMarena link Buzz.
http://www.chaosdivine.net ChaosDave

I would add another category for upgrades which for me at least is a major part of choosing an android phone. Looking at the two companies history Samsung will likely update the Galaxy S to Android 2.2 but as soon as they have a newer phone will no longer support the galaxy S so it is unlikely to see Android 3.0. HTC on the other hand have a great track record of supporting phones that are nearly 2 years old so with the desire you are likely to see Android 3.0 and possibly whatever follows it.
Osseta

I believe the ARM Cortex A8 processor in the Galaxy S is meant to have a faster GPU than the snapdragon (many times faster I beleive).
Amos

What about installing “vanilla” Android on either of these? Is it possible?
That way you can hopefully break away from dependability on the hardware makers.
- Ragflan
  
  I think Paul O’Brien at Modaco.com is working on that for Galaxy. For Desire, I had 2.2 without Sense (the one for Nexus One) on my Desire for a long time. Now I’ve got 2.2 with SenseUI as well.
http://ausdroid.net/ Buzz Moody

Added ‘updates’ & ‘cpu’
http://matt.bottrell.com.au/ Matt

Text input in the Samsung has Swype. None offered by HTC.
Internal Storage is also the big difference.
- http://ausdroid.net/ Buzz Moody
  
  HTC has the HTC IME which is a take off of the Android Keyboard and work pretty well.
- Pulpy
  
  You can download/install Swype for Desire anyway, my friend’s done that with his Desire. As for me, I’m waiting for Galaxy S to come on 3.
James Finnigan

I was considering a desire because HTC Sense is a dynamite overlay. But the fact that the Galaxy S has true multi touch, the best processor in a phone at the moment, TV out and can play 720p mkv and divx files tipped the scale for me.

I also found the Samsung launcher horrible, but you can swap it out for LauncherPro and problem solved. I quite like the Samsung music and contacts application, because of the extra options they provide over the stock applications (like an EQ) without the slowness of the HTC apps. Android’s customisability makes the shipped software a kind of irrelevant consideration for me.

All up, I’ve found the phone to be brilliant, and I can’t recommend it enough.
Bren

Bought the HTC Desire yesterday because
– Does not look like an iPhone
– I can update to 2.2 now if I root the phone, ROMs for the Desire are easy
to find
- biggie
  
  I hate reading that the reason people wont buy the galaxy is because it looks like an iphone! so what who cares if you look at most touch screen phones they all have some form of resemblance to the iphone. In my opinion the new iphone looks better than any of these phones even the 3gs wasnt bad looking but the problem was just apple and their gay software.
  
  I have the galaxy top phone. It doesnt lag with me at all and i am already running 2.2 just did a quick software flash real simple. That being said my mate had the desire an upon using my galaxy for 5mins sold his desire and bought a galaxy.
  
  so to review:
  updates to 2.2 — check
  iphone looks — silly objections
  far better battery life — check
  far better screen — check
  - coder
    
    The iPhone (and Samsung Galaxy S) chromed bevelled edges are nasty looking. I’m sure bits of cake would get stuck between it and the screen. I prefer the flush/seemless look of Nexus One & Desire.
http://bcisathinking.blogspot.com/ Brett

I have both of these phones and did a quick review myself.
Definately best two phones in the country atm

http://bcisathinking.blogspot.com/2010/07/quick-thoughts-on-samsung-galaxy-s.html
http://ausdroid.net/ Buzz Moody

Personally I would choose the Galaxy S over the Desire, mainly because of the screen. If it can run vanilla android, then it’s perfect.
http://petegraham.com Peter Graham

lots of great back and forth chat on these replies .. its been really helpful and only further solidified me getting the galaxy s.
LJ

We have a Desire bought outright from FoneZone (call around to get a better price – we did and it for $735 when retail was $779, only $40, but better in my pocket) I played with a Galaxy today, I personally thought the graphics of the home screen/menu was a little childish and looked like a toy.
We are rather partial to HTC’s in this house (i have the Legend and my husband has the Desire)
Out of these two phones, I would recommend the Desire.
For those worried about the Telstra crapware, don’t…….easy to get rid of it.
- ace
  
  Could you please advise how you deleted all the craware from Desire? Have one, bought outright, on LiveConnected and want to get rid of Telstra apps…
  
  Cheers.
- Geo
  
  Yea… i’d like to know how you got rid of them as well. They’re so annoying and a waste of space on your app page. I know you can get rid of it if you root it but then it voids the warranty. Is there any other way that you can get rid of it?
Michael

I have both the HTC Desire (UK version) and the Samsung Galaxy S (from Optus). Galaxy S is easily mistaken for an iPhone. Desire looks a little more stylish IMHO. HTC Sense is nicer but you can install ADW or launcher pro on the Galaxy S to get that “Sense” experience if you need to. HTC Sense has more widgets that suited me better than the Touchwiz widgets but as Apple ads always say “There’s an app for that” so you can always replace what you have lost. The Galaxy S hardware beats the Desire hands down. Front facing VGA camera, 16GB (my version) internal SD card, excellent 3D accelerator chip and 802.11N just off the top of my head. If I hadn’t purchased a Galaxy S I would have been saying the Desire was the best but now I have both, I think the Galaxy S wins hands down but just requires a little more customisation to make the UI look as nice as HTC Sense.
Dan

Great comparison, but another valid category to compare would be ROM/storage. 512mb vs 2gb is quite a significant difference… esp only limited number of apps can do app2sd at thr moment. The 16gb internal is also very handy for media.

