A few months ago I found out that my Nokia phone is not water resistance – in fact it died after spending a few minutes in the pool. I had to switch to a phone we bought in China – a Nokia 1202, which is probably Nokia’s simplest phone ever (although it does sport a very cool flashlight). But it was actually great – small, good display in all conditions, and battery that lasted for a week or two (well, I don’t talk much on my mobile).
But it didn’t have Bluetooth (we have a bluetooth headset in the car) and no Hebrew support (as we bought in China). So I finally took the plunge and got me a new phone – a Samsung Galaxy S. It’s an Android v2.2 smartphone with a 4″ Super-AMOLED display. And yeah – I chose that one because of that cool OLED display…
So I thought I’d write a short review comparing these two phones. As a phone, I have to say that the Nokia wins hands down. It’s smaller (less than half the size), has about 10 times the battery life, can be read better in the sun, the sound quality is better and the speaker is a lot better (The Galaxy S speaker is awful).
Now of course the Galaxy S has some advantages. Like the beautiful OLED display, touch (writing SMS messages is great!), applications, GPS, camera (and quite a good one, too) games (although, to be fair, the 1202 has Snake built-in while the Android phone comes with no games, so it’s a tie on games really) and the internet of course. Yes – I can now behave annoyingly like everyone else and stare at my small phone all day long instead of looking after my daughters at play. I can check my stock portfolio, read my gmail messages and throw birds at angry pigs (or is it the other way around?).
The biggest advantage of the Samsung phone is the great OLED. I can finally show everyone what I’ve been talking about all the time for about 12 years. It is really quite impressive – the colors are just so beautiful – when you take pictures, it looks better on the screen than in real life.
So am I happy with the switch? sometimes. Luckily I have two sim cards with the same number, so I can take the Nokia with me when I want to talk. To conclude, here’s a short feature-by-feature comparison:
- Display: the Galaxy S OLED is amazing, but the Nokia is more readable in the sun. It’s a tie really.
- Size: The Nokia is smaller – about half the size. Nokia wins hands down.
- Talking: The Nokia has better sound quality and a better speaker. Nokia wins hands down.
- Battery life: The Nokia lasts for 2 weeks, the Galaxy S only 2 days. Nokia wins here too.
- Buttons: There are a lot more buttons on the Nokia, so it wins again.
- Price: The Galaxy-S costs around 2,000NIS, you can get the 1202 unlocked for around 200. Nokia wins.
- Connectivity: The Nokia supports GSM. The Samsung has GSM, UMTS, HSPA, Bluetooth, Wi-fi and GPS. Samsung wins.
- Games: The Samsung has tons of games which you can download, but none are pre-installed. The Nokia has Snake, Chess and Sudoko – you don’t have to download anything. It’s a tie.
- Attention: The OLED on the Samsung is great, but everyone has such a phone today, so you don’t get any attention. The Nokia sure stands out though. Nokia wins
- Usability: The Galaxy-S is great if you want to find contacts, send messages, take a photo or a video, surf the internet or anything really. It wins here.
Final score:Nokia 8, Samsung 4. But I’ll keep the Galaxy S – just for the OLED display 
Tags: 1202, galaxy-S, nokia, OLED, samsung, super-AMOLED
