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Dual core dilemma

M

mikec15

Lurker
Hi.
Am about to upgrade my phone, want to go to Android, and am very interested in a dual core phone. I'm no fan of Samsung, so the GSII is out. I like the look of HTC, but am not sure of the Sensation in terms of screen quality and its size. My main uses of the phone are (obviously) staying in touch, using the web, organising myself, taking the odd snaphot/video of the kids and playing a game or two. WOuld like a phone with decent GPS, as we caravan so a back up navigation device would be handy. Also, a phone that will stream live video to an HDTV (I'm an F1 fan but not a Sky subscriber and some Euro channels stream the races for free I believe).

Really, I'd just like to hear from owners/people with experiences of the Sensation, Atrix and Optimus 2X about their thoughts etc. I like the look of the Optimus UI more than the Atrix but it appears to have had some bad press to begin with, what's it like since being updated?

Thanks!
 
So what do you have against Samsung? Design issue or just because it's Samsung?

But out of the three your considering I would go with the Atrix or Sensation, not sure about media streaming though. You could use HDMI cable with the MHL adapter or mini HDMI cable to output to a HDTV.
 
Have had a couple of Samsung phones, as has my OH and we've both finished our conract periods (in all cases, max 18 months) absolutely sick of the phones due to their software and battery life (I am aware of the generally poor battery life in smartphones now). I know the SGSII has had rave reviews, but I'm just still burned by the brand.
 
HTC phones have worse battery life than Samsung in general. Depending on usage patterns, you can make a Samsung go almost two days (my SGSL did so when newly bought and I was battery calibrating).

I'd think Sony would have the best battery life among Androids though.
 
mikec15 said:
Have had a couple of Samsung phones, as has my OH and we've both finished our conract periods (in all cases, max 18 months) absolutely sick of the phones due to their software and battery life (I am aware of the generally poor battery life in smartphones now). I know the SGSII has had rave reviews, but I'm just still burned by the brand.
Click to expand...

Which phones did you have?

Anyway, if battery life is most importent to you go for the Atrix, Sensation has is higher spec camera but I don't like the images or video from the sensation, they look overprocessed to me.
 
The Evo 3D is much like the Sensation and many of get nearly 2 days of battery without doing anything odd to the phone.

Also - Mediashare is built-in on the new HTCs so you can stream via wireless to any TV or box with DLNA. But - install iMediaShare from the Market and you can actually do that with any Android.

For your best playback on any phone, likely a good app like MoboPlayer is a good bet, leaving only screen differences to decide between.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys - that last post shades it in favour of the HTC a bit. One question (relaively new to a lot of this) - what is DLNA and how do I know if my tv is equipped (Toshiba Regza). I keep hearing this term and I'm not familiar with it. Cheers.
 
mikec15 said:
Thanks for the feedback guys - that last post shades it in favour of the HTC a bit. One question (relaively new to a lot of this) - what is DLNA and how do I know if my tv is equipped (Toshiba Regza). I keep hearing this term and I'm not familiar with it. Cheers.
Click to expand...


An easy way to find out with your TV: If there a LAN socket on the TV and Toshiba sells a WLAN adapter for it, your TV should support DLNA.

Harry
 
About GPS at the HTC Sensation:
I use my Sensation for car navigation (Navigon) und offroad routing (ViewRanger). Both work fine with the Sensation's GPS :)

Harry
 
DLNA is the Digital Living Network Alliance and it sets a standard for how entertainment hardware should share media without locking you in to any one vendor.

Getting Started - DLNA

Mostly, it uses an independent protocol called uPNP to make things work. So - if you see products mentioning that it has uPNP or DLNA, they're liable to interact with each other with just about zero muss or fuss.

I have my DLNA TV on my network (true story, not example) - and when I turn on media sharing on my phone, I can browse my pictures and show them on the big screen - and all of that is controlled by my TV remote control. Instant wireless slide show of the kids' last party for example. :)

As this article explains, DLNA is like a web or email deal, it comes in two parts - a client and a server. The TV is the client (client asks for things), the phone with media sharing is the server (serves pictures and stuff to the client).

https://www.toshibalife.com/lcd-tv/tv-tips-how-prepare-your-media-library-dlna-streaming

According to that, the REGZA WL and SL TVs support DLNA, but it's from last year, so maybe other REGZAs do too.
 
Sensation vs SGSII this comes down to.

The Sensation has a WORSE battery life than the SGSII, so please don't let past experience affect your decision, because you'll end up unhappy :P

The sensation has a great screen you know? Its got a great resolution, however the actualy quality is much better on the SGSII.

honestly, get the SGSII, best phone available right now.
 
I don't think you can go wrong with either the Sensation or the SGS2. Both are great phones.

I have the Evo 3D which has great battery life. I don't have access to the SGS2 here because they're not available in the states yet.
 
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