HTC Desire HD vs Samsung Galaxy S
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The HTC Desire HD and the Samsung Galaxy S are quite a fertile ground for comparison, due to the fact that both phones employ huge screens, coupled to latest generation chipsets. We ought to stage a cage fight to check how the powerful silicon fares at feeding the monstrous displays with visuals, and if there are any actual battery life advantages from the allegedly power-sipping chipsets - big screen phones are notorious for sucking the life out of the battery faster than your toddler finishes a juice box.
Both handsets are running Android, but that's where most of the similarities end, as HTC's and Samsung's approaches to design and software are indeed very different. Who will come out ahead in what department? Glimpse through this comparison to find out...
Design:
When the first smartphones with big screens hit the market, they were considered niche gadgets. Lugging around a 4“ or 4.3“ screen in your pocket is not for the faint of heart, especially when you sit down, after all. HTC was the company behind the first smartphones with big screens of high resolution – with the HTC Touch HD, and the outstanding HTC HD2. Too bad those were running WinMo, and didn't get mainstream. We can pretty much pencil in these feelings towards the pre-EVO era, as the HTC EVO 4G ushered us in times where phones with big screens are hip and desirable.
The HTC Desire HD might have been referred to as an EVO 4G for the rest of the world, but the differences are too significant to call it that. It runs a second generation 1GHz Snapdragon chipset, has a solid aluminum unibody, and the newest version of the HTC Sense UI, which brings significant functionality changes.
Samsung Galaxy S, on the other hand, introduced the Super AMOLED screen technology to Android handsets, has a 1GHz Hummingbird SoC with theoretically the fastest graphics processing on a phone, and an all-plastic, thin and light design. Being made entirely of plastic has its positives - plastic is lighter and less rigid thаn metal, and this may actually help the precious Super AMOLED screen survive drops and other rough handling.
Those different approaches towards the design make for the entirely opposite feel of the two handsets when held. The HTC Desire HD is wider and thicker than the Galaxy S, which is explicable considering the slightly larger screen and aluminum casing, but the metal also makes it a third heavier at 5.78 oz (164 g), than the 4.16 oz (118 g) Samsung Galaxy S, which feels almost eerily thin and light for a handset with a 4“ screen. A huge solid slab versus featherly feeling – we have to give the handling round to the Samsung Galaxy S, although the Desire HD is just beautiful in its aluminum unibody with soft-touch plastic elements.
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When held, the two handsets make for an entirely opposite feel | |
Speaking of screens, this one will be a tough call – the 4.3“ Super LCD on the HTC Desire HD is only a tad larger than the 4“ Super AMOLED one on the Galaxy S, but looks quite bigger, thanks to the visual effect of the larger, solid body of HTC's phone. Both screens are of the same resolution - 480x800 pixels and are able to show more than 16 million colors. Even though the pixel density on the Samsung Galaxy S should be a bit higher, the picture when browsing looks slightly more pixelated than the one on the Desire HD, thanks to the specifics of the PenTile matrix used in the production of the Super AMOLED screens. These are nitpicking differences, though, and the resolution is high enough for some gorgeous visuals on both phones.
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The HTC Desire HD (left, down) and the Samsung Galaxy S (right, up) | |
Now off to the juicy stuff - Super AMOLED is 20% brighter, has 20% less power consumption and is 80% less sunlight reflective than regular AMOLED screens. Super LCD, on the other hand, is the way HTC handles the AMOLED display supply shortages that plagued some of its handsets this year. It is a big leap forward for the LCD technology, as it is characterized by higher brightness and contrast, wider viewing angles, and, most importantly, up to five times better power management than previous generation LCD screens. For a more detailed overview of the two technologies, you can read our article on the topic. The take from the article is that they are good in different things – the Super AMOLED is better for watching videos, thanks to its saturated colors, wide viewing angles, and less power drain when showing colorful images. However, it eats up to three times more battery when showing white – when browsing or reading, for example - thus almost neutering the natural avantage of AMOLED screens, which don't require power-hungry backlighting to function. The Super LCD is practically brighter than the Super AMOLED, which helps in direct sunlight, but the screen on the Galaxy S has a special coating that decreases the light reflectance to the extremely low 4%. This evened things out outside, and when we add the saturated colors, low reflectance and wide viewing angles of the screen on the Samsung Galaxy S, we'd even give it a slight advantage in sunlight visibility.
