What should I go for? Magic or Dream

[richiethom]

In the UK, TMobile and Vodafone have very similar offers, both giving internet access and a free phone for roughly the same price, I'm just not sure which phone to get. I must admit I like the idea of having a real keyboard, but this is not vital.

What advantages does the Magic offer over the Dream?

Is there a good side-by-side comparison of the two anywhere?

[CharlieMiddleton]

I dont think that there is much difference between the 2! only the physical keyboard! But in the next couple of weeks the Dream is getting exactly the same firmware as the magic so we will have the benefit of both physical and soft keyboard!

The main thing for me would be what Vodafone are offering over t-mobile or vice versa!

I really like the G1 and dont think i could do without the keyboard!

[Andor]

Originally Posted by richiethom

In the UK, TMobile and Vodafone have very similar offers, both giving internet access and a free phone for roughly the same price, I'm just not sure which phone to get. I must admit I like the idea of having a real keyboard, but this is not vital.

What advantages does the Magic offer over the Dream?

Is there a good side-by-side comparison of the two anywhere?

In terms of technical differences there really aren't many. The main differences between the G1/Dream and the Magic are IMO purely in the aesthetics.

The Magic is a purely touchscreen device and benefits from a slightly slimmer design as there is no physical keyboard to slide out.

I currently own a G1 and use it heavily for email/text input and cant imagine an onscreen keyboard be anywhere near as efficient as a full physical QWERTY keyboard.

If you're truly stumped you could always have a wander into town and visit the vodafone and t-mobile stores and get a hands-on demo with the 2 phones.

Let us know what you decide and what swung your decision, good luck!

Edit: beaten by Charlie

[richiethom]

What about battery life? I've heard it is a lot better on the G1 in more recent builds of Android than it was before - is Cupcake on the Magic likely to be any better than Cupcake on the Dream?

[Andor]

Originally Posted by richiethom

What about battery life? I've heard it is a lot better on the G1 in more recent builds of Android than it was before - is Cupcake on the Magic likely to be any better than Cupcake on the Dream?

The Magic will arrive bundled with the Android 1.5 update (cupcake), the same 1.5 update is currently being sent out to G1 handsets too.

If there's any power saving tweaks present in the update then yes, it will apply to both the G1 and Magic phones.

Whether the lack of physical keyboard on the Magic improves or reduces the battery power i dont know. I would imagine that tomorrow a number of Magic reviews will be published that may shed some light on any battery improvements.