Nexus One vs. HTC HD2?

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Tom

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
13,293
1
76
Windows mobile is the best, most complete,most powerful, most customizable OS available.
 
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dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
8,558
3
76
N1 because of the OS. If the HD2 was Android then I'd say get it.
 
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Pliablemoose

Pliablemoose

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
25,195
0
56
I would be reluctant to buy the HD2 as the OS is toast, in 2 years Android will be quite a bit more refined than it is now, WM will be little changed with few more apps.

As I do like to mod my phones and I have little doubt there'll be an unauthorized port of Android the the HD2, I have no qualms about buying one personally, but for someone that'll be comparing the device to iPhones and Android phones for the next 2 years, she may well hate you for the HD2, and at the very least need to upgrade prior to the end of a new contract.
 
Deeko

Deeko

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
30,213
12
81
Honestly - Windows Mobile 6.5 w/ Sense does not suck. It really doesn't, no matter what Engadget tells you. Is it as polished as Android or WebOS? No...but people think "Windows Mobile" and their mind goes to the old-school WinMo 6.0/6.1 that was around for so long. They really are nothing alike. Especially the latest release, 6.5.3 (which hopefully makes its way to the HD2 soon), it really is a modern, touch-friendly OS.

The HD2 has superior hardware. While they have the same CPU, the HD2 has more RAM (not much - 576 vs 512, but more is more). It also has a larger screen. Also, the HD2 is actually sold by T-Mobile...easier to get support that way. While stock Android might be easier to use than stock WinMo 6.5, HTC Sense is easier to use than stock Android. How tech savvy is your gf?

Pliablemoose - I believe there's there's already a port of Android for the HD2. It isn't 100%, but its working.

For what its worth, I've owned three Windows Mobile phones (T-Mobile SDA, T-Mobile Dash, Palm Treo 700wx) and two Android phones (T-Mobile G1, Motorola Droid), and when its released in two days, I am switching back to T-Mobile and getting the HD2 - not the Nexus One.
 
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Suspicious-Teach8788

Lifer
Feb 19, 2001
20,155
23
81
Deeko said:
Honestly - Windows Mobile 6.5 w/ Sense does not suck. It really doesn't, no matter what Engadget tells you. Is it as polished as Android or WebOS? No...but people think "Windows Mobile" and their mind goes to the old-school WinMo 6.0/6.1 that was around for so long. They really are nothing alike. Especially the latest release, 6.5.3 (which hopefully makes its way to the HD2 soon), it really is a modern, touch-friendly OS.

The HD2 has superior hardware. While they have the same CPU, the HD2 has more RAM (not much - 576 vs 512, but more is more). It also has a larger screen. Also, the HD2 is actually sold by T-Mobile...easier to get support that way. While stock Android might be easier to use than stock WinMo 6.5, HTC Sense is easier to use than stock Android. How tech savvy is your gf?

Pliablemoose - I believe there's there's already a port of Android for the HD2. It isn't 100%, but its working.

For what its worth, I've owned three Windows Mobile phones (T-Mobile SDA, T-Mobile Dash, Palm Treo 700wx) and two Android phones (T-Mobile G1, Motorola Droid), and when its released in two days, I am switching back to T-Mobile and getting the HD2 - not the Nexus One.
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Thank you. I think a lot of people easily jump to the "OMG WINMO SUCKS" because Engadget says so or because the US rarely gets good WinMo phones. It's almost like the crowd that goes "Nokia? Hah they don't even make good phones for the US." (mostly the people who said this pre N97 who never even knew about the N95, N82... because now in the N97 era yeah I agree they suck).

And if you guys are willing to follow XDA or Modaco, there are some incredible Windows Mobile ROMs out there. There's also a buttload of apps out there for WinMo. You can talk about the Android Market having 30,000 apps, but it never felt like the same 30,000 in the Apple App store. I bet half of these 30,000 are widgets and customizations because I know with Handcent for example, you can download 6 different font packs. WinMo on the other hand has been around for a long time, and has its share of useful apps too.

Had the HD2 debuted with 850/1900, I think I would've grabbed it over Android.
 
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dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
8,558
3
76
Engadget review says the HD2 only has 448MB of ram. Is the screen even AMOLED? Can't seem to find anything indicating it is.