Keep up the great work buzz!
AnthonetteAntony

I owned the desire for a solid 3 months before switching over to samsung. The primary reason was a factor not even mentioned in there article – in built memory. I ran out of precious memory to install apps on the desire and had to pick and choose what Iwant but my samsung has 16gb inbuilt!

Froyo IS coming very son for the desire to eliminate this but the samsung phone is my ipod replacement and for that it doesn’t disappoint. I really miss Sense UI but found my fix by using LauncherPro and beautiful widgets. Also the bigger screen and technical aspects are g ood reasons to have a galaxy, if only it wasn’t so laggy at times.
CathyB

I’m tossing up between these 2 phones but need something with automatic answer facility (for skiing). Desire doesn’t have it – does anyone know if the Galaxy does?
http://www.chaosdivine.net ChaosDave

You might be able to get an app for that
Ewan

man all these comments have just made the choice between these two phones so much tougher!!!!
Ben

I have the Galaxy S, Bought it outright, and Im running it on Telstra.. By far the best phone I have ever owned, and I can see myself holding onto it for a few years at least.. I have read 100′s of comparisons on these 2 phones, and they are clearly ahead of iPhone 4. A lot of people are concerned about the Galaxy not having a Camera flash… So What? get a Digital camera… For Phone functionality, and general useability I have found the Galaxy to be perfect. FYI, my battery last around 48 hours, even speaking on the phone for 2 hours in that time, and listening to the MP3 player for an hour a day commuting. I have not mucked around with the Desire, so cant really comment, but I know they both flog iPhone 4.
- ChaosDave
  
  don’t really agree with you about the flash… this is supposed to be a top of the line smartphone not a budget dumbphone. If the Galaxy gpu/cpu was crap and it couldn’t play half the games on the market would tell someone So What?.. go get a PSP?
  - http://louisgale.blogspot.com Xcalibur
    
    I think what he is saying is that phones that DO have a camera flash, still take shitty pictures (the LED flash is extremely limited), so its no big loss not to have one. I have a good SLR camera in addition to my phone for just this reason. Even in a pinch the flash is pretty darn useless.
i don’t want to buy an iphone

so the Galaxy Ss are finally back in stock and oh my goodness. just an unbelievable phone. i played with the iphone4 a day before its release and it was fun, don’t get me wrong. but it was like watching a child dabble in finger-painting compared to the divine artistry of the galaxy s. everyone who sees the phone is blown away. what a boost for android believers. i’m a very happy non-apple customer.
Dave

This is the best page I found researching these phones (esp with the specs link added in comments!). I have been reading and watching youtube comparisons between these two and the iphone for hours and have had a hard time deciding. here is an idea- and maybe someone can tell me why this is not possible… maybe some manufacturer can make a case for the galaxy that has a light on it (front and back) that can help when taking pictures in the dark. I know it seems like a small problem but if i’m going to invest in a phone that will have the price and power high enough to take pictures then the pictures should be half decent in low light ( i agree with Chaos dave above). I find it so frustrating that they didn’t include a light because its a hardware problem… apps can solve the other problems.. So would it be possible to make a case that may add a small amount of bulk but has a strong light? challenges would be #1) power — (have a small battery –or some connection to the phone’s mini usb –or solar power case — if solar powered then can maybe also be used to route emergency power to phone if needed) #2) sync up with taking picture … (either light just stays on or off via switch on case — or again connect through mini usb with software link up.. or a count down timer to help you know when to snap). – I realize some people will find this ridiculous but I like brainstorming solutions.
Pete

Do either support flash??? If so, in what platform… ie adobe, quick time… etc
- http://ausdroid.net/ Buzz Moody
  
  Desire running 2.1 runs Flash Lite/Mobile. Galaxy S running 2.1 doesn’t support Flash.
  
  Both running 2.2 natively support Flash 10.1
dave

well i took the plunge and finally went with the i-phone 4. I had been comparing: htc desire, samsung galaxy s and the i-phone 4. when i played with the htc desire and the galaxy s in store they seemed “sticky” they weren’t flowing like the iphone. why did i ultimately go i-phone? In my experience –after having been burned by every other crappy mp3 player i ended up splurging on an i-pod that i have had for years and never had a problem. every other product i owned for music has broken or died pre-maturely. So when i tested out the galaxy and desire and they were a little bit sticky ithought “oh not a good sign. i could see this bugging out, freezing up and making me angry” I’m NOT an apple/ mac user . I’m not one of those mac zombies but I want quality i can trust. now that i have it here is what is annoying: The interface is not as easy to navigate around as i had hoped. i feel like i have to constantly click back to a home screen to do things and then the apps are still running in the bg when i am done.. so i have to duoble click, hold the icon down in the multitask tray and individiaully close each app. its annoying. from what i read the htc desire has a more fluid path of interaction (not to be confused with the processor speed and interface speed and accuracy reacting to touch commands which is fantastic on the i-phone), So the iphone has a path you have to follow to use it that is restrictive and I imagine the other phones have more options to personalize it however the phone works quite well and graphics and visuals look great. set up with i tunes and the app store are super easy too. One last annoyancce; no flash and i have been denied from watching a video clip on quite a few websites. Its definitely something to consider don’t let anyone say that you don’t need flash its everywhere!
- dave
  