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Sunlight visibility test | |
Still, we'd take the Super AMOLED screen of one and the same resolution any day before an LCD one – battery life would be comparable if you don't do a lot of browsing or reading, but the vivid colors, incredibly high contrast and wide viewing angles more than make up for the higher brightness of the LCD display. On full brightness, the black on the LCD screen looks greyish and the colors appear washed out, while the pixels stay completely off on the Samsung Galaxy S when displaying black, achieving bright, contrasty image. What the 4.3” of the HTC Desire HD has going for it, of course, is that it's just bigger.
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The sides of the HTC Desire HD (down) and the Samsung Galaxy S (up) | |
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29 Comments
2. Mart (unregistered) posted on 17 Nov 2010, 23:29 0 0
A very close call between these 2. I'm still trying to decide which phone I upgrade to in Feb 2011. By that time maybe Samsung will have launched their upgrade to the Galaxy S, as rumoured. If that's the case then my choice is simple - come on Sammy, let the games begin !
3. Yassham (unregistered) posted on 18 Nov 2010, 11:05 1 0
Uhhm , Sorry For Your Conclusion But :
8MP 2xLED Vs 5MP No LED ( Hanging With Some Friends In The Night And To Say Sorry I Don't Have Flash ' ! )
1GHZ 786 MB RAM Vs 1GHZ 512 MB RAM ( Booting In The HTC Is Way Quicker Than The Samsung... )
4.3" SLCD Vs 4.0" SAMOLED ( I Understand That SAMOLED Are Better Than SLCD But It A 4.3" Will Be Better On Typing And Browsing Web )
HTC Desire HD Vs Samsung Galaxy S ( Better Sound Quality And Loudness , Better Voice Quality, Better Navigation On The HTC .
Just Some Option In The Samsung That Are Better Than The HTC Which Are :
SAMOLED, A 1h Difference Of Battery , Plastic Design .
I Would Definilty Choose The HTC Desire HD
4. argumon (unregistered) posted on 19 Nov 2010, 05:39 0 0
One thing is completely left out, as it will not occur under test conditions. The more apps are installed on an SGS, the it lags, making it completely unusable with 10 or so screens of apps (not running, just installed). Search for SGS lagfix and you know what I am talking about. This can be fixed if you like to be a kernel hacker on your phone. But for the average user, the SGS will become mostly unusable with more apps installed.
This problem does not occur out.-of-the-box or with just a handfull of apps, so it is not covered in test situations. I gave my SGS back for that reason
5. Jaskaran (unregistered) posted on 23 Nov 2010, 09:25 0 0
SGS is really very nice and powerful device. using it for a month with 100+ apps installed but no lags. its pretty fast.......
I think I made a good decision
6. Alui (unregistered) posted on 23 Nov 2010, 09:26 0 0
Desire HD is just too big. I played with a showroom unit and I did not like it how it feels in the hand. Also it does not have a secondary camera (to be used for video calls or taking pictures of the guy who stole your phone with Track and Protect app:) ). Why? Why did HTC not put the secondary camera on their flagship Android phone?
I think there should be a clear limit between smartphones and tablets. With 4.3 inch screens the phone is a small tablet in fact. So IMHO, the screen smartphones should be 4 inch tops. Tablets from 7 inch onwards. Any screen between these sizes does not make much sense for me. What smartphone producers should do, is to increase resolution of the screen, not the size.
