Huawei u8230 vs Motorola XT5?

[[Muffinman]]

I am looking at getting a mid-range android phone. I've set a budget at $400, which unfortunately pushes awesome handsets like HTC out of reach. I am particularly interested in the huawei u8230 and motorola xt5 that just came out (unlocked) from Dick Smith (http://ausdroid.net/2010/10/20/huawei-u8...349-399/).

Which of these two would be better? At a first glance, I'm leaning towards the huawei, due to its cheaper price, bigger screen and bigger battery. My main criteria are that the phone runs smoothly (particularly when typing), will be reliable, and has good call quality. [Edit: The huawei has a 528MHz CPU, anyone know what the xt5 has?]

Camera is not so important, more of a nice bonus in my opinion. If the battery can last a day with moderate use I'll be happy; any more than that is a bonus.

I am on Virgin Mobile, so sadly the milennius Apanda will be no good for me, as it doesn't support optus' dual-band network, only 3g (shame - the apanda looks great!). I am pretty sure the huawei and xt5 both work fine on the virgin/optus network (although if they don't, please let me know!).

Any advice on whether to get the huawei or motorola would be appreciated. If you have any other suggestions, that would be great too.

[Edit: expandable memory is also important. The huawei can take a 16G memory card, and the xt5 a 32G card. These phones are also both running android 2.1, so will they be able to save apps to the external memory?]

[Cooper]

[Muffinman Wrote:' pid='4142' dateline='1287872436']
I am looking at getting a mid-range android phone. I've set a budget at $400, which unfortunately pushes awesome handsets like HTC out of reach. I am particularly interested in the huawei u8230 and motorola xt5 that just came out (unlocked) from Dick Smith (http://ausdroid.net/2010/10/20/huawei-u8...349-399/).

Which of these two would be better? At a first glance, I'm leaning towards the huawei, due to its cheaper price, bigger screen and bigger battery. My main criteria are that the phone runs smoothly (particularly when typing), will be reliable, and has good call quality. [Edit: The huawei has a 528MHz CPU, anyone know what the xt5 has?]

Camera is not so important, more of a nice bonus in my opinion. If the battery can last a day with moderate use I'll be happy; any more than that is a bonus.

I am on Virgin Mobile, so sadly the milennius Apanda will be no good for me, as it doesn't support optus' dual-band network, only 3g (shame - the apanda looks great!). I am pretty sure the huawei and xt5 both work fine on the virgin/optus network (although if they don't, please let me know!).

Any advice on whether to get the huawei or motorola would be appreciated. If you have any other suggestions, that would be great too.

[Edit: expandable memory is also important. The huawei can take a 16G memory card, and the xt5 a 32G card. These phones are also both running android 2.1, so will they be able to save apps to the external memory?]

I'd go the LG Optimus One - Comes in under your budget, Virgin stock it on $29cap or $349 outright so it's dual band 900/2100 supported.

Android Froyo 2.2 instead of 2.1, is much better, runs up to 4x faster and support all the latest apps like chrome to phone and google voice actions and you can use it as a wireless hotspot 8)

For typing it comes preloaded with SWYPE, which is awesome.

600MHz CPU (Same as XT5) and 512MB RAM (The other two have 256MB RAM)

Only 3MP camera, but you said that's not important

It supports up to 32GB MicroSD Cards and comes with 2GB.

Also has free GPS Navigation app with preloaded maps and a Car Cradle + Car Charger in the retail package.

[[Muffinman]]

Dude... thanks. Great Reply. I have noticed the optimus one since I made that post, and yeah I'm pretty sure it trumps both the phones I suggested. I'm a bit unsure about it as its an LG though, and they tend to start stuffing up after a while (my own lg flip-phone is doing this, and several friends have similar issues). So currently I'm pitting the lg optimus one against the huawei ideos. While the ideos is not so good, it's cheaper (which is good if it dies or I want to upgrade in the near future). I don't know how huawei are for reliability though... better or worse than lg?

[Cooper]

LG is much better than Huawei IMO Korean vs Chinese...

Most of the problems with LG phones were S/W related with the proprietary OSs, with Android its pretty much not an issue any more. LG has always had very good quality hardware as well.

I got my Optimus One today, am typing this message now on it and its awesome.

[[Muffinman]]

(11-05-2010 08:47 PM)Cooper Wrote:  LG is much better than Huawei IMO Korean vs Chinese...

Most of the problems with LG phones were S/W related with the proprietary OSs, with Android its pretty much not an issue any more. LG has always had very good quality hardware as well.

I got my Optimus One today, am typing this message now on it and its awesome.

Can you test the call quality and reception for me? That's a pretty important factor in me getting a new phone, as my current lg has rubbish signal.