Fellow geek, Emily H (from Wales, UK), had a proposal:

I had an idea for a video I thought you might be interested in. With the rise of the Samsung Galaxy S (particually in the UK & Europe, where it is outselling the iPhone with a lot of the networks providing it), I thought it would be good to do a comparison video between the Galaxy S and the iPhone. Also, in a few months the Samsung Galaxy Tab will be released, which is a 7″ screen tablet, I’m assuming once again with the super AMOLED screem and hummingbird etc, and a camera as well as Android 2.2. So, another good comparison video possibility when the time comes for the Galaxy Tab v iPad.

Although I’ve used both phones, and love Apple, I must confess I am now an Android fanatic. The phone in itself runs so smoothly with the firmware, multi-tasking etc. It just has some real advantages over the iPhone, but I am not an expert – so I thought I would offer this idea to you, and hopefully hear your take on it. I know you did a Galaxy S video a few months ago, but we’ve never really seen anything about it from you since.

It’s extremely difficult to compare Apples to Androids. I asked her for clarification:

A comparison, perhaps, of how Android might be, on some level, a better option than the OS on the iPhone, or perhaps how you think it might be the other way around – software features on the iPhone that perhaps Android doesn’t have, or vice versa (Swype comes to mind on the Galaxy, a brilliant feature). I know plenty of people who are torn between an Android phone or an iPhone. The Samsung Super AMOLED screen versus the iPhone screen, which is good for no-smudging, etc., speed, multitasking, etc. The Samsung Galaxy S seems to be the best phone out there at the moment – apart from the iPhone. It would be good to compare them both since they both offer a lot (and are at the top of their game sales-wise).

I could likely compare feature-for-feature, one device against the other – but it still wouldn’t be fair. If I say that the Android seems better in some respects, iFanbois will attack. If I claim the iPhone is better in other respects, Fandroids will cry foul.

Bottom line? “Better” is always relative. I happen to like both the Galaxy S (for some reasons) and the iPhone 4 (for other reasons). It’s possible to like both. You have to figure out what’s “right” for you.

If you like Swype, stick with Android (it can be quicker than traditional tapping). If you like a sharp screen, I’d say the iPhone’s retina display comes out on top (size REALLY doesn’t matter). If you swallow Google’s idea of “open,” stick with Android. If you’re happy living under Apple’s “restrictive” roof, stick with the iPhone.

Dunno. There is absolutely no clear winner – and any geek who would claim otherwise doesn’t know his ASCII from his elbow.

Samsung’s Galaxy S Android Phone vs Apple’s iPhone

After publishing my iPhone 4 vs iPod touch video test, I decided to take the still photo capabilities of each device for a spin. The differences were astonishing.

Despite comparing favorably to one another in the 720p video test, the same lenses produced substantially disparate still images – and I can’t say that I was anything but disappointed with the iPod touch 4th generation’s photo quality.

• The iPhone 4′s photos, much like its videos, came out far more crisp. Even with ample light (outdoors or indoors) and proper focusing techniques, I could not produce a sharp image with the iPod touch.
• The iPod touch is only capable of capturing 960×720 still images – inexplicably lower than its 1280×720 video resolution!
• There is no flash on the iPod touch 4th generation devices.
• The default camera app on the iPod touch 4th gen does not have an HDR feature.

Here are my original, untouched image samples (obviously, NOT at their native resolution). You’ll want to click through each one of the thumbnails to see the striking differences.

iPhone 4 – sharper digital zoom

iPod touch 4 – muddy with digital zooming

iPhone 4 – still photos have good field of view

iPod touch 4 – lacks sharpness

iPhone 4 – uneven white balance

iPod touch 4 – equally-as-uneven white balance

iPhone 4 – heavy details

iPod touch 4 – devoid of any detail

iPhone 4 – A little oversaturated, blue

iPod touch 4 – fairer image quality

Bottom line: if you’re going to buy an iPod touch for its camera, only plan on using it to record videos – not still photography. The iPhone 4 is still quite usable for either still photography or video.

iPod touch Camera vs iPhone 4 Camera – Sample Photo / Still Image Test

The idea here is that you have to press play on the following videos (in vertical order) so that they all stream to you at the same time. You may need to adjust the volume on each respective network, though. Press play on the top (YouTube) video, then immediately press play on the second (Google Video), and then press play on the third (Revver). Bam, bam, bam – and you should see ‘em playing back simultaneously.

And if you think this sounds crazy, you gotta see my Soapbox vs. YouTube vs. Break.com vs. Vimeo. vs. Jumpcut vs. Blip.tv vs. Metacafe vs. Revver vs. iFilm shootout after you’re done watching the following video brawl.

For now, on this page, make sure you scroll down far enough so that you can see all three videos on your screen at the same time, then press the play button for each video. This will only “work” if you play these videos on the same page together:

Because of inconsistent timing issues, each time you try this, you should see / hear slightly different results. My secondary interest lies in how many people view the video from the respective video hosting networks (though I believe that YouTube will draw the most eyeballs, Revver the most revenue, and Google the least everything). And if three videos isn’t enough for you, I’ve slapped nine video networks together, too.

To put this series of videos on your own blog or MySpace, copy and paste the following code into your page:

<center><object width="300" height="243"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CKuPe-tuKgY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CKuPe-tuKgY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="300" height="243"></embed></object><br /><embed style="width:300px; height:243px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=6844487162803211688&hl=en" flashvars=""></embed><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" salign="TL" bgcolor="#ffffff" flashvars="width=300&height=243&mediaId=107020&affiliateId=17304&javascriptContext=true&skinURL=http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/skins/Default_Raster.swf&skinImgURL=http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/skins/night_skin.png&actionBarSkinURL=http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/skins/DefaultNavBarSkin.swf&resizeVideo=True" wmode="transparent" height="243" width="300"></embed></center>

YouTube vs. Google Video vs. Revver