The Vodafone 845 launches in a turbulent time for smartphones. A year ago, you’d have had trouble finding any Android phones that could be yours on just a £15 a month contract, but now there are oodles of devices mewling for your attention. Does the Vodafone 845 deserve a second look? See what we reckon in this section of our Vodafone 845 review.
Read the rest of our Vodafone 845 review
Vodafone 845 review
Vodafone 845 review: Android 2.1
Vodafone 845 review: Screen and build
HTC Tattoo
Predating every other ultra-budget Android here, the HTC Tattoo staked its claim to the cheapie Android market early and made a big impact on budget-conscious Android users towards the end of 2009. Several of its key features are the same as those seen on the Vodafone 845, including the 2.8-inch 65k colour screen and resistive touchscreen. Things are very different on the software side. The HTC Tattoo uses Android 1.6 instead of Android 2.1, but does have HTC Sense, which we’d pick over the Vodafone 845′s oddball UI any day. The HTC Tattoo is a better-looking phone too.
T-Mobile Pulse Mini
Manufactured by Huawei, just like the Vodafone 845, so it’s no surprise that the T-Mobile Pulse Mini and Vodafone 845 are like siblings separated at birth. We prefer the curvy look of the Pulse Mini to the boxy buttons of the Vodafone 845, and the T-Mobile Pulse Mini features a slightly better screen – boasting a 256k colour display rather than a 65k one – but behind the battery cover there are more similarities.
The resistive screen offers similar patchy performance and, like the Vodafone 845, the camera isn’t worth writing home about – or using, if we’re brutally honest. The Vodafone 845′s UI is slightly more flexible and welcome, but there’s little to separate these two Androids.
T-Mobile Pulse
Although it’s a higher-end version of the T-Mobile Pulse Mini, the original T-Mobile Pulse is now available for a similar price, as it has been doing the rounds since last year. It’s a better mobile too, if you don’t mind rocking a larger phone. The T-Mobile Pulse has a 3.5-inch screen, like the Apple iPhone, and uses a capacitive touchscreen instead of a resistive model – used in the Vodafone 845.
The price you pay for a bigger, better touchscreen is in the software. The T-Mobile Pulse doesn’t feature Android 2.1, instead living in the past with the ancient Android 1.5. The phone’s unlikely to get an update to Android 2.1 at this late stage of its life.
LG GW620 InTouch Max
The LG GW620 was a pleasant surprise. It landed at EP towers towards the end of January, and its fab physical QWERTY made it not just one of our favourite budget Androids, but one of our favourite Androids full stop. It uses a resistive touchscreen like the Vodafone 845, but with the keypad on-board to handle typing – one of the fiddliest things you have to do with a touchscreen – the LG GW620 InTouch Max avoids all touchy-feely frustrations we had with the Vodafone 845.
Like the T-Mobile Pulse though, it falls behind on the Android OS front. The LG GW620 InTouch Max uses Android 1.5 and is unlikely to make the leap to Android 2.1 Or anything newer.
Samsung Galaxy Portal
On paper, several of the features of the Samsung Galaxy Portal sound a step ahead of the Vodafone 845. It features a capacitive touchscreen instead of a resistive model and has a larger 3.2-inch display. However, sensitivity issues make sure that typing on the screen is still tricky.
The good news is that the Samsung Galaxy Portal has now been updated to Android 2.1, which will help out with these typing issues. It also features a slightly faster processor than the Vodafone 845 – a 800MHz model against the Vodafone 845′s chip.
For a few dollars more…
The £15 a month price point that the Vodafone 845 hangs around at is perilously close to the price you can pay for smartphones not constrained by their budget beginnings. Our star pick is the HTC Legend, which can be nabbed for just £5 more a month. Over a long contract, the extra cash will mount up, but we still think that the HTC Legend is one of the best smartphones ever made, so it’s worth considering. It offers a larger display, superb capacitive touchscreen and a design that both feels great in your hands and looks easy on the eye.
Read the rest of our Vodafone 845 review
Vodafone 845 review
Vodafone 845 review: Android 2.1
Vodafone 845 review: Screen and build
