Korean Job Discussion Forums

[MollyBloom]

Not being in Korea now, I don't know the prices of the two phones...I am also looking for pros and cons, and other suggestions for different phones. Smartphone is a must.

[lalartu]

there are plenty of other threads about this

the smartphone to have in Korea right now is Galaxy S.
If you want a smartphone in Korea, you will need to have a good Korean friend to sign one for you or F-2/F-4 visa.
expect to sign a 2 year contract. no other way around it.

[Kheldar]

I prefer the HTC Desire over the Galaxy but Android phones are better than iPhones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg

[carleverson]

The Korean phones are crap. I like the HTC Desire as well. The new iphone isn't bad either..

[jhicks99]

The Korean phones are crap?
Really?
The Galaxy S is widely acknowledged as one of the top Android phones in non-Korean markets as well as being the top dog in Korea. What about it makes it crap? What a stupid statement. Android phones generally come in 2 flavours - affordable (moderate specs, low price - see a lot of LG's Android offerings) and high-end flagship phones with bleeding edge specs (Galaxy S, DroidX etc).
As for the poster, be prepared to shell out A LOT of money upfront (about $700 - $1,000 depending on the phone! - not as bas as it seems since
you'll be paying no monthly free for the phone itself and will have complete ownership over it but still a hard pill to swallow) if you're going to get one yourself on an E2 visa, if not you'll have to find a good friend here with a better Visa or permanent resident to help you. You can also try to pick one up used and have it activated but that's still going to cost you a small fortune.

[Wangja]

Just a clue: anything without iTunes.

[lalartu]

[methdxman]

Wait another month and you can pick up the HTC Desire HD or Z from KT. I think they're the two best Android phones in the world.

[tatertot]

Windows Phone 7 was just officially announced. I'm not sure when phones with that OS will start to be available in Korea, but they look pretty interesting.

[newjcubed]

If the galaxy S is so great then why all of the lag comments even on this site? I agree my HTC desire beats my brother in law's Galaxy S on every point. (Not specs but usability and stability hands down.) It has a much better dev community which means cool things like easy rooting and hacking PS3s. Sense UI is awesome never lags takes no time to open an app and froyo is already out for it. Waiting for Samsung to update anything is maddening. Having a faster processor isn't the best thing in the world especially for android phones. The choice is yours but I'm glad I didn't get another samsung phone. Let the android phone wars begin.

[jhicks99]

Lots of hate on the Galaxy S.
It lags SOMETIMES, most of the time it flies.
Using launcher pro has eliminated most of the lag and has given it a beautiful interface. We'll see what happens when the Froyo update comes. The Galaxy more than holds its own, it's not the best at everything, but one thing it is hands down the best at is its display. My eyes are a lot happier than yours when they see how beautiful my super amoled screen is lol...

[Kheldar]

My biggest gripe of the Galaxy is that it feels so flimsy. My girlfriend's Galaxy has already gotten scratches on the back plastic whereas my older Desire is as pristine as new. If you like the larger screen, the upcoming Desire HD with cloud storage would be the way to go.

[eamo]

I'm pretty sure the Galaxy S only lags a bit because of software, not hardware issues.

The hardware is still the best spec in the smartphone market at the moment.

My Galaxy very rarely lags......and I expect Android 2.2 to sort that out. For a new product it's pretty awesome.

[lalartu]

not sure what you guys mean by lag on galaxy, but I have not had any problems with mine after I installed an alternate launcher as well.

everything is super fast.

i played around with Desire as well before purchasing galaxy and my impression of desire werent very good. it's much smaller (the screen that is), heavier (metal cover) and imo has nothing special about it.

the 3d graphics card on it is crap too, meaning that most high spec 3d games wont work well. there's a good comparison of Quake 3 on both phones on youtube and Desire lags really badly while galaxy has very high FPS.

and sure, official updates might be a little late, but the non official froyo for galaxy s has been on the net for a few weeks now. a lot of people have installed and used it successfully long ago.
the community will probably focus on galaxy development in the future simply because of the great potential it has and as mentioned, an amazing screen that lets me browse internet so much more conviniently

[newjcubed]

I agree the galaxy s can kick the desire's butt when it comes to 3d games. That having been said who plays serious games on a smart phone anyway. Touch controls are so awkward when compared to good ole buttons. I don't mind playing a quick game of angry birds on my desire but when playing the god of war clone on it I got bored easily and booted up my psp to play the real thing. People like to brag about how their phone can play quake with a higher fps but at the end of the day if you like to play fps or serious action games you won't being playing many on a smart phone. Smart phones are good for the quick game while on the subway unless you ride line number 2 early in the morning. Then that's a game on its own. Sure the Galaxy has a .3 inch larger screen but the 3.7 inches of the desire falls into that not too big not too small Goldilocks zone. (also an impressive pickup line ) Either phone is great and its wonderful that so many people are getting smart phones these days. What a world we live in LOL.