Monthly Archives: June 2010

The Samsung Galaxy S has proved itself to be a bit of a powerhouse to me over the past week and this leaves me pondering on where the smartphone market is going next. There is so much talk about the iPhone 4, iOS 4 and iPad at the moment and that will lead many to believe that there is no alternative, but there surely is.

The recent releases from HTC and Google (HTC) are great smartphones, but they do have problems in sunlight and less than stellar cameras. These factors along with the ever changing Android OS may perplex some potential users and take away the simplicity the ‘I’ products offer. However, it is not as straightforward as that and Samsung appears to be taking the fight directly to the competition with its latest smartphones. The screens (Super AMOLED) are at the forefront of these phones and are a leap up from what we have seen before. Is the iPhone 4 screen better? Possibly, in some areas, but that does not mean that the Super AMOLED screens are not very, very good in almost all conditions. The size of the screen on the Galaxy is an advantage as well and at 4” makes watching videos and playing games a pleasure.

General performance has been excellent and so is the camera. The absence of a flash may look like a big omission, but I can’t remember the last time I took a photo on a smartphone in poor lighting and the included flash helped at all. Nokia aside, almost none of the other smartphones have great optics in poor lighting so it’s not the end of the world, but it is still a curious decision on the part of Samsung.

Android is growing up nicely and has reached the stage where it could almost become too complex for new users to enjoy their first few days with it. I applaud Samsungs decision to include extra apps, but even I got confused at times and did not know which one to use next. There is little doubt though that Android is on a roll and as each new revision is released, phones like the Galaxy are well placed to embrace the improvements and offer a rounded experience that is not far at all from the iPhone.

To conclude I have to say that the Samsung Galaxy S is a better smartphone that the iPhone 3GS for my needs; it has expandable memory, a better camera, a better screen, better battery, better voice and signal quality and works in all of the places a smartphone should. I can’t say at this time how well it competes against the iPhone 4 until I get my hands on one, but this particular smartphone is way up there on my list and for today at least is at the very top.

Available from Clove for £452.38.

Supplied by Clove

Price: £452.38

The hardware side of the Galaxy S has been covered in part two and so far the Galaxy S has performed well in almost every area. The camera is quite easy to use, the speed is superb and the build quality is above par. The real heart of the Galaxy S is the software though and there is a lot to cover.

It would be fruitless for me to cover all of the standard Android apps because I have done so many times (take a look at the Android section for multiple Android smartphone reviews) so instead I will concentrate on the apps Samsung has added and the way the standard apps work with the screen technology and TouchWiz 3.

Samsung Kies

Samsung Kies is a Windows application designed to let you control and add all sorts of media to your Galaxy S. Like many add-ons to smartphones, it is remarkably slow. I have a fairly quick PC, but this software could take up to three minutes jut to load up and I eventually gave up using it. It is complete and a great addition, but some serious improvements are needed to make it a joy to use.

Data Input

This is usually a struggle for me on touch screen devices, but there are some options available on the Galaxy which I did not expect. Besides the standard QWERTY keyboard which works surprisingly well on the 4” screen, especially in landscape, there are some handwriting options which work surprisingly badly. They seem to recognise most letters and number, but the process is painfully slow at the best of times. The 3×4 keyboard mimics a number keypad on a standard mobile phone, but I couldn’t get it to predict text; it requires two taps for ‘u’ and multiple taps for numbers. It is all saved by the QWERTY though which is at least as good as the iPhone setup and generally impressed me.

BUT, Swype is installed which is difficult to find at first. Start up a new message and then hold your finger in the main text box while the QWERTY keyboard is displayed. Choose ‘input method’ and then Swype. You input text by moving your finger over letters and after thirty minutes you will wonder how you managed without it. I admit to being a fan of Swype and it is great that Samsung has pre-loaded it onto the Galaxy. It makes a world of difference to mobile data input.

Home screen

The Android home screen is busy at the best of times and there are multiple choices when it comes to backgrounds, widgets and so on. Samsung has taken this a stage further and included some widgets of its own.  You can choose from 8 Samsung widgets and 7 Android widgets plus of course folders, shortcuts to apps and a selection of wallpapers. Live wallpapers are included of which you can choose from 12 and a further choice of 7 static wallpapers. It all works speedily and if you like to mess around with your main interface, Android is way ahead at the moment.