8. ItsMichaelNotMike posted on 23 Nov 2010, 22:22 0 0
Although I own the Samsung Galaxy S (T-Mobile Vibrant) and love the phone (probably the best I have ever owned), I am not biased toward it.
I can objectively say that this shoot out ("review") is spot on accurate. It's also very detailed, well written and thorough. Have to say it's one of the finest product reviews I have ever read.
I have an HTC HD2, a MyTouch Slide, and Touch Pro2 (oh, and a G1). So I am familiar with HTC products and I have always said HTC is the hottest handset maker on the planet.
So I was quite surprised that the Samsung Galaxy S turned out to be as good a handset as it is. Sure, there's a few things I don't like, but no handset and software has ever been perfect, in my experience.
A pleasant surprise is that my Vibrant has held its own against the 2010 holiday phones. I figured that by now a Samsung competitor would have come out with some phone that might motivate me to consider the Vibrant "outdated." But so far no one has debuted a phone that beats my Samsung Galaxy S in terms of hardware, form factor, specs, software and performance.
After having used the Vibrant for six months now, the only complaint I have is that when shooting a video the volume rocker at the side of the phone functions as the digital zoom adjustment. I have accidentally hit that at times when shooting videos with one hand. I'd like to be able to disable that feature (digital zoom).
Interestingly, that's all I can come up with, in criticism of my Samsung Galaxy S. LOL.
9. ItsMichaelNotMike posted on 23 Nov 2010, 22:54 0 0
Oh, I have my HD2 to compare HTC's 4.3" handsets with, both in form factor and weight. I have to say the HD2 has a great, quality feel to it (when I got it in March 2010 I was thoroughly impressed with it. It was pleasing to the touch and felt like the $500 I paid for it.)
However, comparing the two, I prefer the Vibrant's extremely light weight. I know some criticize the Vibrant (Samsung Galaxy S) as being and feeling like cheap plastic. But that doesn't bother me because a lot of my expensive phones are "cheap plastic."
For example, my Touch Pro2, an excellent HTC phone that debuted in August 2009, had an expensive looking back, the battery cover looking like brushed metal. But the cover was simply "cheap plastic." And that phone was HTC's flagship product at the time, costing $550 retail here in the U.S. and over U.S. $700 in Europe.
It is kind of amusing how people (even professional reviewers) commented on how "cheap" the Samsung Galaxy S felt, simply because it was so light. I guess people thought (and continue to think) that expensive electronics should feel expensive, as in being heavy.
10. tanchev (unregistered) posted on 27 Nov 2010, 15:13 0 0
Your voice is so stupid man, just go and kill yourself somewhere.. i don`t want to listen to your voice because it`s so stupid. Make some blowjobs and maybe your voice will change. Varna bitch!
11. jony.tk (unregistered) posted on 02 Dec 2010, 09:28 0 0
I've got 2 questions.
Does the Desire HD have frontal camera?
Does the Samsung Galaxy S have flash with the camera?
I guess the answer to both are "no".
12. Sven posted on 12 Dec 2010, 07:39 1 0
it's really amazing how people on this site are "HTC-haters"!!!!! when you read a comparison review or a single htc review, it's always HTC who's the worst!!!!! stop doing this to our lovely HTC mobiles please! every phone has its + and - !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
13. GalaxyS Rocks (unregistered) posted on 03 Jan 2011, 06:41 0 0
Galaxy S is the best! Using it from last one month and very satisfied overall. Just updated to FROYO through Kies, no hassle no lag prbs. Already installed almost 95+ apps from the market no crash no hickups etc...And who use mobile camera's to capture the photo's at night????..Foolish, even if you have a flash you can't capture a good quality pictures at night as compared to any handycam(5mgpxl). Galaxy S is a full entertainment box in terms of size, price and handling..Jumbo HTC need a jumbo hands and jumbo pocket to caryy it.
:)--------------
14. MVB (unregistered) posted on 04 Jan 2011, 23:22 0 0
GalaxyS Rocks posted:
Jumbo HTC need a jumbo hands and jumbo pocket to caryy it.
