So this or the Focus S?

[jsfranke]

Now that we are all starting to get our hands on this, what does everybody think? Should I get this or the Focus S?

Discuss my fellow WP7 enthusiasts.

 

[kevm14]

Tried both in the store. Couldn't warm up to the Focus S. The Titan is the halo model for WP7 at this point, in my opinion. But I am happy that we have options!

 

[aptmx45]

Now that we are all starting to get our hands on this, what does everybody think? Should I get this or the Focus S?

Discuss my fellow WP7 enthusiasts.

Titan over Focus S any day. Focus S felt so plasticky and cheap.

 

[timGSU]

Now that we are all starting to get our hands on this, what does everybody think? Should I get this or the Focus S?

Discuss my fellow WP7 enthusiasts.

You do realize you posted this in the Titan forum, and will probably get 95% pro Titan posts, right?

 

[asac12]

I went into the AT&T store yesterday afternoon and they didn't have the Titan in stock. They told me that the shipment was late and expected it tomorrow or Wednesday. I played with the Focus S for 25-30 minutes and it actually felt solid in my hand. I currently have a 3Gs, so the screen looked awesome and the overall size and weight felt well distributed. For the lucky owners of the Titan, can you clarify the blocky text in IE? Is that due to the low pixel density/resolution or due to the specific font used in the browser? I plan on getting the Titan this Saturday, so any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[naplesbill]

I am a huge HTC fan, but I actually prefer the Focus S. The reality here is that it all comes down to preference. Since they are essentially the same specs (other than the display), pick the one that feels right to you.

I don't get the plastic comments too much. I appreciate the metal body of the HTC, but it presents issues of it's own. Metal will gouge and dent much easier than the high end plastic used on the Focus S. Just watch the youtube video of the Galaxy S II (same build as the S) vs the iPhone 4. Samsung has used very high quality plastic for strength and durability. I also like the lighter feel of the Focus S.

It really is a personal decision so just compare them yourself and go from there.

 

[danj210]

I don't see the focus or the focus s feeling cheap based off of plastic molds. i think they are sexy and elegant and so is the titan. Still, i prefer the plastic over the metal do weight and durability. I was all for the titan but the more d me i researched I've realized that the titan is too big for my tastes, I might as well wait for the windows 8 tablet if on wanting screen size. I also read that the titan is very difficult to type with in one hand because of the size which i dont prefer. Also with the screen being that big and the WP resolution at this stage, some things do look blocky and stretched which I would rather not have. As of right now my choice is the focus s. The titan is an amazing device but at some point, too big is a factor for me, hope this helps.

Sent from my SGH-i917 using Board Express

 

[ZombieBacchus]

I currently own a Focus S and for the most part love it. That being said I am still going to return it as soon as my local store gets a Titan in stock. My main reason is that there is an annoying lag when typing on the Focus S. probably something that will get fixed in a future firmware update though. I am also not a fan of the way the super amoled screen has a blue tint to it on white backgrounds. It kind of bothers my eyes after a while. I think both are great additions to the windows phone family.

 

[timGSU]

I currently own a Focus S and for the most part love it. That being said I am still going to return it as soon as my local store gets a Titan in stock. My main reason is that there is an annoying lag when typing on the Focus S. probably something that will get fixed in a future firmware update though. I am also not a fan of the way the super amoled screen has a blue tint to it on white backgrounds. It kind of bothers my eyes after a while. I think both are great additions to the windows phone family.

The keyboard lag is a sound lag, NOT keyboard lag....turn the sound off and you won't notice....helps if its described correctly. I'm sure they will fix it in a maintenance release.

 

[jfa1]

Tried both in the store. Couldn't warm up to the Focus S. The Titan is the halo model for WP7 at this point, in my opinion. But I am happy that we have options!

My store did not have the Titan it may be coming in today but I have played with the focus s (my current phone is the focus) and I really like it I have had HTC phones with win mo and while I liked them the pure was too small and the tilt2 was too heavy. IMO the tilt 2 would have been a great phone if you could squeeze everything in the keyboard side of the phone into the screen side and ditch the physical keyboard. I will play with the titan if it comes in before Wednesday afternoon when I leave for Thanksgiving. Ltherwise assuming that I can keep my existing unlimited plan while ordering online through ATT or Amazon I will buy the s for the penny.

 

[peestandingup]

Played with the Titan today in one hand, the S in the other. I'm def going with the Focus S.

The Titan is a super nice device that's well built, but its not for me. More of a personal preference, but the thing felt unwieldy in my hand. Big & heavy. And I couldn't cradle the phone + comfortably have total sweep with my thumb over the entire screen. The S just felt more comfortable & more natural.

 

[Rhody#WP]

I switched from the Focus S to the Titan. I bought the Focus S when it first became available and I really liked it, but problems started to surface.
1) The camera button is sensitive and I have taken dozens of pictures in my back pocket.
2) Plugging the device into the AUX port of my car resulted in terrible sound quality, including a pop in between tracks (deal breaker because I always use my phone to listen to music and podcasts in my car).
3) The power button is directly opposite the volume rocker, which means it is difficult to press one without pressing the other.

I used to have an Arrive. The Titan reminded me of the build quality and design I loved with the Arrive. Like others have said, it's a personal choice, but I love the metal and rubber feel of the HTC devices. I also love the attentive phone features. The sound quality is much better with the Titan, too.

 

[jsfranke]

You do realize you posted this in the Titan forum, and will probably get 95% pro Titan posts, right?

You realize 95% of the people in the Titan forum are people like me that don't know what to get, seeing as how it was just released in North america 2 days ago, right?