The top bar can be pulled down to show your notifications and mine got busy very quickly indeed. You end up with multiple icons showing what’s happening and this takes some time to get used to. However, I can think of no better smartphone system in use at the moment to show you what’s coming into your phone.

YouTube

The YouTube app is impressive indeed and does an excellent job of bringing the online video experience to the Galaxy. The main bonus is the screen and the way in which the video are displayed. Well encoded files look great and also load much quicker than on most competing handsets. A very capable app.

PIM

The PIM apps are in many ways guide by the quality of data entry, on any phone, and the inclusion of Swype helps a lot. Most of you will know that the Android calendar and contacts are capable apps that integrate well with a variety of services and there is little different here. As each revision of Android passes, the PIM apps gradually improve and I personally think that they have reached the point where they are about as good as they are likely to get. They won’t be ideal for everyone, but they are easy to learn and perform adequately in day to day use.

Entertainment

The music app is good on the eye and easy to navigate, but there are some notable omissions. Album art appears to be completely absent which is a shame because the rest of the interface works perfectly. Potentially this setup gives the iPod app a run for its money and offers all of the features 99% of users will require.

The Photo app is wonderful and almost certainly the best I have seen on any platform. So many sweet touches that make it a pleasure to use. The video viewer is quite plain in comparison, but the output is also the best I have used to date- great, great quality.

Extra apps

Samsung has bundled a lot of extras on to the Galaxy and many are worthy inclusions. They provide a quick start for new users, but I would still advise a long look around the Android Market to see what alternatives are available.

Aldiko eBook

This app looks very much like iBooks on the iPhone and includes a realistic bookshelf which is almost identical. The text view is superb and makes eBook reading a pleasure thanks to the large clear screen. You can choose to ‘Get more books’ from the menu and this will present you with a selection of free books which are available to download straight away. The library is neither comprehensive or of great quality, but I suspect that more commercial offerings will be available in the future.

AllShare

AllShare should be included in every smartphone and works brilliantly once set up. In essence it lets you play content which is saved on laptops and PCs, you can play files from servers and you can use the Galaxy as a remote control. Brilliant.

Daily Briefing

Daily Briefing is a simple app that brings together news, weather, financial information and a schedule into the one app. It is a neat idea, but potentially overlaps other apps. You will either love it or disregard it.

FM Radio

Has a great interface and works better than most standard FM Radio apps, but still suffers some performance issues that seem to be inevitable in this kind of app. Have never used one that works properly to date, but this is likely the best effort so far.

Layer

Layer is a browser that uses the built in camera to display local search results and on the screen dependant on your current location. On a personal level I struggle with the notion of these type of apps and tend to view them as gimmicky, but then again I have had little need of one so far.

Memo

A basic memo app that makes the memos look quite smart, but which displays a list that is unwieldy to scroll through. Better offerings are available in the Android Market.

Mini Diary

Very sweet. You can add new entries that include photos, weather information and a few notes. I am a sucker for good diary apps and this is a good one.

My Files

A basic, but usable file manager that works quite well. Holding your finger on a file offer various functions such as share, delete, move etc. You can also create new folders and even print documents or photos via Bluetooth.

Samsung Apps

Struggling to understand why this is here when Android Market is also present.

Social Hub

A good way to keep your social activity in the one app and potentially displaces multiple apps in the process. It is well laid out and takes some getting used to, but once you understand it this could be your most used app.

ThinkFree Office

A free document viewer that presents standard Office docs in a pleasing manner. You can also edit the documents and a sizeable number of options are included. It may be too basic for some, but is a nice addition nonetheless.

The list of extras continues and I could be here all day if I wanted to cover them all, but you can already see how comprehensive it is. I counted 32 icons in total pre-bundled and of course the choice now available in Android Market could seriously up that number.

It is a hugely impressive and diverse software setup and this offers the feeling of great scope when you first start to play with the Galaxy. When coupled with the above average hardware it is difficult to not feel content after a couple of hours of intensive use.

Android is impressive, we know that, but the fact that manufacturers can add so much is a good and bad thing. You end up with a smartphone that almost flows over with apps and this can be confusing for people who want to just get on with using it. The temptation to play around with what’s there is too much and thus can make the experience feel unnecessarily complex. However, more is more in the smartphone world and I am not going to criticise Samsung for offering more flexibility to the user.

After the Samsung Wave review, I did not expect to review another phone so soon that excels in hardware and software, but this one certainly does. I will conclude this review in a couple of days and sun up my thoughts, but positivity is likely to be the name of the game.