Sucks to have suck a low IQ as yourself if you think that
3.8mm wider, 1.9mm thicker and .6mm taller makes the HTC so much more larger.
Desire HD = 68mm(2.68") X 11.8mm(0.46") X 123mm(4.84")
Galaxy S = 64.2mm(2.53") X 9.9 mm(0.39") X 122.4mm(4.82")
The size difference is minimal and I'm sorry to hear about your small hands.
15. crytek (unregistered) posted on 07 Jan 2011, 18:09 0 0
My personal experience
Sense UI is the only advantage of HTC`s flagship unit
Samsung is all the way better in everything else, hands down
crytek
16. Don.Camello posted on 10 Jan 2011, 06:24 0 0
I spent hours reading your valuable comments everyone. I think the choice is still hard to decide between both devices. but, I think I will go for the HTC today, because of the larger screen, which is easier to type for larger fingers as I use emails most of the time.
But I'm really worried about the battery issue, I think I'll have to buy a car charger and another emergency charger.. although I hate to walk with all that wires in my pockets :-)
But still the HTC Desire HD is the one who grapped my most attention.
17. snuski (unregistered) posted on 12 Jan 2011, 06:56 0 0
The battery could be uppgradable to 1800 m on desire hd i heard somewhere
18. Ashmit (unregistered) posted on 16 Jan 2011, 02:47 0 0
It was a very difficult decision......but I chose Galaxy S.....but that doesn't mean Desire HD is not good.
1. DHD has 8 MP cam but Galaxy's 5MP cam is equivalent to it even better in some daylight pics, DHD has flash but LED flash doesn't make much difference.
2. Galaxy has world's best 4" Super AMOLED screen(Scratch resistance Gorilla glass display) and full touch phones are all about navigating on screen like browsing internet, watching videos, watching pics you took or uploaded into your phone, playing graphics rich games etc all is pleasure on Galaxy's screen. DHD has 4.3" S-LCD which is good too but .3 inches doesn't make any difference as 4" is more then enough and S-LCD can't be compared to Super AMOLED.
3. HD video quality is far better in Galaxy S and has video out capability.
4. Galaxy S has front facing cam for video calling.
5. Better Audio quality.
6. Most importantly battery life.....DHD needs to be charged by evening after moderate use but Galaxy S's battery works whole day even more.
I compromised on build quality and LED flash because that is not much important for me then the other things specially Display and battery backup.
19. the critiquer (unregistered) posted on 25 Jan 2011, 11:22 0 0
I must say that the desire hd is an awesome phone... Probably the best match up for galaxy s. I can clearly see why people would prefer the htc with its monstrous 4'3" display, fast download speeds and so on. However, it is not perfect. All these features... including those in the o.s overlay, do eat away at the time you have with the phone. What's the point of so many features if you won't be able to use them long?
Take my advice, the sgs delivers where its most important. Its close, but sgs just about remains as the smartphone king for now.
20. James1998 (unregistered) posted on 02 Feb 2011, 09:38 0 0
Hi also just spent hours trying to figure out which one to buy. Eventually I chose the Samsung, mainly because the screen looks a lot nicer and the battery life is better. The HTC looks nice, but a little too big and that screen looks washed out compared to the Samsung. Plus, I'm worried about battery life. The lack of flash on the Samsung bothers me. I have the Nexus at the moment and the flash was very useful. But hopefully I won't miss it too much. I receive the Samsung tomorrow. Can't wait!
21. Rubadubadoobag (unregistered) posted on 06 Feb 2011, 01:53 0 0
Well, maybe the Samsung is better. But Im pretty sure the Desire will do better, because as a casual buyer/user, I looked at both of them and decided to pay more for the latter because the former felt and looked cheap and lightweight. Like it or not a book's cover is part of the purchase calculus and the Galaxy S's build will tell against it even if it is objectively a + for women and small-handed men.
