By The Samsung i7500 and HTC Magic, the two most highly anticipated Android Phones of 2009 (thus far at least), have gone head to head in a 9 round picture battle courtesy of CNET Asia. The winner? Everybody! Both handsets have a lot to offer and it will likely come down to a matter of preference.
The Samsung i7500 gets a number of nods, namely the 3.5mm headphone jack, 5MP camera and AMOLED Screen. Many users will still prefer the functionality of the Magic trackball and believe it or not, that HTC Android Chin is considered a positive by plenty of people.
When it comes down to it, the i7500 and Magic are similar in size and shape and a handful of specs make up the narrow margin. Even if you prefer one over the other, your decision may come down to regional carrier availablity but putting that aside – which Android is for you and why?
You know what would be really useful? Side by side specs.
Funny you should say that, David. If you haven’t checked out our “phones” section lately, you’ll notice it is completely revamped but still a work in progress. I guess you could say it has “soft launched”.
On-the-fly Side-by-side specs are an up and coming feature that we WILL be offering in the near future. Thanks for the awesome suggestion.
Is it just me or does the HTC Magic have a brigher screen? I’ve just bought the magic myself and am quite happy with it (although, I’d like to be able to root it).
I would have expected a brighter screen on the htc than the AMOLED on the i7500. That said the difference to me seems so austere I’m wondering if the brightness settins weren’t the same.
Would seem more appropriate if you posted >your< comparison instead of riding on the coat-tails of others… just sayin’…
re: Trackball
Actually, if the Samsung had a 5row physical keyboard, like the G1, I’d buy the Samsung in a heart beat … that’s how much I prefer a Dpad over a trackball. But, the keyboard matters more than that.
They surely look similar. The Magic looks better (according to me), but the i7500’s got 3.5mm (which I want)… As the HTC Magic is the first one to come to Sweden – That’s the one I’m after!
@Benji – seconded. Rob voice your opinion, it’s good to hear it.
@Rob – There are bunch of tools that let you take the photos and create a slideshow or even just make them a YouTube video. I would have looked at each photo but having to click to the photo, then click to open it, then click back twice was not fun.
It looks like I am not going to get a shot at a Samsung as I am in Canada … we have the HTC Dream (G1) and the HTC Magic arriving in a couple of weeks.
I haven’t decided which I will be going for out of these two. If I could choose the Samsung I think I would do it for the OLED screen and the headphone jack.
Of course, I still haven’t been able to get anyone at Rogers to confirm that they will have 3G on these phones so I may not be buying any of them :(.
I needs me mah FULL KAYBOARED! G1 4 LYFFF
I’m for the HTC Magic. The trackball is key. Side by side specs would be nice tho.
Course, I would rather touch them and see if they all ran the same applications with the same functionality.
i’m leaning towards the htc magic based on form factor. just looks nicer. but spec comparison will be a must before i make a decision. and actual hands on to see d-pad vs trackball
I seem to recall you guys projecting that the i7500 will ring in at about $600… that’s a deal breaker ladies.
I Choose:
The Samsung I7500.. with a trackball.
Samsung I7500 Is Better than HTC MAGIC
No doubt that I7500 offers better specs from speed, memory, camera + flash, 3.5mm jack…, but the HTC Magic is just too sexy to resist. Wow!
@x3haloed: I second that! I never used a phone with a trackball, but I imagine it would be much smoother to scroll through long lists. Plus, the Magic’s ball (no pun intended) also doubles as an LED notification alert.. That’s another feature I think the Samsung lacks..
The main hardware advantages that the i7500 has over the Magic are:
1) 3.5 mm jack
2) 5.0 mpx camera versus the Magic’s 3.2 mpx
3) Micro-USB jack for charging
4) LED camera flash
5) OLED screen vs. TFT screen
6) 8 GB of storage vs 512 MB
7) D-pad (debatable)
HOWEVER… The non-Vodeafone-branded Magic, which lacks the “with Google” branding on the back has SOFTWARE advantages over the i7500.. As you’ve seen recently, the HTC Magic in Asia has Exchange support. Also, the upcoming Hero might have flash support for the browser and a bundled social-networking solution (including Facebook, which I couldn’t care less about). These possible software features might end up making it to the Magic as an update…
Of course, the final i7500 isn’t out yet, so we have no idea how the retail version’s software compares to the Magic.. I don’t recall seeing a “with Google” logo on the Samsung? And I remember Samsung saying their i7500 will have less google in it? Are we looking at another customized build of android?
Great pictures! I really love the 3.5mm headphone jack.
My bf wants to get this phone, I wish it had a keyboard. Haha.
When is it out?
What makes everyone think a smart phone should *not* have a keyboard? Grrr…
Worthless.
Why was my comment deleted???
So people say the HTC MAGIC isent coming to the U.S. well if u do ur research u will find out it is. On wikipedia.com if u search HTC MAGIC u will read where it says. “However at the same convention, Google demonstrated a few new features of the Android operating system on an HTC Magic with T-Mobile branding.[10] The T-Mobile branded version of the Magic equipped with T-Mobile USA’s 3G frequency bands was passed by the FCC on March 26, 2009.” [11]
I want the Memphis! Any updates on that bad boy?
