Got my Vibrant today!

[MonkeyManiac2010]

UPS finally delivered it. I upgraded from a G1 (the original Android phone, represent!). Thoughts so far:

Pros:

• Amazing screen. I can see why they put Avatar on to demo it... huge, bright, saturated, great contrast.
• Super thin and light
• Camera quality is a giant step up... pointing it at a bright light source (my G1 had lots of trouble with these) resulted in exposure that was just fine. I love the continuous shooting mode and the tap-to-focus.
• Browser rendering is extremely snappy. I don't know if this is from the CPU or going from Android 1.6 -> 2.1, but in any case, it's a massive difference.
• Setup was dead simple.
• Swype is freakin' amazing. I skipped the tutorial and was swyping like a pro without much trouble.

Cons:

• People have said the body feels plastic-y and cheap, and I agree. For a $500 phone, I'd rather it not feel so much like a toy. I plan to put it in a Zagg Invisible Shield and some kind of silicon case for protection. I think iPhone 4 has the right idea with squaring things off and using metal.
• TouchWiz is as lame as I feared it would be. It looks "cartoonish" and just has a bunch of unnecessary junk, like the homescreen for the web program. I'd like the stock Android GUI, but until I can get it on, I guess I'll use an alternate launcher at least.
• The button + swipe to unlock is stupid. I shouldn't have to hunt for the tiny button on the side to do the most common operation on the phone.

Looks like no Cyanogen for Vibrant yet... :-(

Twitter / cyanogen: @JohnCatral I'm not going ...

 

[spiz]

Meet the CM6 developer assigned to Vibrant - xda-developers

Don't worry... soon my friend.

TouchWiz 3.0 is on par with HTC's new Sense UI, but if you prefer stock Android, then the skins aren't for you. I came from the BH2 and got to experience the ultimate fail that was TouchWiz 2.0, so this was actually a big refreshment for me.

Launcher Pro works amazing on this phone. I enabled all of the cool, GPU-using enhancements and it looks pretty slick. Check it out since you weren't able to run it on the G1!

 

[noonehereyet]

Meet the CM6 developer assigned to Vibrant - xda-developers

Don't worry... soon my friend.

TouchWiz 3.0 is on par with HTC's new Sense UI, but if you prefer stock Android, then the skins aren't for you. I came from the BH2 and got to experience the ultimate fail that was TouchWiz 2.0, so this was actually a big refreshment for me.

Launcher Pro works amazing on this phone. I enabled all of the cool, GPU-using enhancements and it looks pretty slick. Check it out since you weren't able to run it on the G1!

ADW is better than launcherpro... (just saying)

 

[spiz]

ADW is better than launcherpro... (just saying)

I've used both, just not on this phone. What makes it better?

 

[MonkeyManiac2010]

spiz, good tip. I was just playing with LauncherPro, in fact! So much cleaner than TouchWiz IMO.

noonehereyet, I had tried ADW on my G1 and it was okay. I'll have to give it another go, since it probably has some 2.x features I wasn't seeing.

Either way, TouchWiz... meh, I guess it would be good for people new to smart phones who needs lots of big graphics and hand-holding, but I'll pass.

 

[noonehereyet]

spiz, good tip. I was just playing with LauncherPro, in fact! So much cleaner than TouchWiz IMO.

noonehereyet, I had tried ADW on my G1 and it was okay. I'll have to give it another go, since it probably has some 2.x features I wasn't seeing.

Either way, TouchWiz... meh, I guess it would be good for people new to smart phones who needs lots of big graphics and hand-holding, but I'll pass.

Yeah have to agree with you hate the overlay crap ive been on android since day 1 (G1 and the RC builds) and all this added bloat is just bad for the OS... Carriers need to start offering the option of bloat ware vs. vanilla...

 

[The K-Zoo Kid]

Yeah have to agree with you hate the overlay crap ive been on android since day 1 (G1 and the RC builds) and all this added bloat is just bad for the OS... Carriers need to start offering the option of bloat ware vs. vanilla...

That would really be great...

 

[Doon]

congrats on the new phone! i hope there is a growing community around it! i really do think that aside from the TW skin and the plastic back, that this is the best android out right now. great phone!

 

[2FR35H]

Yeah have to agree with you hate the overlay crap ive been on android since day 1 (G1 and the RC builds) and all this added bloat is just bad for the OS... Carriers need to start offering the option of bloat ware vs. vanilla...

I actually disagree with Custom UI's being bad for the OS however I wish Custom UI's weren't tied down to phones making updates slower is all about what I dislike. It shouldn't be that mixed in with the hardware.

What I like about custom UI's are the added styles they produce and features along with it. Makes great innovation. Plain ol android is boring compared to phones with custom UI's.

 

[MonkeyManiac2010]

I also have to add:

Cons:

• No LED notification light

Maybe I'll get used to it, but I liked having LED flashing (and in customizable colors too with stuff like Handcent) on my G1, so I didn't have to turn on the screen to see if I had a new email/etc.