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Thoughts After 3 Days ... & mini review

So i got my SGS on Saturday, this is my 4th smart phone in 6 years and my first android phone.

Android BTW is very good, and in general i will not review the software side here, I will give each aspect of the phone a rating of 5 stars, where 3 represent Average .

Packaging (4/5): Good and relatively small box, it's include the phone it self, Battery, short USB to micro-usb cable (you should buy longer one), UK charger, in-ear Headset and guides.

Back cover (3.5/5): I didn't find any issue removing and putting back the back cover , just carefully slide your fingernail in the small opening in the bottom and left the cover, you can then align the cover back and press down with small slide downward.

Look and feel (4/5): it's lite , very lite ... it's look good on the front, i didn't like the back cover, but it's still got decent look. needless to say that the phone is finger print magnet, but i found it very easy to clean with small cloth. oh .. and it's look like the iPhone .

Booting (5/5): impressive and fast , no annoying start-up wizard or guide in the first boot, it's boot directly to the lock screen (5 stars to Samsung for that).

Display (4.5/5): Excellent, big and very bright (color pop-out nicely), very Good constrict ratio (Black is Black), however my only issue is the resolution , although WVGA is relatively high for a mobile phone, it's 4" display that translate to 233 PPI only (compare to 326 PPI in iPhone 4), any yes if i hold the phone 30cm (12") away or closer to my eye; i can see the pixels.
i wish it was something like 1024x576.

PS: it's the PenTile sub-pixel arrangement, i still didn't see any issue with it although the text is less sharp than the milestone.

Touch (4/5): Good , responsive and multi-touch :), it don't have the cross touch issue like the Nexus one,however it don't seem to be Amtel touch sensor as rumored before as i can't use stylus with it.

Wifi and APN (4.5/5): Wifi setup was super easy (less than 15 seconds) and it's was up and running, Wifi signal strength is good compare to my other phones and i can get poor signal in my room which is 10 meter and 2 wall away from my router, APN Data however was not auto detected since the mobile is unlocked it didn't include my carrier setting, so i searched this info from the internet and enter it manually in the phone APN setting, it would have be nice if the phone can automatically download carriers info from the internet.

Speaker (4.5/5): it's loud and have good sound quality relatively, one of the loudest speakers i owned in a mobile phone. combine this with the excellent 4" AMOLED display and it's the best video experiences i got in a mobile phone.

Phone (4.5/5): very good reception, clear and loud voice. I am very happy with the phone as a phone :p.

Gaming (4/5): i played Asphalt5 which is an intensive 3D game that come with the phone (under Samsung Apps) , it's very good but i feel sometimes that the accelerometer is not collaborated correctly.

Camera (3.5/5): i was able to take good photos with it indoors (in well lit room) and outdoors also, it's not the best 5MP camera but it's good, HD vedio is also good although there no stabilization and no auto-focus (720p sample i took outdoor). also it's shame that there is no led flash.

Battery (3/5): Average but Not that good (i am starting to doubt GSM Arena numbers), i am charging overnight and wake-up around 6AM, i go to work and by the time i return home around 6PM, the battery level is yellow around 25%. i am using live wallpaper (showing off :p), and Active-sync in the background, but i am not using the phone that much during work, some calls (about 5 minutes only),few minutes of video and gaming. it's maybe me or the way i use the phone,

Overall Experiences (4.5/5): the phone is impressive, the display is excellent 4" Super AMOLED monster :D. i didn't have time yet to test it fully, but the things i experienced like watching videos and Gaming was impressive. and even normal functionality like phone function was very good, however small issues is there -as with any other phone-. the battery didn't reach the level i was expecting (After reading GSM arena review). But don't let this stop you, as the phone is very good and among the top 3 GSM smart-phones out there (until Q4 at least :p)
 
Battery (3/5): Average but Not that good (i am starting to doubt GSM Arena numbers), i am charging overnight and wake-up around 6AM, i go to work and by the time i return home around 6PM, the battery level is yellow around 25%. i am using live wallpaper (showing off :p), and Active-sync in the background, but i am not using the phone that much during work, some calls (about 5 minutes only),few minutes of video and gaming. it's maybe me or the way i use the phone,
Thanks for the review.