 

[power5]

I went at lunch and played with the S and the Titan. Right next to each other. S was on mute and I noticed no lag at all with the keyboard. The two seemed to type just as accurate and fast. I plugged in both and unplugged both.

Then I checked brightness and made sure both were on 100% no auto crap. They were the same brightness to my eye in a bright store. Could not tell a difference in brightness. Titan seemed brighter on white screen since it was pure white. The S was horribly blue tinted next to it. No idea how anyone can like that AMOLED screen. Either this S had some calibration issue or they are just all that bad. I can just hear the criticisms now from the apple boys. Wow thats big, why is it so blue though? The button lights were much brighter on the S though and I liked that. Not sure why the Titan buttons were so dim. Almost seemed like there was just one light in the center since the Windows button was brighter than the other two.

Build was much better, in my opinion, on the Titan. It just felt better in my hand. Was easier to hold. The battery cover was not clipped in on all sides on the S. It snapped back but definitely felt like it could be an issue over its lifespan. Just small plastic clips and lots of them around the perimeter. I could not take the titan apart due to the lock on it. Camera turned on when I picked up the S as well. Definitely did not like how easily it was triggered.

Rear cameras seemed similar but all the options were different. Would have liked to look at them more closely but I was a little in a rush since it was the 3rd store I had been to just trying to find a Titan. FFC was better on the Titan. Well not sure but due to screen color it looked better. No idea what color I would be to someone on the other end of a video call though. Maybe I would have been un sunburnt to them.

Titan was faster for some reason on maps and the web. WPcentral took forever to load on the S and was noticeably faster on the Titan. No idea what would have caused that though.


Cant wait till Saturday when I can order my Titan. Can not believe its still only tuesday.

 

[timGSU]

You realize 95% of the people in the Titan forum are people like me that don't know what to get, seeing as how it was just released in North america 2 days ago, right?

You might want to post in both forums to get a good mix of responses....thats all.

 

[naplesbill]

So, I returned my Focus S today because of the audio pop issue. It only happens when using amplified speakers (i.e. computer speakers, car audio, etc.), but I listen to music in my car more than anywhere.

I looked at the Titan again, but they didn't have any to sell. I actually noticed something very unique with the device. While messing with it, I noticed the glass was not flush with the display. In order to change the sim, you actually separate the entire glass and the guts of the phone from the metal body. Very interesting construction design.

For now, I am back to using my HD7s.

 

[mailman27]

I'm in the same boat. Went to the AT&T store today and played with the two side by side. I'm torn...here are my thoughts:

Focus S: Nice feel to the screen, and the screen is the same size as my wife's Inspire so there was some familiarity to me for navigating web pages in terms of finger placement. The auto-dimming feature was out in full force even though I was standing in a single spot in the store with static light conditions. I turned it off as after about a minute. I actually liked how thin the phone was and the tactile feel of the back panel was nice too. The plastic feel of it didn't bother me as I had a Blackjack II for 2 years and that phone took everything I threw at it and laughed. I did accidentally click the camera button a couple of times. That was a bit annoying, but that could probably be solved by training myself not to or by a decent case down the road. The phone didn't seem as bright with with white background websites. No issues with the keyboard as the phone was on mute.

Titan: This phone is solid. The metal casing has that solid HTC feel just like my wife's Inspire. It is on the heavier side, but doesn't feel thick at all. In terms of how the screen real estate affects the user experience, I found text to be very readable if slightly pixelated, but the real problem came with one-handed use. Holding it with my right hand, as I would reach across the screen with my thumb the fleshy part of my hand where my thumb meets my palm would often touch the bottom corner of the screen and instead of a scrolling motion the phone would sense a multi-touch zoom type of motion and pinch to zoom. It happened to me several times. My hands are on the smaller side so YMMV. The webpages with the white backgrounds popped out and were very easy to read at arms length. I browsed the marketplace and looked at Fusion: Sentient screenshots. The screens were brighter on the Titan but there was some slight stretching/jaggies that weren't present on the Focus S.

In conclusion, I thought my hands-on would solve this for me but it didn't. I really like both phones but I have a few concerns. Coming from an iPhone owner, multiple OEMs are not something I am used to dealing with. Among the WP community which phone is more likely to me supported with patches/fixes in the future? HTC or Samsung? Does one of these makers have a better WP reputation when it comes to rolling out updates and other support? What are you're thoughts on the cameras of the two since that was something that is important to me but I wasn't able to try out?

Thanks for your thoughts and I hope to pick up one of these great phones from AT&T this weekend and join the WP7 family

 

[power5]

If you look at pictures on the phone a lot like me, the S will obviously have some color accuracy problems. But if you did not notice the blue tint, it may not be an issue to you. I had both right next to each other and without scrutinizing the text they looked identical on the web pages to me.

I doubt either phone gets much of an accessory market besides a few cases. That is one thing I will miss about the apple ecosystem. Tons of docks to pick from. Speaker docks, alarm clock docks, toilet paper holder docks. I wish HTC, samsung or one of the i device makers would create some stuff for other phones. i devices have lots of different cradles to accept ipods or phones of different sizes. Should not be too difficult to make similar stuff for non i devices.

 

[jsfranke]

Excellent breakdowns, I am actually concerned about denting my HTC Titan, and it costing much more to replace than any part of the Focus S.

 

[naplesbill]

Excellent breakdowns, I am actually concerned about denting my HTC Titan, and it costing much more to replace than any part of the Focus S.

Based on the way the phone gets put together, the outer shell would be incredibly easy to replace. This aspect makes the Titan more appealing to me.

Have you even noticed how you access the SIM card? You basically remove the entire outer shell (the metal body). Very interesting design choice.