Samsung Galaxy S – 3 Week Review
I have had the Samsung Galaxy S mobile phone for a 3 weeks now and have so far been impressed with it. Here are my thoughts.
I am a power-user when it comes to technology (as shown in my education and career choices) and I always want the best tech. So when it came to choosing a mobile phone I wanted one that offered a lot of functionality. After some some thinking I decided to get an Android based phone. The problem I had was the HTC EVO 4G that I had been lusting after for months wasn’t going to be available in the UK. Fortunately Samsung came to the rescue by bringing out their Galaxy S.
The 2 main things about this phone attracted me are the hardware and Software (of course!):
Hardware
Its technical specifications are the best of any phone in Europe right now. I will caveat that and say that the technical specifications are the best of any phone in Europe right now – for what I want. Other phones do have better features in one or more of the following categories:
- Longer battery life
- Better camera
- Better protection (i.e. scratch/water/fire/shock/drop proof)
- Better audio
- Better data or wLAN network
but this Samsung has the best all-round package for what I want. I’m not going to do a Samsung Galaxy S vs iPhone 4 hardware comparison in this post – maybe later. If you are interested you can easily compare them yourself.
Software
The software can be broadly broken down into 3 categories: Operating System, Applications and Development of Applications.
Operating System
I am a big fan of Android – even more so now that I have used it for a few weeks.
First of all – yes I know, it is a rip-off of the Apple iPhone interface. But I’m a consumer – so I don’t care, I just want what is best for me. Anyway, the IOS4 software (and OSX) is based on LINUX, it just has a wizzy UI – that’s a fact – get over it!
Secondly – I really do believe that Android is the best OS available right now. It has a nice look and feel, its memory management is really good (and it works), all of the applications (including core applications) can be superseded by custom applications (this is very powerful).
- Watch Androidology 1-3 for an overview of the OS
- Watch Android – Apps are created equal and Android – Apps without borders for an example of how applications can embed or superseded other applications
Applications
Over the past few years, it has become very apparent that hardware alone does not make a good phone, it is actually the applications and the user experience that drive people to pick up and use their phone.
I was a little concerned before I bought my Samsung because I had heard that the Android applications were not as polished as those on the iPhone. However as soon as I saw them on my phone I was relieved – they look every bit as good as their iPhone counterparts.
In terms of finding applications, I have been very impressed with the number and quality of apps available on the Android Marketplace. I now have literally 50+ apps on my phone (including having deleted some) and all have been very good – and free!
- So far I have only bought 1 app (Tweetcaster). I went 3 weeks without buying it (the only limitation was a small advert at the bottom of the screen) and decided to purchase it after having tried some other Twitter clients and decided that it was the best for me. The order process was very quick and easy. The process was:
- Un-install the old app (would be nice if I didn’t have to as it meant I had to re-enter my configuration, but the instructions told me to do this)
- Find the Tweetcast premium app in the Android Marketplace (easy – this can be done by text input or by voice)
- The app was $4.99 (it would be nice if it converted it to £ for me)
- Selected ‘Buy’
- It then uses Google Checkout to buy the app. the Android marketplace is already linked to my Google account, so as I have used Google Checkout before (on my PC), it knew my credit card details. I just had to confirm payment. Once done I was able to install the application.
Development of Applications
I would really like to develop some applications – mainly to tie into the GetMeCooking website. I haven’t really coded Java since University, but after a bit of reading and watching videos on the Android Developers website and a few other websites, I was able to understand the concepts and write my first program (a list of items which when selected, launched the web browser at a target URL). Pretty good!
This year a lot of ‘high-profile’ Apple developers have defected over to Android, mainly because the Apple environment is too restricted. I won’t write about this now – maybe later 
My Summary of the Features that Samsung mention in the Advert on their Website:
- Smart Alarm – Pointless. All it does is wake me up 5 minutes early
- Daily Briefing – Useless as its features are too limited
- Integrated Calendar – Excellent. It is integrated with Google Calendar
- Car Mode – Really good. It seems to pre-cache everything so as long as you stay on-track you don’t need a data signal. This also means that you can download the journey via wLAN to save any mobile data costs/usage. The disadvantage is that if you do veer off-track, you will need a data signal (not usually a problem in the UK, but too costly to use abroad)
- Layer Reality Browser – Really good, although really slow to load (should be significantly faster with Android 2.2…?)
