Sunday, July 25, 2010

Quick thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy S

Today instead of an android app review I have an android device review. 

Deciding
My girlfriend received a fully paid Vodafone sim from her work calls but is allowed to use it for everything else as well, her iPhone 3G has also been stuffing up of late. So a new phone was required. At this moment in time and in Australia there is 3 l33t phones that should be purchased, the HTC Desire (of which I'm a happy owner) the Google Nexus One and finally the Samsung Galaxy S. 

The Purchase
Since the Desire is locked to Telstra and I already have one that was removed from the equation, being a sunday we were forced to head into the forsaken CBD to look at phones. Straight up we found the Galaxy S at Allphones for $849 outright, next I wanted to find the outright price of the Nexus One, after speaking to many a chump in the several vodafone shops I finally found someone who told me that the Nexus One was not in stores and only available online with a contract, so back to the Allphones we went. Then, get this, the unit there said he couldnt sell us the phone cos it was also had to be purchased on an optus contract, idiots. So I walked to stores down to the optus store and bought it unlocked from there. Also while I was buying the Galaxy S I heard some stupid storekeep inform some equally gullible iPhone purchaser  that the iPhone was the only device that allowed tethering and the only device with an app store. There is a consistent and alarming idiocracy present within phone stores, don't listen to them!! I beg of you, read forums and techie sites if you want something closer to the truth.

Setting up and copying Contacts from an iPhone to an Android device 
The first thing was to set the APN stuff up so the 3G internet would work. All the setup instructions can be found http://ausdroid.net/apns/
This worked without a hitch.
Next I had to bring the contacts across from the iPhone to the Galaxy S. This was very easy, since itunes syncs the iPhones contacts to windows contacts a simple "export all contacts" to .csv was required. this file can be imported into you google account under the contacts tab in gmail. Again, this worked without a hitch.
So anyone wanting to switch from iPhone to Android knows that it is a very easy process.

Thoughts on the device Galaxy S
A full review of the Galaxy S is redundant since there are dozens of well written detailed reviews. I just give my main thoughts on the unit, it is an excellent device, at the moment I can't split it from the Desire, overall the Desire has slightly better software with the seamless integration of all the HTC sense stuff which is definitely better than the Samsung Touchwiz skin. Hardware wise, the Galaxy S is better, the 4.0" Super AMOLED screen is easier to see in direct sunlight compared to the 3.7" AMOLED of the Desire, and 3D games run much smoother due to the GPU inherent within the Hummingbird CPU is superior to the current generation of Snapdragon CPUs within the Desire.

Apart from those differences the phones are very similar. If you unsure of which to go for, I would say it comes down to whether you wanna be with Telstra or Optus, the variations in pricing and coverage eclipse the differences better these devices. but you can't really go wrong between them, both are excellent feats of technology. Incredibly superior to any other smartphone on the market. 

That is all I wish to discuss at this time, I don't wish to evangelize further about android vs the world. please leave comments and questions about the devices for me to test.

Things still to try of the phone
Remove all the optus bloatware, this might be a pain and require rooting the device which I am not inclined to do.
Try out the music player with a full SD card of tunes

1 comment:

  1. I am looking at the Galaxy S but I am on the 3 network. Was pondering the HTC Desire because my nephew (another Brett) has it and loves it but since I have an Omnia i900 to replace, I was drawn to the Galaxy S. I looked at it in the Optus store today and it really is a beautiful screen! Thanks for your review; it has helped me make up my mind.

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