Samsung Moment vs. Motorola Droid

[U1traKombo]

Hey just wanted to chime in. I am in the process of getting a Moment because I am on Sprint and don't want to leave. If I was on Verizon I would have a droid. I think both are good phones, I'm not going to say the droid isn't better than the Moment.. because the hardware is better and we all know its running 2.0. I do think the Moment is a solid phone tho and it will hopefully, eventually, catch up.

I'm not ready to jump ship back to Verizon because the plans are more expensive. I think the Moment is going to be just fine and I'll prob stay with it till HTC releases a phone on Sprint with a Snapdragon processor and a Hardware keyboard.

 

[Cirga]

Actually.. I am starting to think the LED notification is just not working correctly on the Moment. I have noticed that when I first get a text message notification sound, the home - menu - return on the touch screen do flash once. Its just not continuous. I hope when we get upgraded to 2.0 that changes.

Overall.. the money I save with Sprint vs. VZW.. and the actual "feel" of the droid vs. the moment made the difference for me. The droid is substantially more akward and bulky because of its square design and the larger scrreen. You may not think that the curve edges on the moment make a big difference, but I keep my phone in my pocket and that "does" make a difference for me.

 

[NOMster]

those lights you see will blink again as long as you dont have any third party messaging alerts/apps that you're using. they will function just like an led notification. i am using sms popup which allows for a set time on notification so it disables the built in light up function.

 

[MrGadget256]

Well, my fiance & I have an ongoing friendly rivalry. He is Sprint, I am Verizon He had bad luck with his last 2 HTC phones (the Mogul & Touch Pro) we got our last phones around the same time last Spring (his Touch Pro & my Omnia) we both did some customizing to those & while mine continues to work quite well, his definitely had issues, from horrible battery life to impromptu freeze-ups. So when these new android devices became available, we were of course intrigued. He recieved his Moment 3 days ago & mine should arrive tomorrow, so we will be able to do our own side-by-side comparisons. Price differences between the two services seem to be a concern for many on this thread & i can attest that the differences in our respective billing statements are negligible. I pay slightly more for my service with 5 lines than he does for his with only 2 lines. From what I've seen of the Moment so far, it does indeed seem like a great phone. I can't wait to recieve my Droid! The way I see it, it all boils down to personal preferences. I want a thinner device, so the Droid suits me better. He has bigger hands (& doesn't have to worry about putting his phone into the pocket of a snug pair of jeans...lol) so the Moment works better for him. I guess we'll see over the next few weeks as we both become more familiar with these two phones if there are any glaring differences, but my guess is that there won't be (& if there are, i'm betting that mine comes out on top )

Wait, what, who is on top?

 

[njbianco]

That's good for you. I've been following this thread for a while since I was on the fence between the Moto Droid and Moment. I ended up buying the Motorola Droid but I'm still in my 30 day trial period. (bought my phone at BB) so I'm still looking to see if I change my mind. But so far I'm leaning closer to cancelling my sprint service. The plan price difference isn't as bad as yours though. I've been comparing the Voice and Data service between the Droid and my Sprint Touch Pro and VZW wins hands down in my area and the places I go to more often. I'll end up paying $10-11 more for VZW for a comparable plan I have with sprint. I still have time to buy a moment to test drive but it's hard for me to shell out $150-175 just to try to compare the two phones.

a lot of your problems with sprint are most likely touch pro related I've heard about the touch pro having a lot of dropped calls and missing calls all together problems. Honestly though I've never owned 1 its just what I've heard so i most definitely could be wrong.

 

[bittemei]

IMO, the differences between Sprint and Verizon outweigh the technical differences between the Moment and Droid, though most people seem to prefer the styling of one over the other. Personally, I like and dislike different things about each phone.

Moment
Like: screen colors, keyboard feel, dedicated number row, hardware call and end buttons.
Dislike: MicroSD card location, crappy android 1.5 implementation/slow updates.

Droid
Like: screen resolution, magnetic dock modes, latest os/quick bug fixes.
Dislike: lack of hardware buttons/button placement, keyboard opening action

The one hardware feature that would have made a difference in my decision is stock inductive charging capability(similar to the Pre).

I chose sprint(and a Moment) over Vz for two reasons: First, all their current smartphone plans automatically qualify you as a Premier customer after six months, which allows you to get a new phone after one year instead of two. Second, Sprint's unlimited mobile-to-mobile option(which is included) applies to all mobile numbers, regardless of carrier.

 

[Risket]

I chose sprint(and a Moment) over Vz for two reasons: First, all their current smartphone plans automatically qualify you as a Premier customer after six months, which allows you to get a new phone after one year instead of two. Second, Sprint's unlimited mobile-to-mobile option(which is included) applies to all mobile numbers, regardless of carrier.

That's enough for a WIN right there

Like I've always said, Sprints plans were made with common sense. Everyone else just wants to nickle and dime you to death: choose your minutes, add this plan, add that plan, add this feature, add that feature.... now you have something ALMOST equal to Sprints Everything Data plan for $70 but you're paying around $90 for it (or more).

