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Samsung Galaxy S I9000 Review

The new Galaxy S I9000 is the one of the most awaited Android devices. It is packed with a superb display, powerful hardware and a nice camera. The Galaxy i7500 and i5700 didn’t go down very well with the gadget geeks; but with the Galaxy S, that is sure to change.

Samsung Galaxy S I9000 Specifications:

  • Dimensions: 122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9 mm
  • Weight: 118 g
  • Display: 4.0 inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 480 x 800 pixels, 16M colors
  • Memory: 16 GB Internal, upto 32 GB MicroSD
  • OS: Android OS 2.1 (Eclair)
  • Processor: ARM Cortex 1 GHz
  • Connectivity: GPRS class 12, EDGE class 12, 3G HSDPA
  • WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n; DLNA
  • Bluetooth: Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
  • Camera: 5 MP camera, 2592 x 1944 pixels, Autofocus, Video recording – 720p @ 30FPS
  • Radio: Stereo FM with RDS
  • GPS: GPS with A-GPS
  • Battery: Li-Ion 1500 mAh

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Design:

The Samsung Galaxy S I9000 sports a minimal black design and is very slim. Its plastic body is quite sturdy but acts as a fingerprint magnet. The front face is dominated by the magnificent 4 inch AMOLED display and three keys – settings, home and back. On the left is the volume rocker, the MicroUSB slot and the 3.5 mm audio jack sit on the top while the right side sports the power button. The back of the device houses the camera.

Display:

The Samsung Galaxy S sports one of the best displays ever in mobile phone history. The huge 4 inch AMOLED display is ideal for watching videos. The colors are vibrant and the contrast amazing. It also has good sunlight legibility. The capacitive touchscreen is also very responsive.

OS and UI:

The Samsung Galaxy S I9000 is powered by Android 2.1 (Eclair) and is rumored to get the Android 2.2 (Froyo) update soon. It comes with a new version of the TouchWiz UI seen in the Samsung Galaxy Spica i5700. It is not as refined as HTC’s Sense UI, but is definitely better than the standard Android UI. The OS is very responsive and fast, thanks to the new hardware – it runs on a 1 GHz ARM Cortex CPU.

It comes with Swype for virtual keyboard text input. Instead of tapping keys on the virtual keyboard, you can just swipe your fingers through the keys you want. It works perfectly well and increases your typing speed considerably.

Camera:

It sports a 5 MP camera with autofocus but no flash. The lack of a dedicated camera key is also surprising, as this is positioned as a camera phone. The image capture quality is pretty decent with accurate color representation.

It can also capture 720p video at 30 FPS. The recorded videos are quite decent with a good amount of detail and low noise.

Multimedia:

The Galaxy S sports a visual gallery which looks quite nice. It is packed with cool effects and menu transitions. It automatically scans for images and videos and displays them. It supports multitouch gestures for zooming etc. The fast processor ensures that there is no lag even when opening or zooming into large images.

The video player is one of the best features of the Samsung Galaxy S. It can play 3GP, MP4 and also DivX, XviD encoded videos. It can handle videos upto 720p resolution without any hitches. The audio quality is also very good.

Other Stuff:

It comes loaded with all the standard connectivity options -GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0. It also has an FM radio with RDS. A GPS receiver with A-GPS is also included. The battery life is around two days with moderate usage.

All in all, a great phone with an excellent display. Almost worth the premium pricing.

Rating: 8/10