Samsung Galaxy S

[Saeros]

Me too! Thanks for the link!!

 

[TriC]

if you can't wait just get the Samsung S (i9000)from bell.. you can unlock the phone now with out even rooting.. and there is no branding at all on the bell version.. the only thing from bell on the phone is a PVR app... thats it.. I already have mine running on rogers rate now.. got mine for $450 at future shop..

I was going to switch from rogers to bell for this phone but since It could be unlocked very easy I just bought it out right in the end. and the fact I don't like bell much.. also picked up a sweet looking back plate.

 

[mjschmidt]

if you can't wait just get the Samsung S (i9000)from bell.. you can unlock the phone now with out even rooting.. and there is no branding at all on the bell version.. the only thing from bell on the phone is a PVR app... thats it.. I already have mine running on rogers rate now.. got mine for $450 at future shop..

I was going to switch from rogers to bell for this phone but since It could be unlocked very easy I just bought it out right in the end. and the fact I don't like bell much.. also picked up a sweet looking back plate.

That's great info. I like the Bell one better. Maybe I'll save up for that and unlock it!

 

[Silvertag]

Here are the goods if your itching to Carrier Unlock your Samsung.

[REF] How to unlock all Samsung Galaxy S Models (Now with UnFreeze Code) - xda-developers

EDIT: I went to a Rogers boutique at lunch today and they still have not received any internal memo regarding the Captivate launch date.

 

[TriC]

That's great info. I like the Bell one better. Maybe I'll save up for that and unlock it!

ya the one Bell has is really the i9000. And it seems to get firmwares a little faster then the Captive and the Vibrant. if you want to swap out firmwares the i9000 is the way to go.. there is already 4 firmware roms running android 2.2 for it floating around.


I have to say the Samsung S is an Amazing phone.. I have had it for a month and it impresses me every day...

 

[TriC]

Rogers is really dragging their feet on this one.. I don't know why they just don't release the thing.

 

[vikingisson]

ya the one Bell has is really the i9000. And it seems to get firmwares a little faster then the Captive and the Vibrant. if you want to swap out firmwares the i9000 is the way to go.. there is already 4 firmware roms running android 2.2 for it floating around.


I have to say the Samsung S is an Amazing phone.. I have had it for a month and it impresses me every day...

Did you buy the Bell phone (full price), unlock it, and put it on Rogers? If so can you buy the phone without buying any service? Tempting to get that phone and swap SIMs. Then I wonder what the data cutoff routine would do or if it will ignore it and keep data on.

 

[TriC]

I had it on contact for a 2 weeks with Bell then I ended my contract with bell.. but my friend went into future shop got the phone with no contact. and he is on Rogers as well. doing it eather way cost the same in the end about $500. he payed for the phone outright I got the contact and the phone for free but it cost me $500 to end my contract.

 

[vikingisson]

I'm not going through all of that even if it is the same money. Well guess what? You can't buy one outright anymore. I went to 3 different retail stores and they all had a $500 hardware only/no contract price but none of them will sell me one without a contract.

So I go to Bell themselves. Same price but you can't buy one. The sign says the same thing on every phone but without a contract or existing account you can't buy it.

I do not want to tie a phone purchase to a contract or an account. If for no other reason I do not want to risk that data cutoff nonsense that R does on Android if you happen to have one on record already.

Sorry Rogers , Bell, all of them, your tactics convinced me long ago that contracts are not how I want to buy my phones. Take that option off the sticker if I can't buy it that way.

 

[Brendanmurphy]

I'm not going through all of that even if it is the same money. Well guess what? You can't buy one outright anymore. I went to 3 different retail stores and they all had a $500 hardware only/no contract price but none of them will sell me one without a contract.

So I go to Bell themselves. Same price but you can't buy one. The sign says the same thing on every phone but without a contract or existing account you can't buy it.

I do not want to tie a phone purchase to a contract or an account. If for no other reason I do not want to risk that data cutoff nonsense that R does on Android if you happen to have one on record already.

