Samsung Galaxy S review

June 25, 2010 5:38 pm

by Ben Sillis

Categories: Mobile Phones, recommended Reviews Tags: Android, galaxy s, Samsung, Vodafone

We love

Gorgeous screen, blazingly fast

We hate

Design reeks of iPhone knock off

Verdict

Want the HTC Desire with a bigger screen? This is it.

Launch Price

£From free on contract

5 Pages

1 2 3 4 5

The Samsung Galaxy S has been long overdue. While Apple and now even HTC have a sterling rep for smartphone software, the South Korean giant’s trump card is its ultra hot hardware. That’s been missing from the company’s Android line up for the last year, but this phone changes that, and puts it right back at the front of the smartphone pack. See what we mean in our full Samsung Galaxy S review.

Read the rest of our Samsung Galaxy S review
Samsung Galaxy S review: Android 2.1
Samsung Galaxy S review: Super AMOLED screen
Samsung Galaxy S review: Build and battery
Samsung Galaxy S review: Ultimate buyer’s guide

While we’ve had to make do with mediocre Android efforts like the Samsung Galaxy and Galaxy Portal until now, Sammy has finally pulled out just about all the stops with the Samsung Galaxy S, a phone that’s every bit as powerful as the Dell Streak, and as consumer friendly as a HTC Desire.

We say just about, as Sammy has still failed with the casing of the phone. The Samsung Galaxy S’ build is by no means unpleasant, but it is uninspiring. To its credit, it is very slim – under a centimetre – and the slight ridge at one end is barely noticeable in day to day use. But while we lavished praise on the new look Samsung Wave, the Samsung Galaxy S falls back on Sammy’s traditional cheap plastic look with clacky buttons you can hear vibrate after they’ve been pushed, and worse, it’s shaped like a slightly broader iPhone 3G. Not iPhone 4, mind, but a two year old iPhone 3G.

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Most of these issues fade away however once you turn the Samsung Galaxy S on. This is the only phone with a screen that can possibly match the iPhone 4’s astounding Retina Display. It’s large, sharp (WVGA), and a Super AMOLED panel (A more expensive technology than LCD but one capable of producing rich, vivid colours), and the biggest one we’ve ever seen on a phone. Websites, apps and videos look fantastic and multitouch pinch to zoom gestures work on pictures and webpages without a hitch.

Android 2.1 meanwhile runs like a dream. At a glance, the Samsung Galaxy S appears to be running stock Android, but Samsung’s skinned it, and for once, come up with a cracker of a phone that uses a TouchWiz UI. The homescreen layout has barely changed, and the menu icons are straight out of the iPhone OS (right down to the little notification numbers that appear in the corner), but the neat little options we loved in Bada on the Samsung Wave are here too: the drop down notification tray now lets you toggle Wi-Fi and sound profile, and even gives you track control when music is playing.

When you’ve got full signal, pages and Google Maps just plop into view on the Samsung Galaxy S instantaneously, and you’ll be able to get around at speed thanks to an excellent on screen keyboard too (There’s even the option to use Swype text input, which some people swear by). But just as welcome are the extra features Samsung’s bunged in on top of those Android supports natively.

We’re not just talking about the option to link your Facebook and Gmail contacts easily, in the same way you do on the Wave, or those neat twists to the notification tray. Samsung’s extra media support will please those with large digitial music and video collections. Instead of basic H.264/MP4 support, the Samsung Galaxy S opens just about every video format you can throw at it, including MKV, and DivX/Xvid AVIs, which should please Android’s more hardcore audience. Not only that, but it’ll stream them over DLNA too, so you can watch a movie on the way home, then watch it on your TV – it worked without a hitch streaming to our Sony PS3.

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Combine this with everything Samsung has stuffed under the bonnet of the Samsung Galaxy S (TV-out support, a five megapixel camera that takes excellent 720p HD videos and up to 16GB of internal storage alongside a microSD slot), and what you’re looking at is one of the most powerful multimedia smartphones ever, and certainly the best phone Samsung has ever crafted.