I've never used Windows Mobile, I only know what I've read. Not just Engadget either, but virtually everything hasn't been very positive including stuff from Paul Thurrott, a crazy windows fanatic. Lots of complaints about how much of the OS is very unpolished. How the design is inconsistent. How lots of menus that were designed a long time ago with a stylus in mind have not been updated to be friendly for fingers. There's also the fact that Windows Mobile 6.5 is as dead as dead can be from a developer, support, and future proof standpoint. If you buy an Android phone, you're gonna get updates to new versions of the OS for a long time.

There's no doubt in my mind that Windows Mobile 6.5 is extremely usable and capable however.
 
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Deeko

Deeko

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
30,213
12
81
dguy6789 said:
Engadget review says the HD2 only has 448MB of ram. Is the screen even AMOLED? Can't seem to find anything indicating it is.
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The original was only 448. The T-Mobile version got a bump.

To the best of my knowledge, no, it is not AMOLED. Which is good and bad. Look at the Droid vs Nexus One - some like Droid's screen better, some like Nexus One's. I think AMOLED will be a bigger deal in its next iteration - like Samsung's "Super AMOLED"
 
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dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
8,558
3
76
Deeko said:
The original was only 448. The T-Mobile version got a bump.

To the best of my knowledge, no, it is not AMOLED. Which is good and bad. Look at the Droid vs Nexus One - some like Droid's screen better, some like Nexus One's. I think AMOLED will be a bigger deal in its next iteration - like Samsung's "Super AMOLED"
Click to expand...

Ahh, that makes sense. I'm a big fan of AMOLED. The screen on my N1 produces better colors than my desktop PC monitor XD The screen is also good enough to use for reading ebooks.
 
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Deeko

Deeko

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
30,213
12
81
dguy6789 said:
I've never used Windows Mobile, I only know what I've read. Not just Engadget either, but virtually everything hasn't been very positive including stuff from Paul Thurrott, a crazy windows fanatic. Lots of complaints about how much of the OS is very unpolished. How the design is inconsistent. How lots of menus that were designed a long time ago with a stylus in mind have not been updated to be friendly for fingers. There's also the fact that Windows Mobile 6.5 is as dead as dead can be from a developer, support, and future proof standpoint. If you buy an Android phone, you're gonna get updates to new versions of the OS for a long time.
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A lot of the inconsistencies come from the difference between TouchFlo and stock - portions of stock are not finger-friendly, whereas TouchFlo obviously is. However, with the HD2, they took Sense a lot deeper into the OS. A lot of the reviews when WinMo 6.5 came out were based around devices like the Touch Pro 2 and Imagio. These still had resistive touch screens and ARM11 processors. The HD2 is a whole different animal.

Not to mention that WinMo has improved since release. While this hasn't made its way to the HD2 officially, there's tons of custom ROMs that have it. Take a look at Engadget's blurb on 6.5.3:

It's finally here: Windows Mobile 6.5.3, the iterative finger-friendly Windows Mobile release that should have been wrapped into 6.5.0. The latest mobile wares from Microsoft come wrapped inside the Sony Ericsson Aspen (aka, Faith); a business-focused QWERTY candybar with 2.4-inch QVGA TFT touchscreen LCD, 3.2 megapixel camera, A-GPS with Google Maps, 3.5-mm audio jack, WiFi, and microSD expansion. This latest addition to Sony Ericsson's GreenHeart portfolio comes in black or white silver and packs quad-band GSM/EDGE with either HSPA 900/2100 or 850/900/2100 radios (depending on region). Available in Q2.

Back to Windows Mobile 6.5.3 for a second, although this is a .dot.dot update it's actually a fairly significant move for Microsoft. For starters, this release now includes a more finger-friendly layout (no stylus needed even when digging deep into the OS), support for capacitive touchscreens (huzzah!), and acts as a platform to enable multitouch. Microsoft has also improved browser performance with faster page load times and better memory management while improving the pan and flick gestures and zoom and rotational speeds. Sounds like somebody is getting ready for Mobile World Congress.
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Your statement on the platform being "dead as dead can be" really is misguided. From a support standpoint? Not at all. Microsoft hasn't announced anything like that at all. Considering they're still releasing new iterations of 6.5, I'd say they're still supporting it. For apps, yea, Android has more apps than Windows Mobile - but there are still apps to do just about whatever you need on WinMo. Not to mention the fact that there are still twice as many WinMo phones in operation as Android, so its not like developers ignore them completely.
 
