Samsung Galaxy S... highest spec Android phone released... also with QWERTY!

CreAtiv3

CreAtiv3

CreAtiv3

Associate
Joined
10 Nov 2004
Posts
492
Location
Northampton
I believe mobiles.co.uk are going via Carphone Warehouse anyway.
Received my SGS last Friday and it came with a CPW invoice yet I ordered from mobiles.co.uk

Fantastic phone btw! Far better than that iPhone carp.
 

naknakkus

naknakkus

naknakkus

Associate
Joined
15 Nov 2008
Posts
737
Location
Aberdeen
El Gringo said:
Just to clarify, if it says 3g before you connect, the reception icon will still say 3g as you're surfing and not g orh? Thanks for your input, just want to make sure my phone's faulty before getting a new one, internet browsing is a chore at the mo
Click to expand...

Just tried browsing for 5min again - stayed on 3g the whole time, and this isn't a great area for reception. Dunno if your problem will convince them to exchange or not, it's quite difficult to test. I expect you've still got your 1 month free insurance, though? Maybe that'd cover it.

Mansize_tissue said:
Where is everyone getting there's from? It seems almost like a phantom phone at the moment, very few places seem to be stocking it.
Click to expand...
Got mine from the Vodafone store. They're available online as well from Orange etc, I think. Saw them in Carphone Warehouse.

Really liking the phone after a few days. This is the first smartphone I've owned, but I've played with most of the current generation (Heroes, Iphones, etc) and this blows them away. It's a beast.

Not sure if this is kosher, but here's a review I wrote for the big river site that might be useful to people who don't have one yet:

The first thing anyone notices about the Galaxy S is the screen. There are other smartphones out with the same size of screen (the HTC HD2, I believe) but the "super AMOLED" display really pops with brightness and colour. Normally I dismiss claims of "20% extra brightness, 80% sunlight reduction, 20% extra battery" as marketing guff, however, in the case of this technology, it appears to be at least somewhat true. The screen makes even mundane usage of the device something of a joy.

The phone is sold with Samsung's own interface on top, and in many ways it reminds me of the Sense UI on the HTC devices, though it does lack some of the widgets that came with my wife's HTC Hero, such as as the homescreen weather/time widget and the email widget. Similar applications were easily found on the Android Market. The touch whiz interface is clearly somewhat less polished and pretty than Sense, but it essentially does the same things.

And this phone is fast. The capacitive screen requires the lightest of touches to set the processor in motion and switching between apps, screens, pictures, albums is almost instantaneous. The machine is built on a 1ghz processor like the Nexus 1 and Desire, but it beats both in benchmarks and includes a dedicated graphics engine. I haven't had much opportunity to try many games, though the few I've tried (including Asphalt, a 3d heavy game) have run extremely well. It's just a shame that there aren't more big developers working in the Android Market at the moment.

Swype is a brilliant addition to text input on the device. You may have heard of it, or something similar - it allows you to trace a "path" including the letters you want in a word, rather than pecking them out individually. This sounds somewhat silly until you try it. The software has an uncanny knack of choosing the correct word out of the letters you trace and it makes typing out long words fast and easy. It isn't so good for the fiddly bits of messaging - punctuation, capitalisation - but you can combine it with hunt and peck for finer editing.

Now the bad.

The design of the phone is inoffensive, yes, and also generic. It's what you'd draw if you wanted to represent a distillation of 2010 smartphones. It's basically an oblong screen with filleted edges. It has one clicky physical home button flanked by capacitive menu and back buttons. I found that I missed the physical trackball of the Hero, if only to flip between screens or fidget with. The case is a shiny, slippery plastic, and the back is composed of tiny, faintly iridescent polkadots. Not very nice to look at or hold, especially since this is a large, thin slab. Don't ever rest it on your knees, it'll just slide off. I expect that I'll get a case with a bit more grip for it when a wider selection becomes available.

The battery life isn't great either, though I am able to get at least a regular day of use out of it. It has never given up on me when I've needed it, but it does get worrying low late in the day. Bear in mind that it's my new toy and, as with any new gadget, I play with it all the time: installing new apps, changing backgrounds, taking pictures, messing with the GPS, etc. So when I calm down a bit I expect the battery will go proportionally further.

Overall, this is a very polished device. It's packed with cutting edge hardware that works in efficient tandem with a quickly maturing Android. I dislike its physical design and it's a shame that Samsung didn't plump for higher quality materials and a more daring style to match the hardware. However, we don't (at least, I don't) buy phones for what they look like when they're switched off, lying on a table. No, we spend most of the time looking at the screen, and the Galaxy's display more than makes up for its ugly chassis.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:

starfighter

starfighter

starfighter

Soldato
Joined
4 Aug 2008
Posts
4,936
Location
Manchester.
Seems to be well received so far. Everyone at work has a iphone, X10 or a Desire. So I need something better.

So I have bitten the bullet and gone with Vodafone and Samsung, not my normal choice but lets hope it is as good as it looks on paper.
 

megakid

megakid

megakid

Associate
Joined
6 Jun 2004
Posts
2,389
Location
London
By the way, I just ran a tweak on my rooted Galaxy S and it has significantly sped up the loading of applications (and screen changes within applications).

It basically involves moving the application data (not the actual applications) off of the internal SD card and onto the internal NAND memory - the NAND memory is far faster and so all applications seem more responsive and load faster.

http://android.modaco.com/content/s...298/got-the-stalling-problem-rooted-try-this/
 

NarChaDBaueR

NarChaDBaueR

NarChaDBaueR

Associate
Joined
22 May 2006
Posts
693
I'm thinking about getting this phone, went into o2 today and they offered me 900 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited internet for £28 a month for 24 months or £30 a month for 18 months. What do people think of this deal, anyone got a better deal?
 

Columbo

Columbo

Columbo

Soldato
Joined
26 Mar 2007
Posts
8,956
Location
Nottinghamshire
makamiso said:
Hmm got this today and loving it, such a nice phone.. BUUUTTT is there any way of getting the htc sense wallpaper on it? :p
Click to expand...

If you the Desire wallpaper then easy, just type Desire Wallpaper in Google images and save the image that appears.

For a HTC sense type experience the best fit is to download the below from the market:

Launcher Pro Beta (free)
Beautiful Widgets (about a quid)

It gives you configurable no of home screens, shed loads of desktop widgets to add and the very nice HTC style clock with weather
 

Sukh

Sukh

Sukh

Soldato
Joined
29 Jan 2007
Posts
3,596
Location
Chelsea
NarChaDBaueR said:
I'm thinking about getting this phone, went into o2 today and they offered me 900 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited internet for £28 a month for 24 months or £30 a month for 18 months. What do people think of this deal, anyone got a better deal?
Click to expand...

Was the phone free?
Upgrade or new customer?
 

makamiso

makamiso

makamiso

Associate
Joined
15 Nov 2009
Posts
465
Location
Bristol
^^sounds like a cracking deal :D And cheers for the launcher pro tip ManCuBuS, great little gadget :D What other great themes like that are there? just so i can change when the mood suits me lol
 

Sukh

Sukh

Sukh

Soldato
Joined
29 Jan 2007
Posts
3,596
Location
Chelsea
Wow, so your an existing customer? I tired and they were having none of it as after a few years at the standard £35 I went on simplicity about a year ago at £20 and bought a bold and apparently I need to pay £35 again and "buy" the phone for 90.

So just to help me, whats the circumstances? How many years you been a customer and how did you go about getting such a good deal? Instore or over the phone?


Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom