First time android buyer need some help

[cooper56]

Wondering which phone to get. Im limited in my choice because i only want a pre-paid phone i dont like to deal with contracts and so on and i like to pay with money i have.

So im looking at virgin phones right now they have following for pre-paid

Samsung Galaxy 551

Samsung Galaxy Gio

HTC Wildfire S

LG Optimus Chic

Im not sure which to get what is the difference im told htc wild fire has very very bad battery life and apparently Samsung galaxy gio can be update to android 2.3 where 551 can not and there same price.

Main questions
1. Is there big difference in android 2.2 and 2.3 enough to warrant buying the one phone over other.
2. Hardware wise which is best
3. Battery wise which is best.

 

[chanchan05]

2.3 is a massive performance upgrade especially when we're talking about the lower end phones. On certain phones it accounts for 500 more points in quadrant benchmarks, it has better hardware optimization making better use of your hardware.

 

[cooper56]

2.3 is a massive performance upgrade especially when we're talking about the lower end phones. On certain phones it accounts for 500 more points in quadrant benchmarks, it has better hardware optimization making better use of your hardware.

Okay so that narrows it down to

samsung galaxy gio
htc wildfire s

which would you recommend?

 

[chanchan05]

Ok, hmm, lets see, here's a rundown
Samsung Galaxy Gio S5660 vs. HTC Wildfire S - GSMArena.com

Basically, in terms of performance, the Wildfire S is better than the Gio, running circles around the Samsung. This means it will lag less if ever, can play more and better games as well since it has a half decent GPU where the Gio has none. In terms of looks, the HTC's display is horrible, and its expected battery life is half that of the Gio.

I'd recommend the Wildfire S unless you expect yourself to be away from a socket often for extended periods of time and need the phone always on.

 

[cooper56]

Ok, hmm, lets see, here's a rundown
Samsung Galaxy Gio S5660 vs. HTC Wildfire S - GSMArena.com

Basically, in terms of performance, the Wildfire S is better than the Gio, running circles around the Samsung. This means it will lag less if ever, can play more and better games as well since it has a half decent GPU where the Gio has none. In terms of looks, the HTC's display is horrible, and its expected battery life is half that of the Gio.

I'd recommend the Wildfire S unless you expect yourself to be away from a socket often for extended periods of time and need the phone always on.

Ummm im wondering so games on android market and apps and so on will they require higher specs to run some of them or higher than android 2.3 how will i know if i can use the game or app.