Intro
The Samsung Galaxy S 4G is not to be mistaken for the Epic 4G from Sprint this is a T-Mobile phone that is a bit more than the Vibrant and all of its equals. It still very similar but enough of an upgrade that if you didn’t have the Vibrant you could get this, however, I am not sure I would go from the Vibrant to this. By the way, do not be confused with Galaxy S II, they are not the same.
Looks
It looks like a Vibrant or Fascinate, not much changes here, it is a different color and the back looks more aluminum even though it is just painted, it is not the grey metal it appears to be. There is not much difference here at all in the looks department, the buttons, are all the same and all.
Hardware
This is really the same in most terms here too! You get a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, Hummingbird chipset which is the same or really similar. My review unit has a microSD, up to 32GB, 16GB card included which is great because that is a lot of music and pictures! It also has 1GB of ROM and 512 of MB RAM so there is a lot of speed involved.
Screen
Your screen on this one is a Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 16M colors, it is a good resolution with 480 x 800 pixels and 4.0 inches of real estate, over all that is pretty big, 4 is pretty much the main size anymore and this one really hits that. It is bright though as well-being a SUPER amoled.
Battery
You get a Standard battery, Li-Ion 1650 mAh so I am thinking this one will last a long time. The batteries on phone are always getting better and bigger. This one is just another one that is like that. This one is 150 mAh more than the previous Galaxy S phones and that is great, It is even more than the Nexus S, so that is an upgrade that is worth your upgrade.
Operating System
Android 2.2.1 FINALLY, A galaxy S that has Froyo and it is Native. It comes with the phone. You also get a new version of touchwiz which will be covered below.
Software
Touchwiz 3.0 is new and improved. Android 2.2 is great on this device and the speed is there.
Keyboard
There is a soft keyboard, no hard keyboard at all. You get the Samsung keyboard as well as the swype keyboard. I have mentioned before that I enjoy Swype and use it when possible. There isn’t a lot else to say as not much ever improves with keyboards until you get to android 2.3
Web Browsing, Camera and Video
The web is fast, it is cool because you get 4g which I actually got in a few places, the highest I’ve had was 3mbps which is great, double the speed of my home internet! I enjoyed the speed and the ability to download things quickly. The camera is a 5mp that takes great pictures at 2592 x 1944 pixels and will look good blown up! It also records in 720p which is great and a good standard for phones these days, excellent to have that in your pocket. A new edition to this is a front facing camera, of course it is VGA but does a great job.
Call Quality
T-Mobile is so so here, you either get good internet and calls or don’t and I have done pretty good so far with this device, the mytouch 4g was pretty shotty here and there but this one is ok with its HSPA + 4G. I am a fan of the calls.
Pros:
- It is sleek and slim
- Faster internet with HSPA+
- Good Camera 5 mp which records 720P
- The newest TouchWiz UI
- Front facing camera offers nice quality.
- Android 2.2 On A Galaxy S
Cons:
- The internet can be shotty with weird uploads and slow times
- It isn’t way different from the Vibrant.
Conclusions & Final Thoughts
I would not go ahead and just upgrade from your Vibrant, this is not enough of a change, especially since the Vibrant and others are getting android 2.2 and touchwiz 3.0. It is great but not nearly enough, Samsung is being very confusing with these devices, 4 Galaxy S phones and this plus the Samsung Galaxy S II. Not sure what street they are going down. They are all decent devices but not sure they need to come out this often. Again upgrade if you have an older out of date device but this is not enough right now.