Regarding the battery life, I'm curious what type of signal strength you get while a work? Thanks!
 
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Battery (3/5): Average but Not that good (i am starting to doubt GSM Arena numbers), i am charging overnight and wake-up around 6AM, i go to work and by the time i return home around 6PM, the battery level is yellow around 25%. i am using live wallpaper (showing off :p), and Active-sync in the background, but i am not using the phone that much during work, some calls (about 5 minutes only),few minutes of video and gaming. it's maybe me or the way i use the phone,

I'm curious, how often do you have it check your social networking sites/gmail/news/etc? I think a lot of the people who claim short battery life on their (insert phone here) have everything set to update every 5 minutes. I wonder what sort of battery life change if that was changed to check every 15 minutes (or 30 minutes)?
 
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So i got my SGS on Saturday, this is my 4th smart phone in 6 years and my first android phone.

Android BTW is very good, and in general i will not review the software side here, I will give each aspect of the phone a rating of 5 stars, where 3 represent Average .

Packaging (4/5): Good and relatively small box, it's include the phone it self, Battery, short USB to micro-usb cable (you should buy longer one), UK charger, in-ear Headset and guides.

Back cover (3.5/5): I didn't find any issue removing and putting back the back cover , just carefully slide your fingernail in the small opening in the bottom and left the cover, you can then align the cover back and press down with small slide downward.

Look and feel (4/5): it's lite , very lite ... it's look good on the front, i didn't like the back cover, but it's still got decent look. needless to say that the phone is finger print magnet, but i found it very easy to clean with small cloth. oh .. and it's look like the iPhone .

Booting (5/5): impressive and fast , no annoying start-up wizard or guide in the first boot, it's boot directly to the lock screen (5 stars to Samsung for that).

Display (4.5/5): Excellent, big and very bright (color pop-out nicely), very Good constrict ratio (Black is Black), however my only issue is the resolution , although WVGA is relatively high for a mobile phone, it's 4" display that translate to 233 PPI only (compare to 326 PPI in iPhone 4), any yes if i hold the phone 30cm (12") away or closer to my eye; i can see the pixels.
i wish it was something like 1024x576.

PS: it's the PenTile sub-pixel arrangement, i still didn't see any issue with it although the text is less sharp than the milestone.

Touch (4/5): Good , responsive and multi-touch :), it don't have the cross touch issue like the Nexus one,however it don't seem to be Amtel touch sensor as rumored before as i can't use stylus with it.

Wifi and APN (4.5/5): Wifi setup was super easy (less than 15 seconds) and it's was up and running, Wifi signal strength is good compare to my other phones and i can get poor signal in my room which is 10 meter and 2 wall away from my router, APN Data however was not auto detected since the mobile is unlocked it didn't include my carrier setting, so i searched this info from the internet and enter it manually in the phone APN setting, it would have be nice if the phone can automatically download carriers info from the internet.

Speaker (4.5/5): it's loud and have good sound quality relatively, one of the loudest speakers i owned in a mobile phone. combine this with the excellent 4" AMOLED display and it's the best video experiences i got in a mobile phone.

Phone (4.5/5): very good reception, clear and loud voice. I am very happy with the phone as a phone :p.

Gaming (4/5): i played Asphalt5 which is an intensive 3D game that come with the phone (under Samsung Apps) , it's very good but i feel sometimes that the accelerometer is not collaborated correctly.

Camera (3.5/5): i was able to take good photos with it indoors (in well lit room) and outdoors also, it's not the best 5MP camera but it's good, HD vedio is also good although there no stabilization and no auto-focus (720p sample i took outdoor). also it's shame that there is no led flash.