  UPDATE:
  I have had the iphone 4 for about 5 months now and my gf just got the samsung galaxy s. She got the galaxy s because the phone plan was cheaper and the we have been hearing its A LOT better than the iphone 4 and that people who have had both wish they could switch to samsung galaxy s phone. MY review of both? The iphone is far better.
  The samsung galaxy s is so complicated its ridiculous. I thought the user interface on the iphone 4 was annoying. The iphone 4 is a dream in comparison. Dont get me wrong , first 5 minutes out of the box i was impressed with the galaxy because it has so many new bells and whistles but its so clunky. The Kies software doesnt work at all its terrible. whereas iphone syncs up perfectly with i tunes and runs flawlessly. So i was told just dont use keys. use your phone as an external hard drive and just drag and drop your music etc. so i did. The music had all the wrong covers on the albums and songs (it took one cover and used it for half the music) the music player UI doesnt have as many options as ipod app on iphone 4 and is too complicate dto navigate… so now i need to find a better music app. same with books. i can import books very easily into my iphone4 i added 1.5 gig worth of epub books with extreme ease. I cant even find a blog that helps me do it for the samsung galaxy without having to spend hours to figure it out. the android app store is crap compared to the iphone both with choices and the interface. plus when you see screen shots of the apps on the galaxcy they are pixelated and impossible to understand unless you click through to a larger screen. on the iphone all info is crystal clear and moves with ease. also, the folders that show up on the galaxy s make no sense. there is one folder entitled “media” which has music. thats it. where is video, books, ringtones, screens. its not clear at all. I have already spent about 20 hours googling blogs to get this thing to runbetter and have gotten nowhere. I dont mind having the options of changing everything. in fact it is nice to have some ooptions but out of the box this thing should run like a dream and instead its a nightmare. besides this is my gf phone who is NOT a tech head at all so she would get no where without me researching and researching for her. If you are a computer programmer maybe get the samsung galaxy so you can show off your own unique interface that yuou built yourself but if you want a phone that works great out of the box get the iphone 4. one more thing the galaxy has now crashed about ten times since we bought it. Initially I found the UI for iphone for a bit rough and it COULD be tweeked and refined to make it great but the interface on the galaxy S is TERRIBLE. its not the least bit ergonomic. I highly recomend the iphone 4 over the galaxy unless you are a very seasoned computer programmer or experienced tech head and you want to spend lots of time retweeking your phone.
Junon

Unfortunately I don’t owe any of the phones mentioned above. but I’ve played around with them. I’ve found that Glaxy s has very clear screen.Both phone look really cool and easy to use but glaxy s does’t have any flush which hinders me buying it. Apparently i’ve found that mobile camera is so important. Don’t know I’m looking for outright can’t stick for 2 years contract.
Junon

That’s own not owe ops mistaken
Magda

Hi i am from Romania and i have just bought Samsung Galaxy S. Before i bought this i test HTC DESIRE. I
Magda

Hi i am from Romania and i have just bought Samsung Galaxy S. Before i bought this i test HTC DESIRE. I did not know what to do; One friend of mine chose HTC;
Magda

Hi i am from Romania and i have just bought Samsung Galaxy S. Before i bought this i test HTC DESIRE. I did not know what to do; One friend of mine chose HTC; I must tell know that he envies me! The Screen is Super Amoled; the speed is faster; the memory stock is better; The screen is wider, thinner and is not as heavy as HTC! It is just perfect for my requirements!
Miro

There is a great need of update to froyo 2.2 Maybe if i write on every forum, someone from Samsung will notice and do something about that! Thank you!
Chuckls

Hi guys

A couple of questions:

1. Do either or both of these phones have etiquette mode? (i.e. Turn it face down and it goes into silent mode)

2. Do either or both of these phones automatically go into landscape mode when tilted.

My Samsung Omnia used to do both, but the Omnia II doesn’t automatically go into landscape mode.

If I could turn my Omnia II into an Android phone, I’d just stay with this.

Looking forward to your comments.

Cheers
- Grunger
  
  Not too sure about the etiquette mode but both does goes into landscape mode automatically when you tilt it.
Gaia

Hi Chuckls,
I can only answer to your first question … A friend of mine has got the HTC Desire and it does have this mode (“etiquette” ?). He uses a lot this possibility of turning it face down to get it quickly silent !!!
Moaz

Just get an iphone 4 people…much better than Andriod phones!
- http://ausdroid.net/ Buzz Moody
  
  True
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GIGIPEDALA

I REALY DO TINK THAT HTC DESIRE IS BETTER