Sorry Rogers , Bell, all of them, your tactics convinced me long ago that contracts are not how I want to buy my phones. Take that option off the sticker if I can't buy it that way.

Walk into futureshop tell them you want a galaxy s and you already have a sim card + contract and tell them you want it no term. They will sell it to you no problem

 

[vikingisson]

Walk into futureshop tell them you want a galaxy s and you already have a sim card + contract and tell them you want it no term. They will sell it to you no problem

No they won't. Or not anymore. Same at every store and at Bell. Unless you give them at least a Bell account number they won't. Must be popular.

 

[vikingisson]

actually I take that back sorta. Went to a different area, different time, and used some careful talking. They have a note to not sell them outright but if you talk nice enough you can get them before they realize you're not getting a plan with it.

 

[mjschmidt]

I wonder how much of this new "must get a contract" crap is because they found out the unlock codes are on the phone?

Ask if you can buy any other phone outright with no contract, or if this only applied to the Galaxy.

I was at the mall today, and stopped by the Bell store to check out the Vibrant. There was a Samsung rep their doing demos for it. Showed it to my wife and gushed over it (she just rolled her eyes). When I mentioned I might buy one outright and unlock it, he said, "No, you have to get a contract". I mentioned what I'd read about being able to get it at FutureShop, and he said he didn't think that was true.

Went upstairs to the Rogers store, and they had a Samsung rep there also (he was pushing the Samsung Wave with Bada hard). I asked when Rogers would have the Captivate, and he looked at me like he was scared by my question, or perhaps had no clue what I was talking about!

I wonder what the legalities of Bell insisting on a contract are? How can they list the retail cost of the phone with no contract if you have to sign a contract to get it? Can you buy it for full price and sign a contract of 0 length that expires immediately? (Obviously not, but seriously, WTF?)

 

[shallowphil]

It's heresy I know, but I want to mount my Galaxy S to my iMac OS X intel chip, for DoubleTwist purposes but the phone won't let me! There is no pull down menu when the USB icon appears, as Doubletwist asks. OK I can run Kies on Vista Parallels (maybe DoubleTwist on PC?) but sometimes the phone isn't recognized and/or it takes about 30mins to finally connect to the PC (reloading and reloading the drivers!) Any experience? Any wisdom? Any help?

 

[chris0101]

I suppose the only thing that you could do is look for it online.

NCIX.com - Buy Samsung I9000 Galaxy S 8GB Unlocked Android OS Phone 5.0MP Camera 4.0IN Touchscreen GPS WiFi Black - i9000 8GB In Canada.

Of course, the fully unlocked ones are even more expense. Part of me wonders the legality of what the carriers are doing. There are laws stating that you are not supposed to engage in false advertising. If you do not have a phone that is contract free for sale, then you aren't supposed to say that you do to customers.

 

[vikingisson]

Indeed they list a no contract full price on every phone I saw but you can't have it at least for the phones I asked about. It might not be legal and certainly not ethical but they get away with it. I don't care what the law says or if I could raise a stink, it isn't worth it, it's only a phone and the law is an ass that does whatever the carrier wants since the gov makes more money with the status quo.

They might have low inventory but that's their problem, I only want one. Of course they prefer that I get a contract, that's where the money is. But there is profit in the device too, dirty tricks and all. But the irony is that phones are useless without a plan so all they have to do is to keep me happy with service and I'll keep paying. They'd rather lock me down and don't care if I feel violated by the tactics. Sad but that's how pathetic it is in the industry. Good service and good value sells itself. Except in this country.

So you have to play their B.S. game and if you're good enough you can get the phone. Mine was unlocked in about one minute and now happily running on whatever carrier I choose.

Oh, that front facing camera might be useful but the Rogers version doesn't look like it will have one. No problem, video calls work through my SIP PBX.

@shallowphil, I can't help you on the Mac but I'm sure it can work with the right setup. Mine connected fine to Linux and to Windows (with the right USB driver).

 

[Silvertag]

actually I take that back sorta. Went to a different area, different time, and used some careful talking. They have a note to not sell them outright but if you talk nice enough you can get them before they realize you're not getting a plan with it.