Battery (3/5): Average but Not that good (i am starting to doubt GSM Arena numbers), i am charging overnight and wake-up around 6AM, i go to work and by the time i return home around 6PM, the battery level is yellow around 25%. i am using live wallpaper (showing off :p), and Active-sync in the background, but i am not using the phone that much during work, some calls (about 5 minutes only),few minutes of video and gaming. it's maybe me or the way i use the phone,

Overall Experiences (4.5/5): the phone is impressive, the display is excellent 4" Super AMOLED monster :D. i didn't have time yet to test it fully, but the things i experienced like watching videos and Gaming was impressive. and even normal functionality like phone function was very good, however small issues is there -as with any other phone-. the battery didn't reach the level i was expecting (After reading GSM arena review). But don't let this stop you, as the phone is very good and among the top 3 GSM smart-phones out there (until Q4 at least :p)


Couple of questions and comments about your review.

Why is the back cover 3.5 out of 5? from the sounds of your review it should be a 5 out 5 seeing as you had no issue removing it.

And the Touch review is a 4 out of 5 because its not applicable with a stylus? no android phone to my knowledge actually is.

As for Wifi/Apn technically thats your fault seeing as you bought it unlocked.

As for speaker why is it 4.5 out of 5? you gave nothing but positivity through that section.

Why is the phone part 4.5 out of 5 as well? what is stopping you from giving it a 5?
 
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I've got a gripe.... the supplied hands free headset is very good audio quality but if your on the move and listening to your music you cant skip foward or back to select different tracks using the inline button on the headset.... instead you have to get the phone out of your pocket and unlock the screen then select next track... it's a huge letdown, wish you could have double tap to skip forward and triple tap to skip backwards.
If anybody knows a workaround, that would be great !!!
 
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I don't really get why the touch only gets a 4/5. It's a capacitive display so of course it won't work with a stylus and I certainly wouldn't want a resistive screen on this as it would not have the same smooth feel during use. I think it's very accurate and responsive, and it of course don't have any cross touch issues and supports a lot of simultaneous pushes. Tastes of course can differ but for me it's a definitie 5/5 on the touch side.

I would put the speaker a bit lower than 4,5/5. I come from a Nokia N95 8GB which has two speakers and has a more full sound than the SGS speaker, which is kind of sharp.

I can agree with a 4,5/5 on the screen if it's just on a scale to perfection. It's definitely clearly ahead of any other screen I've seen though so if it's in comparison to other screens available today it's a 5/5.

I can't say much about the battery yet as I need to charge it more to reach it's capacity, as well as it's been in almost constant use which is far from normal.

I haven't had any problems with the feel of the phone. It's made in plastic but it feels very solid to me and I know better than to take it's light weight as a sign of non-robust construction. I just love how little it weighs for it's size and it should be easier than I thought to take along everywhere.

You didn't bring it up but I have also been positively surprised by TouchWiz 3.0, which I think works really well and has a bunch of smart little additions compared to standard Android. That you can sweep left and right on contacts to message or call them is very slick. It's great to be able to organize your apps just the way you want them and the side scrolling app drawer is more clever than the horizontal version. I also enjoy the one click navigation to any panel on the home screen or app drawer, which is one click faster than any other launcher I've seen. It's at least a 4/5 for me, perhaps more (depending on how you compare it).

The biggest let down so far has been that it has a worse antenna than my old phone, which was rather good. I'm in my summer house, where I don't have perfect coverage (I can't wait for the court to allow 3G on the 900MHz band) so it even loses coverage now and then, which my old phone never did in the same places, but also at times has better coverage than my mobile internet connection. The coverage can change from day to day here so I don't know exactly how good or bad it is yet.
 
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Its a 5 from me because i still can't see whats with all this fuss with pentile i can still see text just as well as any other phone i've used.

I guess some people will be bothered by it and others won't be.

By the way i am still young lol and have 20/20 vision always do very well in eye tests so theres nothing wrong with my eyesight!.

i give it a big 5 as well.. with that nice screen and outdoor viewing advantage.. it really is one of the best screen display out right now..

unless the texts on the galaxy S looked blurry when zoomed in, then ya that would suck, otherwise, just to be subjective, i cant be shallow over something minor..
 
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Holding opinions contrary to fact seems somewhat erroneous, IMO.

Its not a biggy for me by any means, but I think people need to be upfront about this issue, since for some people it will be a big deal - those people should make sure they arrange some hands on time before committing to purchasing this handset. There is a distinct difference in the quality of text, and for some this is a dealbreaker.
 
