Omnia i8000 vs HTC HD2 (real-life comparison, updated with photos)

[Guest emperorben]

Got my hands on a HD2. Tested it for a couple of hours.

Here are my thoughts:

Pros-

1. Big screen, very good for surfing especially reading manga :D . However, that comes with a downside as below.

2. HTC Sense is almost an entire OS. I rarely found myself in the default WM6.5 menus. In fact, most casual users will not even venture there. HTC did a very good job in customising the UI.

3. Fast. So far, no slow downs even with animated wallpaper displayed together with the Weather Demo effects.

4. Battery life doesn't seem as bad as what most people says.

Will I keep it? Answer= No. Here are the reasons why?

Cons-

1.It is way too wide. Screen is nice but I find that after holding the device for a while, the HD2 gets very uncomfortable. This is made worse by the fact that the HD2 is rather squarish, i.e. not as curved in design as i8000. And landscape keyboard is way too wide for me.

2. The size along with the row of buttons positioned so low @ the bottom presents a clumsy experience when using the phone while walking/standing, at least for my asian hands. My grip of it is not as strong as that with Omnia 2 and many times, I thought I was going to drop the HD2. Be prepared to invest in InvsibileShield or a good casing if you want to keep this baby in fine physical condition.

3. Non-AMOLED screen. Screen is big and nice and animations are smooth. But I am just too pampered by the AMOLED screen. The same wallpaper, at max brightness for both phones, look SO vibrant and colourful on the Omnia as compared to HD2.

4. Capacitative Screen. I may be one of the minority, but I prefer resistive screen anytime. I found myself "accidentally" activating some functions/buttons easily by mistake. And double tap (to activate a program in Total Commander) is nearly impossible.

Photos are not the best of qualities as they are taken with another camera phone.

Edited November 26, 2009 by emperorben

[Guest tacchan23]

Got my hands on a HD2. Tested it for a couple of hours.

Here are my thoughts:

Pros-

1. Big screen, very good for surfing especially reading manga :D

2. HTC Sense is almost an entire OS. I really found myself in the default WM6.5 menus. In fact, most casual users will not even venture there. HTC did a very good job in customising the UI.

3. Fast. So far, no slow downs even with animated wallpaper displayed together with the Weather Demo effects.

4. Battery life doesn't seem as bad as what most people says.

Will I keep it? Answer= No. Here are the reasons why?

Cons-

1.It is way too wide. Screen is nice but I find holding the device for a while becomes very uncomfortable. This is made worse by the fact that the HD2 is rather squarish, i.e. not as curved in design as i8000.

2. Non-AMOLED screen. Screen is big and nice and animations are smooth. But I am just too pampered by the AMOLED screen.

Will update more info and photos later after I play with it more.

yeah, I think HD2 would have had been a real "killer" phone if they managed to get a about 4.0" screen with the same size of Omnia2 (and slimmer).

a lot of people will not care about physical size and go for it, but for a lot others it will be the main problem

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Screen size of the HD2 is the isue for me on a day to day basis but the screen would be ideal for me with Excel but then again capacitive touch may not work that well with it.

[Guest mikiemad]

many tnks for your info, i think so you

waiting for more!

:D

[Guest Chris Sim]

Got my hands on a HD2. Tested it for a couple of hours.

Here are my thoughts:

Pros-

1. Big screen, very good for surfing especially reading manga :D

2. HTC Sense is almost an entire OS. I rarely found myself in the default WM6.5 menus. In fact, most casual users will not even venture there. HTC did a very good job in customising the UI.

3. Fast. So far, no slow downs even with animated wallpaper displayed together with the Weather Demo effects.

4. Battery life doesn't seem as bad as what most people says.

Will I keep it? Answer= No. Here are the reasons why?

Cons-

1.It is way too wide. Screen is nice but I find holding the device for a while becomes very uncomfortable. This is made worse by the fact that the HD2 is rather squarish, i.e. not as curved in design as i8000. And landscape keyboard is way too wide for me.

2. Non-AMOLED screen. Screen is big and nice and animations are smooth. But I am just too pampered by the AMOLED screen.

3. Capacitative Screen. I may be one of the minority, but I absolutely hate the capacitative screen. I found myself "accidentally" activating some functions/buttons easily by mistake.

Will update more info and photos later after I play with it more.

can you feedback on the camera picture taking quality??

[Guest tacchan23]

3. Capacitative Screen. I may be one of the minority, but I absolutely hate the capacitative screen. I found myself "accidentally" activating some functions/buttons easily by mistake.

Sadly (looking at wm7 future) we are the minority :D

Edited November 26, 2009 by tacchan23

[Guest taril]

Just a real life comparison:

HTC HD2 vs Samsung GT-i8000

GT-i8000 3D Multitasking

Ive already dropped away my HD2.

Edited November 26, 2009 by taril

[Guest Michael Pang]

atm no cooked rom i8000 is a headache to me. i guess we miss the old days of i900 with cooked rom

Edited November 26, 2009 by Michael Pang

[Guest sorg]

HD2: quadratisch, praktisch, gut :D

(© some old advertisement of german chocolate)

Edited November 26, 2009 by sorg

[Guest bobobird]

Another review here

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/25/htc-hd2-review/

which had this to say - The experience was a quick and painful reminder that no matter how pretty the window dressing is here, HTC has staged its fashion show in a building that should be scheduled for demolition.

[Guest taril]

Take a photo with the camera (white surface):

HD2: white is pink

i8000: white is white

:D

[Guest taril]

i8000 Userinterface:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo8S9cERM7s

HD2 Userinterface:

Edited November 26, 2009 by taril

[Guest DunKnow]

Congratulation of purchasing your new phone :D Hmm seems like HD2 is only bigger by a few inch, our screen display owns HD2.