Well that note is plain illegal. They can always talk you into getting a contract but after you answer no to it they legally have to sell you the phone without the contract if this is what you asked.

If they refuse or continue giving you bs just tell the salesman if he pursues to not selling you the phone that it is false advertising.

If you get a NO from the saleman, contact your local Consumer Protection Office and file a claim against them. They advertise the phone for 500$ w/o a contract and should abide by it.

Ontario
What are my rights? - Consumer Rights - Ministry of Consumer Services

Quebec
R

 

[vikingisson]

Well that note is plain illegal. They can always talk you into getting a contract but after you answer no to it they legally have to sell you the phone without the contract if this is what you asked.

If they refuse or continue giving you bs just tell the salesman if he pursues to not selling you the phone that it is false advertising.

If you get a NO from the saleman, contact your local Consumer Protection Office and file a claim against them. They advertise the phone for 500$ w/o a contract and should abide by it.

How much fighting am I going to do over a phone? The fight has been going on for a very long time and the consumer problems still get worse. It was easier for me to take my money elsewhere and to play their own game of trickery to get what I want.

They have themselves covered no matter what the law says. They are the law. The law is an ass. So we work around it and they loose me as a customer or they don't get the maximum profit because I'll put in my own phone system for all things long distance. What they will claim right now is low inventory which allows them to limit sales to the highest profit packages. They can create artificial shortages just like other industries.

I wouldn't fight to make them ethical, they aren't and the law doesn't change that. What I would fight for is to have proper phone stores like much of the world does. We don't have that and the system will fight that tooth and nail.

 

[Silvertag]

How much fighting am I going to do over a phone? The fight has been going on for a very long time and the consumer problems still get worse. It was easier for me to take my money elsewhere and to play their own game of trickery to get what I want.

They have themselves covered no matter what the law says. They are the law. The law is an ass. So we work around it and they loose me as a customer or they don't get the maximum profit because I'll put in my own phone system for all things long distance. What they will claim right now is low inventory which allows them to limit sales to the highest profit packages. They can create artificial shortages just like other industries.

I wouldn't fight to make them ethical, they aren't and the law doesn't change that. What I would fight for is to have proper phone stores like much of the world does. We don't have that and the system will fight that tooth and nail.

You can always buy the contract then break it as soon has you leave the store but you should not have too. You should be able to by the phone down right and leave. If nobody bitch about it they will continue with their bs ways.

What's next ? They will impose a 30-60 days lock on the contract and you cannot break it until then ?.

How much you value your rights is up to you but i would not play this little game with them.

 

[vikingisson]

You can always buy the contract then break it as soon has you leave the store but you should not have too. You should be able to by the phone down right and leave. If nobody bitch about it they will continue with their bs ways.

What's next ? They will impose a 30-60 days lock on the contract and you cannot break it until then ?.

How much you value your rights is up to you but i would not play this little game with them.

I did plenty of bitching the night before getting the phone. Three retail stores and then finally at Bell themselves. They will not listen to any of it and I stop at the point where you might talk about getting a lawyer or talking to another corrupt institution such as the CRTC.

So at this point I've done all I can, I'm not going into the legal system to fix my consumer rights to buy a phone. I don't need one that bad. At that point I'm convinced that the corruption goes upstream and is pointless to use them.

My next option is social engineering which they do seem to understand, that's what marketing is all about. That works. Sorry to say that it takes that but in the end I simply got what I paid for and they lost nothing. I think that is a better technique than to get a contract and then cancelling. *That* is where my principles say no.

 

[Brendanmurphy]

This must only apply to the Galaxy as i walked into Futureshop 2 weeks ago and ask for a Motorola Charm no contract and they rang it up. Im guessing its supply constraints. Give it a month and you will probably be able to get your phone

 

[vikingisson]

This must only apply to the Galaxy as i walked into Futureshop 2 weeks ago and ask for a Motorola Charm no contract and they rang it up. Im guessing its supply constraints. Give it a month and you will probably be able to get your phone

sure, this usually happens early on with new products. But no worries, I ended up getting one. Front facing camera and all. But overall they make it very difficult to buy anything in an open market that we pretend to be. Works a treat on Rogers.

