Advise: Samsung Galaxy SL I9003 or Motorola Defy

[Sumesh]

Advise: Desire vs Galaxy S vs SL vs Motorola Defy

I'm on the look out for an Android phone in the Rs 15-20k range, and these two fit in. Currently own a Nokia N95 8GB that has been tortured worse than a Guantanamo Bay detainee and is still going strong

Galaxy SL (Rs 20k on Flipkart) has a faster processor, while the Defy(Rs 17k) has a camera with flash and slightly more RAM.

I will be using this for web browsing, music, photos and gaming (that covers everything I guess!). I'm inclined towards the Defy because of the flash.

I will be rooting the phone for sure, so ease of rooting and availability of ROMs and all is a plus (though I don't mind it being a bit tough, I'm geeky enough myself!). Edit: Rooting instructions for Defy seems available, so that is one more point in favor of it.

The question is, is Defy a good choice, all things considered? Or should I go with the tried and tested Galaxy S?

 

[AndroidFan]

Galaxy SL != Galaxy S...

If you can get the original Galaxy S i9000 for 20k, then it would be a great deal... but Galaxy SL i9003 is not particularly as good as the original one... also, not much XDA love for the SL...

Defy has a slower processor, locked bootloader... but good built quality. It also has decent roms like MIUI and CyanogenMod beta port... but not very sure... locked bootloader is a pain for all developers...

If you can stretch a little bit, get the original Galaxy S (if you want to play with ROMS... think CyanogenMod 7 latest builds)...

Otherwise absolutely awesome hardware+software combination would be HTC Desire S... Best phone out of the box...

 

[Sumesh]

Actually, my budget is around Rs 15k,and Galaxy SL itself is a bit of a stretch. Galaxy S is a big no as it is almost 150% my budget.

The choice is between Defy and Galaxy SL (and any other sub20k phones). Which would you recommend?

 

[AndroidFan]

Galaxy SL is a lot better and faster than Defy... but remember... not much XDA support at this moment... add to it crappy, buggy Samsung ROM... But there are happy owners of that phone on this forum...

Hopefully, it will get an official Gingerbread update in late July...

 

[Soumik]

Hi, a Defy owner here. I have used SGSL and SGS from other ppl and i would say. Neither Defy nor SGSL comes close to SGS. Its purely awesome. In fact so much that SGSL felt like a duplicate local phone in front of it. No offence to anyone.
I had a choice of Defy and SGSL myself. When i used both phones, SLSL's samsung UI is certainly faster than the UI on Defy. Mainly cause its broken into pages, while Defy's menu has everything in the home screen. (SGSL has Touchwiz UI, while defy almost has the stock Eclair)But the small difference could also be because of the android version difference. Defy 2.2 is out for India officially, and i have read ppl saying that the menu screen and boot up times have become a lot faster on Froyo. I will try it out myself this weekend.
For Dev support, SLSL strangely has little or no support at all. While Defy, even with locked bootloader, has a lot of stable Gingerbread roms roaming in the forums. I chose Defy mainly because of its far superior built and extremely compact body.(fits easily in the pockets without the pain of worrying if its too tight for it or not.. really comfortable during riding bikes) When i see the price difference, i couldnt justify paying extra 3K for just a larger screen and poorer built, while both had exact same hardware inside. Plus defy reportedly has higher battery life than SGSL because of the small underclock of the same cpu. What seemed a lot value for money was Desire S. But i guess like SGS, that too is out of your budget(was the case with me.. ).
Camera quality isnt a strong point for Defy, so dont bet on it. While u cant take indoor photos with SGSL, and u can with Defy, the quality isnt all that great. Daylight photos are slightly better with SGSL, but post processing effects can make it equal right on ur phone.
If you are geeky enough and want to stay on official roms, there are dedicated overclocking apps for Defy on the Android market.

 

[furious_gamer]

^^ It's not about SGS v SGSL.

@OP

Go for SL. As AndroidFan said, it's not that bad and VFM phone at the price point. I am using this phone for two months and never had any big issue with it.

 

[thetechfreak]

+1 for Galaxy SL from my side. great VFM phone

 

[gagan007]

No issues until now related to buggy OS/ROM in my Galaxy SL. I am completely satisfied with this phone. The only grudge is lack of xda support but it doesn't make my life difficult in any way.

 

[gagan007]

ummm I don't think colors can be changed by us but yes, you can download themes and apply them.

BTW I am using Go Launcher Ex on my phone and it has opened a whole new world of Android to me. Its themes also rock!

 

[furious_gamer]

I want to ask a very noob question…do we have themes in android or this blue colour theme is permanent…can we change wallpapers in android

I am asking these question coz I can live with same wallpaper for more then a week…and themes too…even if I have to root it but can I add themes/colors..

