Syko's: Samsung Galaxy S (Vibrant) Review

Well after playing and tweaking with my new Samsung T-Mobile vibrant for a few weeks I decided to give a write up and my thoughts about the phone to the TechSpy community.

Looks:
Basically it looks like an iPhone 3GS...Take that for what you will. I personally prefer the look of the AT&T Captivate but have come to love the Vibrant a little more after each day of use.

Hardware:
On the hardware side of things the Vibrant is a beast...Coming in with 512MB of RAM, a Samsung Hummingbird S5PC110 1 Ghz CPU and an equally sporty PowerVR SGX 540 GPU. This combo really laughs in the face of anything you throw it's way, and if Samsung/T-Mobile ever actually getting around to getting an "Official" Froyo 2.2 port for this phone I expect the performance will be even more astonishing.

Another interesting note about the hardware is that the case used in the Vibrant is identical to the UK Samsung Galaxy S i9000. The i9000 includes a FFC (Front Facing Camera) and with a little bit of modification the FFC can be ordered and added rather simply to the US Vibrant. The use of the camera will require a rooted phone and custom ROM software, but is a nice addition to your phone for around $20.

Screen:
There's only a few things that can be said about the screen on this phone and they are all consisting of Holy Shi....and Oh My God. The 4" Super AMOLED screen is huge for the relatively small stature and overall weight of the device. In addition to the size, it is an absolutely stunning display all around. Great brightness, resolution(480x800), contrast and color...

There is no better example of the brilliance of this screen than the 'Avatar' movie that comes pre-loaded from T-Mobile. In all honesty I own this movie on Blu Ray and never plan on actually watching it on the phone, but there is no doubt as to why it is included. Every time I show off my new toy to interested onlookers this movie gets thrown on within a few minutes and you just see the cell phone shame in the persons eyes holding it...The thought of looking back at their puny, dull, cell phone display after witnessing the movie on the SuperAMOLED screen is unbearable to them.

Top this all off with the fact that it is made with Gorrila Glass, making it extra durable. Ensuring your display will stay beautiful for a while to come.

OS/Software:
One of the bigger disappointments of the Vibrant is the fact that it comes stock with Android 2.1 instead of the sleeker, faster Android 2.2. Both Samsung and T-Mobile have said the update is coming but an ETA is nowhere to be seen. Delays on the update seem to be due to the TouchWiz custom interface Samsung put on the Galaxy S models.

With that said, The 2.1 with the custom TouchWiz is fast and responsive 99% of the time...There are a few known issues though, such as the GPS being inaccurate and some phones lagging and hanging for a few seconds before returning to normal function. These problems are known by Samsung and are said to be addressed in the coming Froyo update...(Ya the one with no ETA) fortunately for the power users out there the great Android community has already fixed these issues for us.

Battery/Camera/Call Quality:
The battery is what you would expect from a full feature smartphone. Talk time: 2G/803 min, 3G/393 min. Standby time: 2G/750 hrs, 3G/576 hrs.

It does alright, but under heavy use of Web, Calls and maybe even a few videos and GPS navigation it is hard pressed to make it through the entire day without at least a Quickie charge.

The camera on the Vibrant doesn't have a flash like it's brother the Verizon Fascinate, without flash though it does well under anything but extremely low or high light...The camera is also capable of 720p video recording which looks great in favorable conditions as well.

Call quality is a bit of a let down on such a well rounded device as the Vibrant. Coming from a 'rooted' G1 with the latest radio firmware the call quality on the Vibrant is quite tinny and hollow sounding in comparison to my G1. While at the same time it seems to handle background noise a bit better than the G1 did, so in the end I guess it's a bit of give and take.

Final:
In the end this is currently one of the best phones that T-Mobile offers. If you are in the market for a new smartphone and a T-Mobile subscriber this is a great buy that won't leave you disappointed in the slightest. The only other phone really in contention with the Vibrant is the T-Mobile G2...And I think the biggest difference between the phones will involve which community of Android nuts is the strongest on the power user side, but for the everyday user the Vibrant will have everything you are looking for and often will surprise you with a bit more.