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As I said above I wasn't completely impressed with the antenna of the SGS but I just found out that if I hold the phone higher up (the antenna is at the base) the reception is significantly improved and is now actually pretty good. It's a bit of a hassle that the positioning of the hand should make such a difference but it's good that you can at least avoid the "problem" that way if you are in a place with bad reception.

As for the screen, again, I agree with NZtechfreak that some could find the visible pixels on text at close range a deal breaker, although it is pretty sharp at moderate distance and as good as the screen is at everything else it should probably be relatively few that found that part to be a deal breaker. I'm luckily not amongst those and reading on it has been pleasant for me.
 
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Thanks for the review.

Regarding the battery life, I'm curious what type of signal strength you get while a work? Thanks!

Full single with HSDPA data.

I'm curious, how often do you have it check your social networking sites/gmail/news/etc? I think a lot of the people who claim short battery life on their (insert phone here) have everything set to update every 5 minutes. I wonder what sort of battery life change if that was changed to check every 15 minutes (or 30 minutes)?

I set my twitter and Gmail to sync automatically in the background, and my work email (active sync) work in "push" mode. I did try today to disable twitter and change active sync to check in hourly bases , that indeed improve my battery, it's now 12 hours since the last charge, and it's at 40% charge level now.

Cheers for the review, mate. May I ask which other smartphones you have owned and used and how they compare with the Galaxy S? I would be particularly interested in a comparison with the Desire if you have used both.

This is my first Android phone, i didn't own the Desire, but a co-worker have it and i play with it, SGS do seem better. my previous phone was HTC touch diamond and the SGS is way way better.

You really gave the phone's screen a 4.5 out of 5? It's the first Super Amoled on the market, and ss most likely the top screen in the industry at this point. (Apple fanboys can scream over their retina display). Aside from that good mini review.

It only deserves 4.5 due to using pentile I'm afraid, I have one and its the only thing to detract from the display.

The screen is excellent, but the pentile+noticeable pixels in close range make it only 4.5 from me. i would give it 5 if it was 1280x720 :D


How is reading text on this display?

Edit: Nevermind, I just saw the PS. I wouldn't mind hearing other opinions on how clear text is though.

Text sharpness is not bad , but not what you get with the Milestone.

Couple of questions and comments about your review.

Why is the back cover 3.5 out of 5? from the sounds of your review it should be a 5 out 5 seeing as you had no issue removing it.

And the Touch review is a 4 out of 5 because its not applicable with a stylus? no android phone to my knowledge actually is.

As for Wifi/Apn technically thats your fault seeing as you bought it unlocked.

As for speaker why is it 4.5 out of 5? you gave nothing but positivity through that section.

Why is the phone part 4.5 out of 5 as well? what is stopping you from giving it a 5?

The Back cover is slightingly above average for me , and that what 3.5 stars stand for.

As for the touch , it's not 5-points touch sensor like the new sensors the will be implemented in WP7 phones, as for the stylus; i know that no phone with capacitive touch can work with stylus yet, but my stander is high :p one can always hope.

For APN part, i am used for the APN setting to be detected automatically (i think because of the XDA cooked rooms in my WinMo phone :D)

For the speakers , they are not dual (only 1) , and it's not the best speaker i listen to in a mobile phone and i think 4 give it Justice. it's hard to pin point sound quality issues in speakers.

For the phone part while the single strength was very good, i did notice that if you hold the phone from the bottom the signal drop form full bar to 2 bars.


nice review!!!

i guess no smart-phone gets a 5 on the screen display aspect ...

iphone 4 retina display? i dont think so..

While i didn't see the new iPhone screen, i don't think i will give it 5 , it's has low contrast ratio compare to any AMOLED screen. an it's mirror under the sun light.


i give it a big 5 as well.. with that nice screen and outdoor viewing advantage.. it really is one of the best screen display out right now..

unless the texts on the galaxy S looked blurry when zoomed in, then ya that would suck, otherwise, just to be subjective, i cant be shallow over something minor..

No the text is not blurry. it just less sharp than other screens with the same resolution that use the RGB sub-pixels.
 
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