 

[IOWA]

That's enough for a WIN right there

Like I've always said, Sprints plans were made with common sense. Everyone else just wants to nickle and dime you to death: choose your minutes, add this plan, add that plan, add this feature, add that feature.... now you have something ALMOST equal to Sprints Everything Data plan for $70 but you're paying around $90 for it (or more).

Man stole the words out of my mouth. I was really surprised noone mentioned the unlimited mobile to mobile thing. Since grabbing that, I went from using 1000 anytime minutes per month with 2 lines to only 75 anytime minutes per month... I never have to worry about overages again. And I think they will advertise the moment when they fix the bugs... which hopefully will be soon. So yeah VZW has nothing to compare to Sprints plans, and with the same exact Voice coverage, (MANDATED BY THE FCC), why pay more?

 

[dbpaddler]

Would love to see that fantasy land you live in. Might look good on paper, but in reality it's far far from correct. I can take multiple sprint and verizon phones throughout the Philadelphia area and find pockets where there is a great disparity between the signal quality of the two. Nine out of ten times it's in Verizon's favor and sometimes to the point where I can't even maintain a Sprint call or data connection at all.

So yeah VZW has nothing to compare to Sprints plans, and with the same exact Voice coverage, (MANDATED BY THE FCC), why pay more?

 

[Moment]

Who cares about the SD card location? Use your USB! haha. But serious note, the only sucky thing about Moment is it's battery flaws in my opinion.

 

[Risket]

Who cares about the SD card location? Use your USB! haha. But serious note, the only sucky thing about Moment is it's battery flaws in my opinion.

Well even though it's not a BIG deal to me, my current phone (for another week and a half anyway) is the Helio Ocean. It's nice to be able to remove the SD card without having to open up the battery cover and remove the battery. Especially since I find it faster to just insert the SD card into my computer to transfer files then to wait for the device to mount and dismount. Sometimes I'm just in a hurry to transfer some files over. It's definitely not a deal breaker, but I would prefer it being accessible from the side of the phone instead of having to shut the phone down and remove the batter. That whole process would take like five times longer.

 

[numus]

Buy a 32 gb class 6 when they become avalible and you have no reason to ever remove the SD card.. Problem solved

 

[Risket]

That would also depend on if mounting it through USB is a pain in the ass or not. My current phone can be. Sometimes it will mount, sometimes it wont, sometimes it takes several minutes to show up. Sometimes I even have to install the drivers all over again even though they already exist. Being able to remove the SD and slide it directly into my SD card slot on my laptop is guaranteed to work and will work right away. I usually hate having to mount devices. We'll see how the phone mounts for me when I get it.

I really hope I can find a 32gb card very soon.

Take that, iPhone! Haha! There's a $100 difference between each of the 8gb ($100), 16gb ($200) and 32gb ($300) models. 32gb microSD cards will likely be available for less than that $100 difference. Hell you can get a 16gb for around $40 at most of the places I've seen.

 

[njbianco]

Man stole the words out of my mouth. I was really surprised noone mentioned the unlimited mobile to mobile thing. Since grabbing that, I went from using 1000 anytime minutes per month with 2 lines to only 75 anytime minutes per month... I never have to worry about overages again. And I think they will advertise the moment when they fix the bugs... which hopefully will be soon. So yeah VZW has nothing to compare to Sprints plans, and with the same exact Voice coverage, (MANDATED BY THE FCC), why pay more?

A lot but not all of the money you pay on top of the 70 are state taxes that are different from state to state

 

[javelin]

This thread is full of great information. I'm also interested in the performance difference between the two device just because I will be getting a Moment in the next week or so. And a friend already has a Droid...so we'll have a friendly android combat wars...

My thought is, in order to compare performance(CPU, GPU, memory, etc) and arrive with a fair conclusion, the testing has to be performed by a non-partisan set of engineers. Of course, that may not happen.

Some compare the CPUs as one being 40% faster than the other while others just drool over the fact that one is clocked at 800Mhz. The numbers are truly fascinating and compelling and one may be pulled from one side to the other based on this information alone.

Someone has mentioned architecture difference and I believe this person on the right track. The numbers in Hz don't mean anything if you're comparing two devices with different architecture.

If the Moment is "weak" right now, I can't wait to see it perform when it's chomping on Eclaire. Like most OS upgrade, some application will gain performance increase and possibly quicker device response time...but that remains to be seen.

If you have a Moment now, take an application that you like and time it. Once Eclaire is out, perform the same test and see if there are any difference. I'd be interested to find out.

jav

 

[adipolle]

I'll be buying one of these two phones in the next month. The problem is that no one seems to be comparing them directly.