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dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
8,558
3
76
I read that Microsoft was telling everyone to abandon 6.5 and develop for 7. That's where my statement comes from.
 
Deeko

Deeko

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
30,213
12
81
I haven't seen anything where Microsoft tells people NOT to develop for 6.5. Naturally during all their Windows Mobile 7 presentations they were hyping and encouraging WinMo7 development - but I would think in their eyes, the ideal solution is devs working on both platforms.
 
Rottie

Rottie

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2002
4,795
2
81
if HTC HD2 cant update to Windows Phone 7 then forget it get Nexus One!
 
F

Fox5

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
5,957
7
81
I've used every WinMo platform from the original Windows CE landscape orientation devices, all the way up to Windows Mobile 6.5. Back in the day it was the best thing around, despite its frustrations. Nowadays, it isn't worth a look see unless you're already locked into it. I've tried the fixes and custom roms (XDA developers made it into my permanent book marks), I've tried the skins, and I've tried SPB mobile shell. And every new version (including the minor point releases) has always been the one to 'fix' its problems. Nothing can hide the fact that it's an incomplete, buggy platform, and as a regular linux and PC user for well over a decade I'm no stranger to buggy incomplete platforms. Performance seems sluggish and random, the interface is annoying to use even with a stylus, and almost impossible without, and the stock GUI is just ugly. Some of the skins, like the Sense UI are pretty, but only for the things included in the UI. You buy an open OS platform to be able to use other programs, but then you're jarringly back into the world of winmo.

Windows Mobile is the equivalent of if Microsoft had kept Windows 9x on the desktop, updated all the way into present day, without ever releasing Windows XP. Apple would have dominated the OS market had that happened, and that's what's happening in mobile. WinMo and Win9x were serviceable for their hardware back in the day, but Windows Mobile is long overdue for a Windows XP style upgrade. Windows Phone 7 could be that, but it looks like microsoft has turned it into a device platform, instead of a full featured OS.

As a decade long user of Windows Mobile/PocketPC products, I say good riddance. Blackberry, iphone, android, webos, symbian, anything is preferable to winmo.
(openness of the OS is a big priority to me, but even that's not enough to move winmo out of last place with me)
My personal rankings would be:
Android
WebOS
Iphone - I'd have to jail break it before I'd be happy with it
Blackberry - Not even in the same league as the other smart phones imo in terms of functionality, but it does phone and communication stuff really well, while the others are attempting to be multimedia/full computer devices.
WinMo - Maybe the newest point release fixes its problems, maybe all it needed was even more powerful hardware, but I'm done giving it chances.

Unranked:
Symbian - never used, but it seems like a similar like a similar workhorse to winmo, except nokia continually updates it and improves the development and driver framework, whereas all the development tools/frameworks microsoft is announcing for windows phone 7 SHOULD have been made available for the windows mobile platform.

(Personally, I'm on Nokia's N900, which uses its maemo platform. It has its problems, but I still prefer it to windows mobile.)

One last thing, anyone who does own a Windows Mobile device, I recommend checking out SPB mobile. It IS an awesome product, but a $30 add on shouldn't be necessary to make a phone user friendly.
Other awesome programs for Windows Mobile:
Coreplayer, Opera Web Browser (even paid for this back in the day, before it was free!), iGuidance (served my GPS needs for years until the charging dock for my car died)
 
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F

Fox5

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
5,957
7
81
Tom said:
Fox5-

I'd really like a list of the "bugs" you say Win Mo 6.5 has ??
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Nothing repeatable, just in the same way the old windows 9x OS's used to randomly lock up or their programs crash, I've had the same experience across multiple windows mobile devices. I'm not alone in this either, my friends who have owned windows mobile devices have had the same experience, primarily with 3rd party apps, but it still is something that doesn't appear to happen on the other platforms. Removing the battery of my windows mobile device to reset it was a fairly common occurrence.
 
Deeko

Deeko

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
30,213
12
81
Fox5 said:
Nothing repeatable, just in the same way the old windows 9x OS's used to randomly lock up or their programs crash, I've had the same experience across multiple windows mobile devices. I'm not alone in this either, my friends who have owned windows mobile devices have had the same experience, primarily with 3rd party apps, but it still is something that doesn't appear to happen on the other platforms. Removing the battery of my windows mobile device to reset it was a fairly common occurrence.
Click to expand...

I can't speak for all platforms, but 3rd party apps that are coded wrong crash on Android all the time.
 
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