My son got iPod Touch 8G (4th Gen) last Christmas and he likes it overall, but there were several issues that we are not so happy about. So, I've decided to try out the Galaxy Player for my daughter. I preordered it through Amazon and, with Amazon Prime, the Galaxy was delivered on Mon, Oct. 17, which was two full days earlier than promised. :-) So, here's what our family's experience has been over last two weeks.
Galaxy 4.0 vs. 5.0: I settled on 4.0 since it is mainly used as a music player and a hand-held game machine for my daughter and, thus, the smaller size makes it more convenient for her to carry it around. I did try out Dell with a 5-inch screen at BestBuy to get the feel for larger 5" screen, and, although I liked it better for web surfing and videos, I felt the 4" would be just fine for her. So, if you are going to use the Galaxy to stream shows over NetFlix or consume media on the web, then you might be better off with 5.0.
Galaxy vs. iPod Screen: There's only an half inch difference between them, however Galaxy looks much larger and much, much brighter than iPod. Although iPod has slightly higher mechanical resolution at 960x640 than Galaxy's at 800x480, I like the Galaxy's screen better and find it to be easier to look at than iPod's.
Galaxy vs. iPod Sound:
(1) For both machines, sounds coming out of earphones are nothing special. Some earlier post mentioned that the Galaxy's earphones are 'crappy/horrible', but in my opinion, they are pretty much dead even; iPod's earphones are equally 'crappy/horrible'. So, if you want much better sound quality, I recommend you to buy a set of more expensive earphones. For non-audiophile, both of them are adequate and serviceable.
(2) For sounds from built in speakers, Galaxy is much better than iPod. Galaxy produces clearer and more crisp stereo sounds than iPod does.
(3) For in-car sounds, they are comparable. They both generate much better sounds than through earphones.
Galaxy vs. iPod Web surfing: For Youtube videos, Galaxy performs faster than iPod. For other general websites, iPod tend to be slightly faster, but it is because many websites have flash contents and Galaxy loads all of them. Actually, I do like the fact that you can view all the videos on the regular Youtube site with Galaxy; it's not limited to just Youtube Mobile videos. Also, that small difference in screen size makes a big difference in viewing web pages, so Galaxy shines here.
Galaxy vs. iPod Apps/Games: It depends on whichever app/game you prefer. For my daughter, Galaxy has a full range of free games/apps that she can play, including Angry Birds, so it's a non-issue.
Galaxy vs. iPod Battery: Yes, we all could use longer lasting batteries. But we found Galaxy's battery to be excellent for music listening and video playing. However, if you play games all the time, then you'll find both Galaxy and iPod batteries to be inadequate.
Galaxy vs. iPod File Management: If you're married to iTunes, you are going to like iPod better, but I found iTunes to be extremely buggy and slow, not to mention very limiting. So, it felt very refreshing not to have to be tied to iTunes to manage my files. In addition, I didn't have to convert videos to play on Galaxy since it plays most of the known video types. Again, if you're tied to iTunes and don't know what else to do, go with iPod. But if you want flexibility and know what you're doing, Galaxy is better.
Galaxy vs. iPod Camera: This is one of main gripes that I've had with iPod. Galaxy's camera wins, hands down. Also, Galaxy handled Skype video chat with ease and we didn't have any issues with casual picture taking. However, if you want to take really high quality pictures, buy a separate digital camera.
In summary, my son likes his iPod and my daughter is happy with her Galaxy. However, if I'm interested in a media player/mobile internet device and wouldn't want a phone/data contract, I'll definitely pick Galaxy over iPod Touch. I'm actually considering buying Galaxy 5.0 myself this Christmas. :-)
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