- Wireless Tethering – I haven’t had a need to use this yet, but it is good to know that it is available. It did come in handy on occasion on my Windows phone
- Camera – Fast and responsive. Anti-shake seems to work well. I have also found the video (and audio) to work very well
- Social Hub – Good feature, but I don’t use it. I keep up-to-date with all the social networks anyway
- 4″ Super AMOLED screen – is really nice. Can bes seen from all angles, very good response rate and vibrant colours. Is better in sunlight than other phones I have owned. Plus it is extremely sensitive to touch
- SWYPE text input – Superb. You really have to use it to understand just how good it is! Well worth going through the tutorial to understand all of the features and get the most out of it
- ThinkFree – I haven’t actually used this yet, but I will. I was impressed to see that an PDF reader is built in – plus it is good so I haven’t bothered to install Adobe’s reader
- Internet browser – Is very good. Web pages appear very quickly and I haven’t had any issues at all with it
- TV remote Controller – I haven’t got a compatible TV (needs to be Samsung 2010 or later) and I’m not sure I would use a phone as a remote control anyway – but it’s there if I want it…
- DLNA with Multi Codec Support - This is excellent. With no configuration, I am able to play videos/music/photographs from my Windows PC or Windows Home Server over my wLAN
- Android Market - Not as nice to brows around as the Apple one, however it has a basic but functional search facility. I have been very impressed with the number and quality of the apps on the store. As there is no validation of apps on the store there are some instances where there are many apps that have been written by the same person (basically the same app but with different titles) – but this is quite rare. I have read that the app store will be improved soon
- Desk Mount - I haven’t got it and I won’t bother getting it
Niggles
The only real niggles I have with the phone at the moment are:
- Connectivity to the PC – It uses a program called Kies. When I first installed it, it worked well but since a patch came out recently it doesn’t always detect the phone. I have read in forums that they are aware of the issue and are looking to resolve it
- Google Sat-nav – It is great, except a recent patch came out and stopped it from working! It knows where I am on the map, but says that it can’t find the GPS! I have read that this will be fixed soon
- Soft Case – It didn’t come with one (this is mean!)
- Earphones – Good that they are noise isolating (I hate being able to hear peoples music even when they are 3 desks away), although they are not very good quality. They will do for now but I might replace them in the future
Some Blog Posts I Intend to Write in the Future Are:
- A list of all the apps I have installed to-date
- Reviews of some apps
- Things I like about Android
Let me know if you have any specific questions – I will be happy to answer them
August 14th, 2010 at 10:51
Hi. great advice. i just got the samsung galaxy s but cannot get the alarm to work when the phone is turned off. do you know how to solve this problem?
Thank you,
Rafi
August 19th, 2010 at 22:01
Hi, I have the same question as Rafi.
(Hi Rafi. Good to see great minds think alike).
August 19th, 2010 at 23:31
I currently have 8 alarms set (3 active) and they all function properly.
I haven’t had any problems with them at all, with the phone being on, off connect to the mains, connected to the PC or no connected to anything.
August 24th, 2010 at 23:56
I have the same problem with the alarm! It doesn’t work when the phone is switched off, I’ve had to rely on my old Nokia as i was actually late for work one morning when relying on the Galaxy S….Also, how to you store anything other than one number for a contact and what about all the other info you might have like landline numbers, email addresses etc etc.
August 25th, 2010 at 09:39
Hi Arusha,
I find the best way to edit contacts is to log onto Google Mail (http://mail.google.com/).
In the top left of the screen, click on ‘Contacts’.
Edit everything in there and it will sync with your phone over the air.
You can also use the latest version of the Google Picasa (http://picasa.google.com/) imaging software to identify people’s faces in your photographs and then assign them to your Google Contacts.