Differences:
Droid is thinner and narrower
Droid has a larger screen with 3x the pixels
Droid has two docks with magnetic activation of apps
Droid has a 550 MHz Cortex A8 vs. Moment's 800 MHz Arm11
(AnandTech: Understanding the iPhone 3GS -- ARM estimates that the Cortex A8 is about 40% faster than the ARM11 at the same clock speed. In theory, the Moment and Droid should perform similarly, though that may not be the case due to additional factors (flash speed, RAM speed, OS version, drivers). Also, the Cortex A8's 3D chip is at least double the Moment's, so that will still be faster.)
Verizon's plan for me is going to cost $95/mo vs. $60/mo w/ Sprint (Anytime Mobile Minutes only apply when you are on Sprint's network -- for me, that may be the thing that kicks me to Verizon)
Droid includes a $50 class 6 16GB microsd card vs. 2GB w/ Moment

Here's what I want to know:
1. Does the Moment have a notification light like the Droid? No. No one can find it if it does.
A: No it does not-has sound though.
2. How fast is the browser/interface on the Moment vs. the Droid? Still not answered
A: Droid is faster because Verizon is faster.
3. The engadget reviewer hated the camera on both the Moment and Droid. Does that mean they equally suck? It's beginning to sound like the Moment's complaint is camera app startup speed while the Droid has that same problem plus inconsistent focus. The Droid also offers more camera control
A: Camer is slightly slower on Moment-software.
4. Call range/quality differences? Seems pretty even here
A: Used Droid for 4 days and Moment for one-still haven't seen the words "3G" on the Moment-I guess Sprint is not as good as Verizon- Droid has 3 G almost anywhere (Austin,TX)
5. Which keyboard is better (subjective, I know)? The more people weigh in, the more the Moment gets ahead on this.
A: I like the dedicated number keys on Moment and like the dedicated @ and other niceties on Droid-more of a getting used to deal. Tactile feedback on Droid is better(Home, Menu, Back, etc keys).

Droid definitelt beats the Moment (for now). Wish Sprint would get more 3 G coverage-Austin,TX is definitely not in the boonies

There's been a lot of hype behind the Droid and Android 2.0, but I'm wondering if, when you really get down to it, there really isn't that much difference between the Moment and the Droid, other than the physical difference. If they are pretty similar, then I want to save that $35/mo, which will be about $800 over the next 2 years.
A: Carriers aside, the Droid pwns the Samsung any day of the week and twice on Mondays(busiest work day).
Droid is also slimmer with bigger screen.

Has anyone seen both yet?

A: Yup-testing them both along with the Palm Pre. So far Droid is winning! Palm Pre definitely gets points for being smaller, sleeker, sexier-haven't compeletely tested thta out yet.

 

[IOWA]

Would love to see that fantasy land you live in. Might look good on paper, but in reality it's far far from correct. I can take multiple sprint and verizon phones throughout the Philadelphia area and find pockets where there is a great disparity between the signal quality of the two. Nine out of ten times it's in Verizon's favor and sometimes to the point where I can't even maintain a Sprint call or data connection at all.

I highly doubt that. Seriously. Especially when Sprint was recently voted most reliable 3G provider in the USA. (By real-world third party tests, from several different people)

 

[crumbkake]

I highly doubt that. Seriously. Especially when Sprint was recently voted most reliable 3G provider in the USA. (By real-world third party tests, from several different people)

Not to mention Sprint roams on Verizon towers for free any way.

 

[scottybintn]

I have both of theses phones and it's not even close in comparing the two. The Droid is like operating a heavy duty tool, the moment is like playing with an ovrsized toy. The display on the Droid BLOWS the

 

[CriticalCritic]

I have both of theses phones and it's not even close in comparing the two. The Droid is like operating a heavy duty tool, the moment is like playing with an ovrsized toy. The display on the Droid BLOWS the

the....????
Lemme guess. typed on a Droid...
I'll stick with the (oversized?) toy rather than the tool that cuts out and the display that blows.

scotty don't

 

[scottybintn]

CriticalCritic, soo true, lol. The keyboard sucks!! The moment's display is very blue and annoying. My Droid never locks up and the Moment CONSTANTLY shuts down "critical" services because of memory issues. I also have an Eris and Hero. I would pick either of these over the moment.

 

[pastafarian]

Doors off a Chevy?
Bridge up?
Wind in our sails?
Entire cast of Broke Back Mountain?

Come on man, don't leave us hanging!

Of course the keyboard on the Droid just plain blows!

 

[vbetts]

all their current smartphone plans automatically qualify you as a Premier customer after six months

I did not know this! This is pretty sweet actually, seeing that I'm a premier customer or will be by May!

 

[Adrift]

Hmmm, this guy's first post, he drags up a thread that hasn't been posted on in 4 months..... just to talk trash... it just happens that he owns 4 phones (droid, eris, moment, hero)...... and prefers all of them to his defective moment....

something smells trolly here....

 

[CriticalCritic]

Hmmm, this guy's first post, he drags up a thread that hasn't been posted on in 4 months..... just to talk trash... it just happens that he owns 4 phones (droid, eris, moment, hero)...... and prefers all of them to his defective moment....

something smells trolly here....

I'm not sure what you are getting at?
He's obviously an android aficionado, as he has four android phones across two different networks spread between who knows how many different plans, making him quite possibly the most knowledgeable and inefficient consumer of android phones I have ever heard of. And he has two posts to back up his reputation as a knowledgeable and helpful android user. Be careful how you throw around those accusations Adrift, it's really... *gag* oh, *gag* wait, I smell it too.