That’s not to say we didn’t spot a few hitches. The GPS signal strength on the Samsung Galaxy S is not the strongest we’ve seen. And for some reason, Android Market downloads would fail more than they completed, when tested over Wi-Fi, 3G and 2G on two different networks – though Samsung says this isn’t a widespread issue, and since the unit we tested last month didn’t have this glitch, we’re inclined to believe them. Still, this and the plasticky build are the only things that should hold you back, and we think the power of the Samsung Galaxy S will more than make up for it.

We don’t have the HTC Evo 4G here in the UK, HTC’s great slab of an Android smartphone available in the US. The Samsung Galaxy S should easily sate anyone longing for the form factor, and if you know the iPhone 4 and its closed environment aren’t for you, the Samsung Galaxy S almost certainly is.

Looking for a Samsung Galaxy S on contract? Then visit www.phones4u.co.uk

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Neoraiden

Did you notice the top half of the handset around the phone piece and the screen getting hot while charging or during usage? I've started to feel mine getting extremely hot sometimes with system (the paid version) reporting temperatures up to 53 degrees Celsius so far. This is enough to stop me from using it during calls or it burns my ear.

Also have you used the Samsung kies sync software? If so what did you think of it?

The battery life is incredibly short for me after a week of usage and many charge cycles (at least twice a day, far more than my desire)

I love the screen and commented before saying it was a powerful phone, but these problems mean I'm not getting much real use out of the phone. Also never buy from the carphonewarehouse unless you get an initial period where you can return the contract. I've wasted money on software for the handset and they want me to keep replacing the handset even though it doesn't work and I have to repay for software each time it's replaced. Really bad policy given most other networks offer 7 day return, I should have never taken it.

bensillis

Really? That is very hot and mildly alarming! I didn't notice anything of the sort so I'd talk about a return – worth checking that at least before giving up entirely. My battery life wasn't quite as bad as that either (But not as good as the 2 days other reviews are claiming) so it could be a dud. Complain!

Darkman

hiya read both your comments above and can only reply on my own experances, my phone does get a bit warm while charging but not during use, and batt life is high but as i am useing and adding appz playing with the functions as only had it 4 2 weeks so expect it to use more batt life but still only manage 1 charge a day. but all these new smart phones use power esp if you use GPS as thats power hungry in and unit, try not having the samsung live wallpapers running as theses do use extra power and turn off gps untill you need it. as for i comments above get your phone checked out if its getting that hot it may burn you as thats not a good sign. things may improve with the new android update next month from samsung.
Verity may

my battry life has been good for the 11 days ive had the phone

but this morning the battry life is going down like no tomorrow and the screen is getting really hot and i havent even been using my phone because i am at school…. ii think i might take it bk to voodafone nd get a new battry or something :l

Davidoff

Why did it come witha flash? i know it is quite stupid but it is putting me off from buying it because of that, plus the felling is quite plasticky cheap, would you agree? it makes noices when you hold it hard…
Anna

how do you watch tv – keeps saying i do not have adobe flash player installed??? a bit new to the whole iphone scene.

Thanks

http://www.electricpig.co.uk Ben Sillis

Hi Anna – Android 2.1 doesn’t support Flash so those sites won’t open. You might have some luck with a few in the Skyfire browser (free), but otherwise you’ll have to wait for the Android 2.2 update which should be in the next month or two.

Fred_the_Needle

Sorry, but anyone who buys any Samsung appliance needs their head examined. I had the extreme misfortune to end up with a Toco Ultra phone 17 months ago based on the stunning reviews it got. Well it certainly did not live up to the hype. The operating system worked on some phones and didn't on others. Sometimes you could connect to your PC and sometimes you couldn't. The list goes on of unreliability and just plain “couldn't care less” about problems.

For this and other information I suggest logging on to the Samsung Fun (*spit*) club and seeing how many complaints there are about the Samsung treatment of customers after they've bought a Samsung appliance. For my five pennoth, I'll never buy another Samsung item as long as I live after this experience, no matter how glowing the reviews are.

Reviewing a product is not the same as trying to live with it for 3-4 months…although in the case of my own phone, the problems became apparent after about a week. And guess what? They're still there.
Salomon

Is good… but not #1… If you was iphone and change (as me) to Android, looks slow, when you go from 1 app to another, or from a call to the home…. I just used 7 days and sold it, and goes to HTC Android… this is #1

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