 

[vikingisson]

Well so far I am pleased with the Galaxy S. It is the version shipped by Bell with the front facing camera. Some things that I like are:

.simple and free to unlock.
.updates directly from Samsung and already there was an update that fixed a few problems. The update routine knows that this is the model as shipped by Bell but doesn't care that I'm SIM'd to Rogers. A 2.2 update is supposed to be coming in a few weeks. I don't need to flash 3rd party yet as the official updates are pretty good with little bloat other than the Samsung craps.
.the 2-3 "lagfix" made it more snappy for most things.
.I can replace the Samsung launcher (I wish manfs would stop doing custom UIs) with the familiar ADW.
.It is very fast
.Gallery works a *lot* better
.The screen is really nice and easier to see in the sunlight.
.The stock lockscreen is comfortable using it left or right handed (no "wrong way" to hold it.)

Things that are different or I don't like:
.No trackball, I was use to the Magic's
.The Keis app from Samsung is horribly bloated and useless except for updating firmware.
.Samsung thinks that having their own market is a good idea, it isn't. The Google market is just fine thank you.
.No notification lights. that's a weird one, I like knowing at a glance if something is waiting.

 

[GreatBigDog]

Well so far I am pleased with the Galaxy S. It is the version shipped by Bell with the front facing camera. Some things that I like are:

.simple and free to unlock.
.updates directly from Samsung and already there was an update that fixed a few problems. The update routine knows that this is the model as shipped by Bell but doesn't care that I'm SIM'd to Rogers. A 2.2 update is supposed to be coming in a few weeks. I don't need to flash 3rd party yet as the official updates are pretty good with little bloat other than the Samsung craps.
.the 2-3 "lagfix" made it more snappy for most things.
.I can replace the Samsung launcher (I wish manfs would stop doing custom UIs) with the familiar ADW.
.It is very fast
.Gallery works a *lot* better
.The screen is really nice and easier to see in the sunlight.
.The stock lockscreen is comfortable using it left or right handed (no "wrong way" to hold it.)

Things that are different or I don't like:
.No trackball, I was use to the Magic's
.The Keis app from Samsung is horribly bloated and useless except for updating firmware.
.Samsung thinks that having their own market is a good idea, it isn't. The Google market is just fine thank you.
.No notification lights. that's a weird one, I like knowing at a glance if something is waiting.

It has swipe for a keyboard, doesn't it? If you swipe from the swipe key to the SYM key you'll get a navigation keypad.

gbd

 

[nicracine]

Well so far I am pleased with the Galaxy S. It is the version shipped by Bell with the front facing camera. Some things that I like are:

.simple and free to unlock.
.updates directly from Samsung and already there was an update that fixed a few problems. The update routine knows that this is the model as shipped by Bell but doesn't care that I'm SIM'd to Rogers. A 2.2 update is supposed to be coming in a few weeks. I don't need to flash 3rd party yet as the official updates are pretty good with little bloat other than the Samsung craps.
.the 2-3 "lagfix" made it more snappy for most things.
.I can replace the Samsung launcher (I wish manfs would stop doing custom UIs) with the familiar ADW.
.It is very fast
.Gallery works a *lot* better
.The screen is really nice and easier to see in the sunlight.
.The stock lockscreen is comfortable using it left or right handed (no "wrong way" to hold it.)

Things that are different or I don't like:
.No trackball, I was use to the Magic's
.The Keis app from Samsung is horribly bloated and useless except for updating firmware.
.Samsung thinks that having their own market is a good idea, it isn't. The Google market is just fine thank you.
.No notification lights. that's a weird one, I like knowing at a glance if something is waiting.

Do you have any GPS problems? Many people have reported locking problems. Samsung has acknowledged the problem and is working on a fix. However, this is a problem for me since i rely heavily on my phone's GPS.

Thank you for your comments on the phone.

Nicolas Racine