Between these two the Magic looks much better. Is the screen bigger too?
I can’t choose!! and i can assure all of you i will lose sleep over this! :(
@Raymanism: The 5 Mpx camera dependes. G2(T-mobile branded magic) has also 5Mpx, according to the pictures we`ve already seen. And about the software advantage of without google magic, i7500 was also said to have some software touch improvement. Something like Omnia or ultratouch have.
Whats the price for magic and I7500 ? This could be a real differetiator
The HTC trackball actually isn’t very useful for scrolling through long lists (it moves item-by-item, very slowly). It is useful for things where you don’t want your finger to block the screen and where you want precise control over both movement and selection. For example: it’s great for reposition the cursor (where the iPhone uses that magnification loupe). Trying to use the touchscreen to reposition the cursor on G2 has the same problem that the iPhone (in OS v3) has — it’s too easy to accidentally trigger the cut-and-paste menu. The cursor lets you roll around to a precise location.
It’s great that there supposedly will be 18-20 phones available by the end of the year. But the year is half over and what do we have? Not a single new Android phone in the US. I may give my business to the provider who will step up and release something first.
I feel I have to say that the Magic from Vodafone and the Samsung one, miss one of the most important hardware for these phones: the RAM.
The HTC Magic from Vodafone only has 198Mb of RAM whilst the Samsung seems to have only 128Mb.
With these amount of RAM none of them will be able to run the upcoming Sense UI.
From this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1YPU1E7fPs
You can see how nice the Sense UI runs on the Rogers’ HTC Magic (that has the full 288Mb of RAM).
I have the Vodafone UK’s HTC Magic nad that very same ROM, well, sucks.
A lot. The Home screen has to reload everytime I switch back from an application and it takes seconds to load. Also, while playing music, the luggishness renders the phone inusable and the audio jumps every now and then while the poor phone tries his best to load the Home screen while keeping the music running.
If you guys plan to get it for being able to run the Sense UI, wait.
Aniello
just get htc hero. its gna come out soon, has 3.5mm, multitouch, chin (for those who actually like it, i dont care), trackball, a nice ui, more ram (288 compared to 128 by samsung). only other phone im considering is palm pre. it lacks flash and video recoring but those cud be fixed with updates. it has faster processer 600+mhz arm, same color screen as samsung but with more dpi, a physical keyboard, a v nice OS…
I got an htc magic as replacement for my aging sony ericson k750i.
I am delighted with the magic its more than just a phone, infact I never actually make many calls on it because I am sad and have no friends.
What I use it for is downloading apps mainly and browsing the net and it is superb for this purpose.
Google maps is amazing with GPS for finding your way around somewhere when shopping etc.
I have downloaded about 30 apps to the phone so far, most of them free. TV guides,barcode scanners,news,weather,sports,movies,an excellent ebay client etc and quite a few ‘widgits’ to put on my homepage showing memory remaining and stuff.
I have used windows mobile on my PDA for a long time and android is just so smooth and terrific looking when compared to windows mobile.
I am on a Vodafone contract in UK and I get 500 texts,100 mins and unlimited internet and email for £25 a month plus the phone free which I thought was a great deal.
Having followed the development of OLED screens for years, I agonized over the choice of the MyTouch (Magic) now or the Samsung i7500 at some indeterminate time in the future. I finally caved in and handed over my greenbacks to T-Mobile. I’m sort of wishing now that I’d waited to compare the two side-by-side. The MyTouch screen is flakey at the edges, making the edge and bottom keys hard to press, although to look at it’s fantastic, very bright and clear. The headphone jack is meaningless, only luddites and those on aircraft are still using wired headphones. On the second day, the 3G connection disappeared, necessitating a reboot (ie, take the battery out). Other than those niggles, it’s good, and it has the possible future advantage of being Google branded. If the 3G connection goes again during the 2 week “buyers remorse” period, it’ll be going back to T-Mobile and I’ll be forced to return to the god-awful Windows Mobile (was a worse piece of software ever written?) until the Samsung arrives.
I cannot compare the HTC Magic to the Samsung phone as I only own the Magic (aka HT-03A in Japan), but I am rather disappointed with the phone for several reasons, mainly:
A) Battery life
B) Responsiveness
C) User interface
I should mention that I used an iPod touch before purchasing the HTC Magic in Japan and therefore take the iPod as benchmark which in terms of battery life not fair as it doesn’t have phone capabilities. However, in terms of user interface and responsiveness, the iPod clearly wins.
Android seems immature and the UI is not necessarily intuitive. The touch screen of the Magic is not as sensitive as the IPod’s screen and character input, especially Japanese characters is cumbersome with the standard keyboard. The phone sometimes freezes for a short time, especially it has to refresh the desktop icons.
Finding and connecting to wireless networks also takes longer with the Magic than with the iPod. The form factor of the HTC Magic is certainly better than the iPod or iPhone, but with all the shortcomings, I actuallt regret to have purchased this phone. Lesson learned.