Some manufacturers like to keep all their Smartphone eggs in one basket, banking their whole strategy on the success of one particular platform, like Nokia with S60. Others prefer to spread the risk a little, and invest in products that work on multiple platforms, like Samsung, who have a range of Smartphones on multiple platforms, including Windows Mobile, S60, Android and their own proprietary OS, Bada. Just recently Samsung announced the availability of a new Smartphone, the Samsung i9000 Galaxy S. This handset operates on the exciting Android platform, a mobile operating system that is fast gaining ground on the more established names in the market.
The top end Android market is fast becoming a crowded space, with handsets like the HTC Desire and Google Nexus One looking to dominate, so it will take a special handset to be able to gain notice within this segment.
Fortunately for the Galaxy S, it appears to have all the required attributes needed to more than hold its own against its rivals. Dominating the front of the handset is a huge, glorious, 4.0 inch Super AMOLED display, a capacitive touchscreen supporting up to 16 million colours. However, despite the large display, overall the i9000 Galaxy S does not give the impression of being a large device thanks in part to the fact that it is only 9.9mm thick. Pretty impressive, as is the weight of just 118g. The display has an accelerometer sensor which automatically rotates the screen when the phone is flipped to its side, and there is a proximity sensor which disables the display whilst you are making a call.
Another plus for the Galaxy S is the fact it ships with Android 2.1 pre-installed, so you get the option of the latest version OS straight from the box, allowing you to enjoy all the apps in the Android Market that are optimised for this version. One of the benefits of OS 2.1 is it allows for greater capacity for increased hardware support, and Samsung take full advantage of this. The i9000 sports a high quality 5.0 Megapixel camera, with auto focus and LED flash. The camera also supports geotagging, and offers face and smile detection, too. The device is also a capable camcorder, recording HD video clips at up to 30 fps. On the front of the device Samsung have elected to include a front facing camera, which you can utilise for video calls.
Despite the lack of an FM radio, the i9000 is a capable media product, with a full media player on board supporting multiple file formats for both audio and video. The music player can handle MP3, AAC, WAV, eAAC+, AC3 and FLAC files whilst the video player is compatible with MP4,WMV, H.263, H.264 and DivX files, which will look great played back on that huge display. The inclusion of a 3.5mm audio jack will also allow you to use your own favourite headphones, and you can also stream audio via Bluetooth as the i9000 includes support for the A2DP protocol.
As you would expect from a top end smartphone, the Galaxy S is a competent messaging device, with support for push email, IM, MMS and SMS. One feature of note is the inclusion out of the box of the Swype application, which is a new way of entering text on a touchscreen handset. We have mentioned Swype a few times recently; it is an excellent application, which after a few days of use can increase the speed of text entry on the phone immensely. In fact, only just recently the world speed record for text entry on a mobile phone was broken by someone using Swype on a Samsung mobile phone.
The Galaxy S is also no slouch when it comes to data transfer, with support for all the expected connection options. A GSM quad band phone, the i9000 offers Tri band HSDPA over 3G, with upload speeds of 5.76 Mbps and download speeds of 7.2 Mbps possible where supported by the network. The handset also offers WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and supports DLNA, a protocol that enables easy integration of the phone to your existing WLAN. The Bluetooth option on the Galaxy S is the latest version 3.0, and there is a Micro USB port for connecting the handset to a PC. You can also charge the handset via the USB port, ideal if you need a quick top up charge at the end of a busy day. That said the phone does ship with a 1500 mAh Li ion battery, which should power you through all but the most demanding of days.
Samsung have a strong portfolio of smartphones, and the i9000 is a welcome addition to their line up, and instantly sets a challenge to other manufacturers of Android devices. Competition in this market is strong, and as the manufacturers battle for supremacy, it is we the consumer who stand to gain the advantage, as ever more powerful devices are released. In fact, we are almost spoilt for choice!
The Samsung i9000 Galaxy S is expected to released to the market some time during Q2 2010.
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9:03 am
This phone rocks!! Just got it and had it streaming an 2G mkv video from my PC over my WIFI without a stutter. My PS3 can't even do that.
Oh - and there is an FM radio.