I had a desire s. It lasted 3 weeks. They don't bounce very well. It wasn't dropped from very high either. At that point, the on off button stopped working. I got that fixed and then a couple of weeks after that it just fried and died. However from the minute I got it it was laggy and glitchy and I don't believe the drop caused it to fry. I think it would have anyway. The battery life was shocking too.
That said, I now have an incredible S which is infinitely better in every respect. Battery lasts ages and everything runs super smoothly, plus the screen is a bit bigger, which is nice.
Can't comment on the Samsung, but wouldn't bother with the desire.