Sorry I have never used android soo such a noob question.

Ask anything related to SL here : *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/mobile-monsters/139531-official-samsung-galaxy-sl-i9003-thread.html

 

[AndroidFan]

Hi, a Defy owner here. I have used SGSL and SGS from other ppl and i would say. Neither Defy nor SGSL comes close to SGS. Its purely awesome. In fact so much that SGSL felt like a duplicate local phone in front of it. No offence to anyone.

I had a choice of Defy and SGSL myself. When i used both phones, SLSL's samsung UI is certainly faster than the UI on Defy. Mainly cause its broken into pages, while Defy's menu has everything in the home screen. (SGSL has Touchwiz UI, while defy almost has the stock Eclair) But the small difference could also be because of the android version difference. Defy 2.2 is out for India officially, and i have read ppl saying that the menu screen and boot up times have become a lot faster on Froyo. I will try it out myself this weekend.

For Dev support, SLSL strangely has little or no support at all. While Defy, even with locked bootloader, has a lot of stable Gingerbread roms roaming in the forums. I chose Defy mainly because of its far superior built and extremely compact body.(fits easily in the pockets without the pain of worrying if its too tight for it or not.. really comfortable during riding bikes) When i see the price difference, i couldnt justify paying extra 3K for just a larger screen and poorer built, while both had exact same hardware inside. Plus defy reportedly has higher battery life than SGSL because of the small underclock of the same cpu. What seemed a lot value for money was Desire S. But i guess like SGS, that too is out of your budget(was the case with me.. )

Camera quality isnt a strong point for Defy, so dont bet on it. While u cant take indoor photos with SGSL, and u can with Defy, the quality isnt all that great. Daylight photos are slightly better with SGSL, but post processing effects can make it equal right on ur phone.

If you are geeky enough and want to stay on official roms, there are dedicated overclocking apps for Defy on the Android market.

Thank you Soumik... Completely agree with you...

 

[Sumesh]

Wow,so many answers in a day. Thanks for the reply guys.

But now, I'm even more confused. Defy has good dimensions and build, decent rooting support. SL has faster processor. SGS has faster processor, and good rooting/hacking support.

But the problem still remains for SGS: no flash. The option then is to go for Desire.

I guess it is best to wait a couple of months for the dual core procy phones to hit market (SGS 2!) when the price of Desire will hopefully be around or under Rs20k(currently 23k) and I can buy it.

 

[Soumik]

^^ Hope you are saying Desire S. Please dont got for Desire.

 

[Shreeyak]

Dude.. I don't believe what i'm reading.. I'm the floating in d same frikin boat..
I mean utterly.. I have a nokia n95 8gb(frikin old)

am also looking for a new mob in the same price range.
Been debating between the defy n sl.. Seemingly the only 2 decent offering in that range..

After everything, I feel the defy will be better for us. Even though it has a smaller screen and slightly slower proc., image quality is good enough from the reviews and phone zips along pretty fine on vanilla android roms.
Which is a major plus for this phone, the custom roms.. It's got a pretty awesome dev support, even cyanogen supports defy, at ginger 2.3 .. Lots of other builds, themes.. The stuff....

Sl will never have that because it is a limited edition meant for india n germany.. I think.. Try looking for custom roms for it, n u'll see what i mean. Only support u got is for rooting n stock rom.


Of course, i too am hoping for a desire s, at 23k.. But not too hopefull. N don't expect the price of even the old desire to come down to 20k. Its not sinkin any lower than what it is. Coz of the price that the shopkeepers themselves had to obtain it at.. See, htc hero is still selling at 20k, being like friggin outdated..
So, if ur budget doesn't stretch beyond 20, i'd say better go along with one of these two and be done with it..


Horribly long post..

 

[v_joy]

@shreeyak: I too am facing the same dilemma!!!
My original budget was 15k.
Defy or SL or somehow push the budget to Desire S (very unlikely )
Defy is cheapest, does everything that SL can. and after the official Froyo v2.2 update(available in india), i've read that UI has become extremely smooth.
Hopefully custom GB v2.3 ROMs will be even better!

Front facing camers is the only drawback. But i think i can live with that. According to my friends who have front camera phone+3G service activated, the excitement of video calling dies out very quicky and offer no such functional advantage.
At least that's how i convince myself.

 

[Sumesh]

@Shreeyak and v_joy and all: I've decided to go for a Google Nexus S, it is available for Rs 20k on Flipkart....
Being Google branded, it gets all updates quickly (and officially!), has flash (which GS doesn't have) etc...the only drawback is poor video rec, which I can live with (rarely take vids).

 

[noob]

yes.NEXUS = God ,

all OS updates 1st and direct support from google...go for it

vdo recording is good with NS..dont worry