I bought the Samsung Galaxy SL GT-I9003 last June 12, 2011 at Techno Kid SM Mall of Asia.
Price:
It's the cheapest that day. Samsung Mall of Asia and most stores sell it for PHP17690.00, some stores has even higher price tag.
Techno Kid has the same price but after asking for a discount, they finally agreed to give it to me for PHP17100.00 (USD393.00). The lowest price I got that day. Plus, I got a brand new sealed unit.
Update (2011/06/19): I went to Mall of Asia to buy another unit, luckily Techno Kid doesn't have stock. At first, I don't want to go in to Berlein (another store at Mall of Asia) because they were selling it for PHP18,000+ last week. But my mom went in anyway. To my surprise they're giving it for only PHP16790.00. After asking for a discount, we closed the deal at PHP16,700.00.
Screen:
Compared to the Amoled of HTC Desire which you can hardly see anything under the bright sunlight; the Samsung Galaxy SL's Super Clear LCD is perfectly clear and readable under the bright sunlight.
Unlike HTC Desire, the Galaxy SL's screen is less sensitive. You need heavier finger tap for it to register. Getting used to Desire's screen sensitivity, my tap on Galaxy SL often doesn't register. But after installing a Screen Protector, the screen seems to be more sensitive for light taps.
Keyboard:
The Samsung developed keyboard is way better and accurate the the default Android keyboard. Additionally, it comes preinstalled with Swype.
Light Sensor:
The light sensor is very active. The LCD screen adjusted the brightness level constantly as you move around dark and bright location. Unlike HTC Desire, it's screen initially adjusted automatically upon turning on the screen, but when you move to and from areas with different light, the screen doesn't adjust until you turn it off then on again.
Memory:
My Samsung Galaxy SL has 4gb of storage. 2gb is alloted to Phone Storage and another 2gb is alloted as Internal SD. When you insert a Micro SD, it is detected as External SD.
Keep in mind that not all Android apps can be installed to the SD card. Those apps need to be installed on the Phone Storage. Compared to the HTC Desire's 170mb phone storage, you can enjoy installing tons of apps to your Galaxy SL without worrying about not getting enough space.
The only downside is when you move apps to SD, it moves to the Internal SD which is limited to 2gb. I still do not know if apps can utilize the external SD as I still got more than 80% free memory on my SD.
Task Manager/Battery Life:
The Samsung Galaxy SL has a built-in Task Manager and a Task Killer. Now, I do not need to worry about leaving my apps open. I just hit the Home Button and after a while, there's nothing on the Task Manager anymore. When going back to an application opened earlier, I noticed the Galaxy SL opens it from the start, meaning it has automatically closed the app for me and therefore consumes less battery. All these things, HTC Desire can't do.
For the battery life, I used Quick Battery to monitor my battery percentage. I usually charge my phone to 100% before goin to bed, for the Galaxy SL my battery is still at 96% when I woke up at 5am. The HTC Desire's battery dropped to 88% the next morning.
This is the reason why I never believe the specs sheet. Always trust what you see/hear.
Camera:
The camera of the HTC Desire is clear and sharp but it is very prone to handshake. Using it with flash inside a dark room also produces clear pictures.
The camera of the Galaxy SL was not that clear but good enough for everyday photo blogging. It is less prone to blurred pictures due to handshake. But the lack of flash makes it impossible to take picture on dark environment.
Loudspeaker Quality:
For the loudspeaker quality, gsmarena.com used some audio analyzer and rated HTC Desire as "excellent" and Galaxy SL as "average".
Again, all I can say is always trust what you see/hear. For me, the Galaxy SL's loudspeaker is way better, louder, clearer than HTC Desire.
These are all my opinions and actual observations that I wanted to share. I'm not liable for any inaccuracy posted on this blog.
Price:
It's the cheapest that day. Samsung Mall of Asia and most stores sell it for PHP17690.00, some stores has even higher price tag.
Techno Kid has the same price but after asking for a discount, they finally agreed to give it to me for PHP17100.00 (USD393.00). The lowest price I got that day. Plus, I got a brand new sealed unit.
Update (2011/06/19): I went to Mall of Asia to buy another unit, luckily Techno Kid doesn't have stock. At first, I don't want to go in to Berlein (another store at Mall of Asia) because they were selling it for PHP18,000+ last week. But my mom went in anyway. To my surprise they're giving it for only PHP16790.00. After asking for a discount, we closed the deal at PHP16,700.00.
Screen:
Compared to the Amoled of HTC Desire which you can hardly see anything under the bright sunlight; the Samsung Galaxy SL's Super Clear LCD is perfectly clear and readable under the bright sunlight.
Unlike HTC Desire, the Galaxy SL's screen is less sensitive. You need heavier finger tap for it to register. Getting used to Desire's screen sensitivity, my tap on Galaxy SL often doesn't register. But after installing a Screen Protector, the screen seems to be more sensitive for light taps.
Keyboard:
The Samsung developed keyboard is way better and accurate the the default Android keyboard. Additionally, it comes preinstalled with Swype.
Light Sensor:
The light sensor is very active. The LCD screen adjusted the brightness level constantly as you move around dark and bright location. Unlike HTC Desire, it's screen initially adjusted automatically upon turning on the screen, but when you move to and from areas with different light, the screen doesn't adjust until you turn it off then on again.
Memory:
My Samsung Galaxy SL has 4gb of storage. 2gb is alloted to Phone Storage and another 2gb is alloted as Internal SD. When you insert a Micro SD, it is detected as External SD.
Keep in mind that not all Android apps can be installed to the SD card. Those apps need to be installed on the Phone Storage. Compared to the HTC Desire's 170mb phone storage, you can enjoy installing tons of apps to your Galaxy SL without worrying about not getting enough space.
The only downside is when you move apps to SD, it moves to the Internal SD which is limited to 2gb. I still do not know if apps can utilize the external SD as I still got more than 80% free memory on my SD.
Task Manager/Battery Life:
The Samsung Galaxy SL has a built-in Task Manager and a Task Killer. Now, I do not need to worry about leaving my apps open. I just hit the Home Button and after a while, there's nothing on the Task Manager anymore. When going back to an application opened earlier, I noticed the Galaxy SL opens it from the start, meaning it has automatically closed the app for me and therefore consumes less battery. All these things, HTC Desire can't do.
For the battery life, I used Quick Battery to monitor my battery percentage. I usually charge my phone to 100% before goin to bed, for the Galaxy SL my battery is still at 96% when I woke up at 5am. The HTC Desire's battery dropped to 88% the next morning.
This is the reason why I never believe the specs sheet. Always trust what you see/hear.
Camera:
The camera of the HTC Desire is clear and sharp but it is very prone to handshake. Using it with flash inside a dark room also produces clear pictures.
The camera of the Galaxy SL was not that clear but good enough for everyday photo blogging. It is less prone to blurred pictures due to handshake. But the lack of flash makes it impossible to take picture on dark environment.
Loudspeaker Quality:
For the loudspeaker quality, gsmarena.com used some audio analyzer and rated HTC Desire as "excellent" and Galaxy SL as "average".
Again, all I can say is always trust what you see/hear. For me, the Galaxy SL's loudspeaker is way better, louder, clearer than HTC Desire.
These are all my opinions and actual observations that I wanted to share. I'm not liable for any inaccuracy posted on this blog.