Edited November 27, 2009 by DunKnow

[Guest secany]

HTD Sense has some disadvatages too. They messed all the menu up, especially setting menu. Too much differences from orignial settings menu. You guys can try connect to wifi with a wrong password, and then to solve it. It took me 10 mins :D to figure out where is the menu to edit config.

[Guest iWiNMo]

HTD Sense has some disadvatages too. They messed all the menu up, especially setting menu. Too much differences from orignial settings menu. You guys can try connect to wifi with a wrong password, and then to solve it. It took me 10 mins ;) to figure out where is the menu to edit config.

SO finally, you took a bite of forbidden apple! You got yourself a HD2 before buying O2!? Hmmm.. I smell some sort of betrayal! Just kidding :(

I might go for HD3, seriously! It might be out by first half of 2010, it will be equipped by "Full QWERTY keyboard", something like "HTC Touch Pro2" :D

[Guest 1Mack]

I allllllmoooooooost got the HD2 but reading some reviews and watching videos made me stay true to samsung and I got the i8000. Now I am waiting for the 16gb model to come out so I can grandfather the 8gb model to the wife hahaha. :D IMHO samsung is heading in the right direction for what I want in a device.

[Guest unholygid2006]

Is there any memory leak issues like omnia 2 on the phone??

[Guest La Traviata]

The one thing that really puts me off the HD2 is the camera. I can live with having an average camera, this is "only" a mobile phone after all, but having to manually adjust the camera settings to avoid having a pink spot in the middle of my photo is not acceptable. That's a really basic flaw for a high-end device and I'm surprised that HD2 still gets such positive reviews. Perhaps the reviewers are blinded by the great-looking UI, which is the one thing I really envy HTC users for, but that's just cosmetic and can easily be changed.

[Guest NewForce]

Did anyone notice?

HD2 actually look like a China MP5 Player shang-zai-ji.

Did they just copied the HD2 design from a China brand MP5 player? :D

Furthermore, what is good if a 3G phone can only make a 2G call?

The use of capacitive screen was another let down. People who work with gloves are not able to activate the screen functions unless they took off their gloves.

Almost all windows application and games was not designed for use with a capasitive screen too, so making them a bit difficult to navigate on a HD2 .

[Guest Core_sa]

Did anyone notice?

HD2 actually look like a China MP5 Player shang-zai-ji.

Did they just copied the HD2 design from a China brand MP5 player? :D

Furthermore, what is good if a 3G phone can only make a 2G call?

The use of capacitive screen was another let down. People who work with gloves are not able to activate the screen functions unless they took off their gloves.

Almost all windows application and games was not designed for use with a capasitive screen too, so making them a bit difficult to navigate on a HD2 .

I can tell alot of you HD2 bashers do not have one. Let me clear up a few sorely mistaken comments I have read.

Games are a pleasure on the HD2, the screen is very accurate and responsive. Xtract, TMNT, Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, Bejeweled, Need for Speed, Asphalt, Prince of Persia, Assassins Creed all amasing no problems.

Video playback is awesome, sound is great, ui is great and easy to navigate (once you learn your way around). This device is very well constructed, and solid - this is the first thing you notice when you hold it for the first time. The screen is also scratch resistant

Internet browsing is fast and the pinch and zoom feature works very well.

Both my brothers own iPhones and they have nothing but praise for this device.

I also have a Toshiba TG01 and I can honestly say the HD2 slaughters it.

[Guest Lancez]

HTCs r for biz users, Samsungs r for multimedia lovers. and Samsung is catching up fast, really fast. end of story........ :D

[Guest miroalex]

what about htc hd2 free ram i mean main memory and storage how many free megabytes it has??? because omnia 2 as it has been said it must have 256 mb ram and 512 rom but in real it has only 130mb total ram :D (less than touch diamond 2)

[Guest NewForce]

I can tell alot of you HD2 bashers do not have one. Let me clear up a few sorely mistaken comments I have read.

Games are a pleasure on the HD2, the screen is very accurate and responsive. Xtract, TMNT, Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, Bejeweled, Need for Speed, Asphalt, Prince of Persia, Assassins Creed all amasing no problems.

Video playback is awesome, sound is great, ui is great and easy to navigate (once you learn your way around). This device is very well constructed, and solid - this is the first thing you notice when you hold it for the first time. The screen is also scratch resistant

Internet browsing is fast and the pinch and zoom feature works very well.

Both my brothers own iPhones and they have nothing but praise for this device.

I also have a Toshiba TG01 and I can honestly say the HD2 slaughters it.

I don't have the same feeling like yours. :D and think that was because your brothers being very nice person, did not told you their true feeling.

iPhone UI users will never impress by HTC Touchflo3D ui, otherwise we shall saw t3d was a hit since last...year the 1st HTC diamond.

High 10000:1 contrast ratio, crystal clear sharpness, very vibrant color H.264 MP4 Video playback on Omnia-2 3.7" AMOLED screen

and all those with 3.5" AMOLED and above will still be the BEST of ALL moblie phones available, to date, and nothing come closer.

Not to mentioned Omnia-2 5MP camera also win HD2 camera, I would not say it slaughted HD2, but at least win by hand down.

[Guest Smille123]

If I wish to play Games, I would buy me a psp. If if wish to have a very unhandy device, I would carry a Desktop-PC with me. It´s videoplayback quality is also awesome, if i put the latest ATI Graphicscard in it. But entering a new appointmet with one hand could be a bit difficult.