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Is this some marketing ploy?

What's better?

  • HTC DESIRE

    Votes: 39 100.0%

  • XPERIA X10

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    39
M

mk_aldatym

Lurker
I was due for an upgrade recently and I wanted a top phone (I'm from South Africa btw). After a week of extensive research the HTC Desire came tops because it was an awesome phone and I could afford.

I went to my provider, Vodacom, and told them I wanted the HTC Desire (OH ya there was a big poster advertising the new Sony Ericssons; X10, Vivaz, Satio, etc), the saleman who attended to me advised me to go for the X10 because, I quote, "the HTC Desire has nothing on the X10" (I've been to three shops and two of them have said that). Are they just trying to push sales for the X10 or what? because online the Desire is far superior.
 
They say it because they don't know when they'll have stock in for the Desire. I was promised mine a week after I renewed my contract - took 4 weeks in total for the phone to bloody arrive.
 
The X10 had the potential to be amazing, but SE ruined it by sticking 1.6 instead of 2.1 onto it and claimed that the UI was more than enough to make up for the lack of eclair, WRONG, instead their UI has slowed the X10 down and means many users ( unless they root ) cant experience many of the best apps, live wallpapers etc. SE still havn't upgraded to 2.1 and when we should be getting 2.2 the X10 will be getting 2.1.
The X10 might have a better camera and bigger screen but thats all its got going for it imo
 
IMO the Desire's better. I have the Desire and my GF has the X10, so I've had plenty of time to play with both. The screen is much more responsive on the Desire and it feels better in the hand. The X10 just doesn't feel as well put together. I was also disappointed with the camera on the X10, especially as there is just a photo light, no flash. Granted the camera on the Desire's nothing to write home about, but SE have set the bar high with previous cameras so I had high expectations.

Software-wise the X10 is still on 1.6 so there is no multi-touch and no live wallpapers, although it is apparently going to get an update to 2.1 but that's supposed to be in Q3 this year, about the same time the Desire will get 2.2. HTC Sense is also far nicer to use than SE's UX.

It was down to either the X10 or the Desire when I bought mine, and having had a good play with the X10 I'm glad I got the Desire.
 
Well, I've got the X10, my partner's just got the HTC Desire. As much as I love Sony Ericsson handsets, the HTC Desire is fantastic and lives up to it's name, it really is a desirable handset.

The advantages of the X10 over the Desire are:
TimeScape
MediaScape
Larger screen (4 inches instead of 3.7")
Better camera (8mp instead of 5).
And a personal for me, is that it's SE.

But, advantages of the HTC:
Screen is large enough
The AMOLED screen is fantastic, you can clearly see the difference!
Multi touch
Android 2.1 with 2.2 coming before SE get their fingers out and put 2.1 on the X10.
Also while I like Timescape/mediascape I really, really like the Sense UI.

I was tempted to swap my X10 for a Desire but, apparently it's not in the list of handsets I'm allowed to swap it for, only the Hero is :(.
 
When I first learned about the X10, I was filled with gadget-lust and thought OMG I MUST HAZ NOW. But the release was delayed. And the delayed. And delayed.

Now the X10 is out and it's still on 1.6. For a flagship high-end handset, that's not acceptable. Yeah, there're still plenty of apps for 1.6 users, but really more and more you'll be treated like a red-headed stepchild. You'll be missing out so much--browser improvements, performance improvements, fantastic apps, apps2sd (Froyo). I imagine the hardware--plasticky build aside--is pretty great in some ways: big screen, decent camera, and great speakers (things you generally expect in SE handsets). But the software? Oh my god. Just rooting the thing is hell. As far as I can tell, nobody on xda-developers has even been able to port 2.1 to it (!) let alone Froyo. Big names like Cyanogen won't even look at the thing, so "well, just root it and slap 2.1/2.2 on it" that usually goes with most Android handsets doesn't even apply. Oh, and it has 384 MB of RAM, which is truly bizarre. Anything under 512 MB on a high-end Android is just not okay.

Get the Desire. 2.1 out of the box and a much more mature--as in, more ROMs and customizations and kernels--development community. Brighter screen and classier build quality, too.
 
mk_aldatym said:
I was due for an upgrade recently and I wanted a top phone (I'm from South Africa btw). After a week of extensive research the HTC Desire came tops because it was an awesome phone and I could afford.

I went to my provider, Vodacom, and told them I wanted the HTC Desire (OH ya there was a big poster advertising the new Sony Ericssons; X10, Vivaz, Satio, etc), the saleman who attended to me advised me to go for the X10 because, I quote, "the HTC Desire has nothing on the X10" (I've been to three shops and two of them have said that). Are they just trying to push sales for the X10 or what? because online the Desire is far superior.
Click to expand...

I work in retail in Australia & my first response to your post was that they have probably fallen victim to a smooth talking sony rep who has managed to convince them that the x10 is better.

Although it is possible that they either don't have any stock of the desire or are getting extra commission from the x10.

From a salesman's point of view though, it's a pretty stupid thing to do. If a customer comes in asking for something, you just give them what they want. If you try to sell them something else, the likely result is to have the customer walk away confused without buying anything.
 
When i was gathering information to make my mind up, i asked in a few shops that had both phones in stock. I was told each time the desire was the better phone. Also after much trawling round the net i came to the same conclusion.
 
Knowing SA they are trying to push what they have and ensure the sale, rather than have the customer walk away with no sale having been made. I have had that experience a few times already. PS I have over 10 years sales experience to speak from.
 
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