Samsung Galaxy S review: part two

Supplied by Clove

Price: £452.38

It’s time to look at the hardware features of the Galaxy S and see how well it performs in day to day use. With so many features in modern smartphones this can take some time, but I will attempt to look at each section and sum up how well they work rather than concentrating on the specifications.

Camera (8/10)

This is another good effort from Samsung. The 5 Megapixel rating may not wow many people in a market flooded with the things, but it works very well indeed and I managed to capture some extremely good shots with little effort. Examples below-

Taking pictures can be tricky at times due to the onscreen button and the lack of a hardware camera button is disappointing. When you need to take a quick snap you will need to use the screen to get to the camera app first.

Video capture is also very good despite the slightly tinny sound quality. The video below was taken on a windy day and uploaded direct from the Galaxy, and yes it is my son winning the sack race at his school sports day (so proud:)) Bear in mind that this is one YouTube and that will minimise the quality somewhat.

Screen (9/10)

This is a truly great screen and indoors it is exceptional. Outdoors it is excellent except on very sunny days and I had some problems viewing the screen when it was exceptionally bright. Indeed, it was so bright that I could neither view the iPhone 3GS or Galaxy properly and so have to say that Super AMOLED works exceptionally well in 95% of conditions, including bright days, but the brightest days will still pose some problems.

To use the screen feels as natural as the iPhone and all gestures are reacted to perfectly and video playback is remarkably good. With a well encoded film you will be hard pressed to find a better movie experience on a smartphone.

Performance (9/10)

Not a slow down or freeze in sight. Performance is as good as I have seen elsewhere and manages the iPhone trick of sleekly pushing along and making the user soon forget that there is a processor and memory behind it. Despite some severe punishment with multiple apps running it never missed a beat and rightly deserves high marks in this area. Sometimes with Android phones I experience the occasional crash, but so far so good.

Call and Signal Quality (10/10)

The Samsung Wave surprised me with the sound quality during calls and the Galaxy S is arguably even better. Voice quality when next to your ear is rich and clear, but it gets even better when the speakerphone is used. It does not distort and even beats the BlackBerry Bold 9700 which makes it the first smartphone to do so. The loudness is just enough for the most testing of conditions so if you are one of the ever reducing number of smartphone users who actually makes calls this is an ideal choice.

Signal quality is also on the high-end and I managed an HSDPA signal for over half the testing time which is a miracle where I live. 3G signal was almost constant- a joyous moment.

Media (8/10)

Video playback is stunning, even in the YouTube app, and in my opinion is ahead of the current iPhones. The screen of course helps, but the speed at which videos start and the smoothness of the software all work together to produce an experience that is about the best I have seen.

Photo viewing is another surprise and it feels like a mini iPad when you browse through your collection. It doesn’t quite have the pinch out mechanism, but is close and again one of the best I have seen to date.

Music is an anomaly because it sounds great through the supplied headphones, but not good at all through my iPhone set. It is almost as if the player is set for only one type of headphone, but there are a multitude of options for sharing music such as via Bluetooth, AllShare, Google Mail and Messaging. There are also some pre-set effects including Wide, Concert Hall and Externalisation which produce a marked change in the sound. All in all, I am impressed with the music setup on the Galaxy which is easy to use and offers enough scope for those of you who require various playing options.

The external speaker is on a par with the iPhone 3GS and thus is passable for showing friends video and music.

Battery (7/10)

The Galaxy will get you through a day with no problems, but extended use will probably max out at 2 days. I must admit that I was expecting more because of the claimed efficiencies of the screen technology, but so far I am not seeing that. The results are not bad at all when compared to the competition, but with so much other goodness included I guess I was unrealistically hoping for 3-4 days of battery power. Having said all of that, batteries usually need time to bed in so maybe my view will change by the concluding part of the review.

Connectivity / Memory (9/10)

7.2 Mbps HSDPA, Quad-band, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, MicroSD expansion up to 32GB, 8GB onboard and the list goes on. This is fast becoming an area not worth mentioning with the latest crop of high-end smartphones, but Samsung has it all covered here. The really good news is that Wi-Fi connects instantly and, like the Samsung Wave, has the iPhone style reassurance of immediate connectivity when you need it.

Build Quality (8/10)

The plastic frame may lead some to feel that it is not built well, but it surely is. The only reason two points are lost is because of the battery cover which should be made of a more substantial material. The materials used do, however, produce a super light handset that manages to combine strength and lightness in the one package which is rare.

I am almost dreading part 3 which will look at the operating system and included software. There is so much included that it will probably take me a whole day just to write that section. After 3 hours I am still struggling to take screenshots thanks to driver problems, I finally sorted it so I should be able to cover everything.

So far the Galaxy S is looking very impressive indeed and at this stage I would jump on it ahead of the Nexus One, HTC Desire and Sony Ericsson X10. We shall see if my view changes by the end of the review process.