My favourite part of the phone review, answering all your questions!
I sent a message out through Twitter a few days ago asking you guys if you had any questions you wanted answered about the phone, and I’ve done my best to answer them in this post. If you didn’t submit a question via Twitter, feel free to ask in the comments below the post 🙂
Hit “Read More” to get your questions, answered.
Is the Music Player good enough to take the place of my MP3 Player?
Well, the Music Player has pretty basic functionality & can’t be synced up to iTunes. But, you can download doubleTwist on both the Galaxy S and your PC. doubleTwist allows you to sync all your iTunes Playlists, Videos & Images, so think of it as an iTunes for Android ;). I could certainly use the default Music Player or doubleTwist as my MP3 Player, no problems. Just don’t expect anything special from it.
How do you get your PC to recognise the Galaxy S?
I was also asking myself this as well. After reading the User Manual, for the first time, I found out you have to down “Samsung Kies”, which is a 140MB program, that allows you to sync stuff to your phone, as well as allowing wired tethering. This is the stupidest move by Samsung, 140MB just to get your Galaxy S to mount it’s internal and external memory to your PC. Which leads on to the next question..
I have hosted “Kies” locally for you guys if you want to download it faster: Download Kies
How do Internal & External Memory mount to your PC? Are they Separate?
Yes, the Internal Memory, be it 8GB or 16GB, will mount to your PC as a separate drive from your MicroSD (External Memory). This allows you to have all your music/videos/images on your MicroSD which you can then put into any device, and all the stuff you want always on your Galaxy S to be placed on the Internal Memory.
In the Galaxy S’s file system, the Internal Memory is mounted as /sdcard and External Memory is mounted as /sdcard/sd
Did you have any problems connecting to WPA2-Enterprise?
No, it connected just fine. Although a few people who visit this site have contacted me to tell me they have had troubles with it. But it’s working fine for me.
Super AMOLED, AMOLED or TFT – Which do you think is better?
Depends on what you mean by “better”, but I am a massive fan of TFT. Well, that was until I tried Super AMOLED. Super AMOLED makes TFT look washed out & nowhere near as vibrant. It also puts AMOLED to shame when under sunlight, as you can actually see it.
So my verdict: TFT is better for crispness, Super AMOLED is better for deeper more vibrant colours. Super AMOLED just needs greater pixel density and it’ll be a winner.
What’s the video quality like?
It’s like this (not too bad for 3gp):
And the camera quality?
[nggallery id=29]
Anything else? Just leave your question in the comments below 🙂
Any word on gingerbread for galaxy s and is anyone else having slowness,lag issues since froyo update?
The calendar app comes up with a message com.android.calendar has stopped.
Any ideas?
hi! I have the galaxy s (my first android) and love it! Except that it seems to have a mind if its own. when I get a msg I move the puzzle piece whilst in lock mode and it opens it straight up, then it changed and now even if its not in lock mode the msg won’t come up on the main screen, only in the top little bar! it constantly changes the way I view facebook and occasionallt it doesnt want to open the keypad. Im a basic user, how can I fix this???
Had Galaxy S couple of days battery life pretty good 24 hrs with a fair bit of usage, downloaded 3G Watchdog & APNdroid these are must haves if you want to keep data usage in check on this phone, screen beautiful, camera & video not bad for a phone, bummed that I can’t input my own sound fx into the notifications section, but at least I could add my own guitar riffs to the ringtones,all up happy with choice, just need to find a good case to protect it, I’m landscaper working in dirt and mulch etc. Cheers. P.S. Great… Read more »
Hey
I’m just wondering if its normal for my Samsung to freeze up especially when in the text messages? it get like over loaded and pretty much turns itself off.. And In the Google maps it keeps telling me my current location is unavailable? is this normal for these phones because they have glitches or should I be taking it back?
you better call optus again as i ordered the phone already and still waiting and they told me they are still out of stock.
yep, right now they’re out of stock but as per previous post, delivery is due next week. my guess is Telstra is waiting on the same delivery of stock.
did they confirm delivery is due next week? that would be great man.
i don’t want to buy an iphone but am struggling to find a phone that does what it can do – looks like this might be the one. i don’t ipod, itune or ipad and i’m not particularly tech-minded but hate the way apple make you do things THEIR way. is the galaxy a good alternative? my contract is up in 26 days and counting…
Galaxy S is the best Android device to come to if you’re liking what the iPhone does, but don’t want the iPhone.
thankx buzz. just rang optus. they can deliver this phone to outer syd next week. joy. Also 2 months free as per their online offer.
Bloody beauty! 😀
Hi, got my Galaxy S on the weekend and when someone rings me it simply says ‘Call’ how do i get it to register as a phone number instead or even better a name from my contacts list. Ive read through the manual and cant for the life of me find it….help!
Hey Hayley
There is an option of adding the number to your contacts list.
Just bring up the call log, click the number and there will be an option to add to contact list.
Looking for an iPhone recommendation on an Android Blog. Priceless! (Not mocking, just loving the irony).
Got another question mate. Will Galaxy S update to android 2.2?
Samsung has dodged the question, but the device itself is more than capable of running 2.2
Great review and Q&A.
Don’t think anyone’s asked this yet-
What frequency and bit-depth does it record audio at? eg 8kHz/8bit or something better … ?
thanks!
I’m not sure. I’d work out how to tell, but I don’t have the Galaxy S any more. Maybe someone with one here can help you.
which one do you think is better, sony x10 or Galaxy S?
Galaxy S. the X10’s screen is quite unresponsive in comparison
how about besides the screen?
Galaxy S has a faster GPU, better speaker. X10 has a better camera, just.
I have purchase my Galaxy S and previously own an IPhone 3G, so far going good.
Has anyone figured out how to backup Memo and Mini Diary?
Great review, but raises a serious question – should I buy Galaxy S or iPhone 4?
My problem is reading the small text on mobile phones, which seems to be getting smaller even on large screens.
Can font size be increased on Galaxy in contacts, messages, notifications etc (same as iPhone)?
How does the enlarged font size compare between these two phones?
And which phone would you recommend?
I am in the same dilemma… with the current reported software lagging here, makes me wonder if iphone 4 has more stable software.
I never used iphone nor android before. I’ve been all the while symbian. Help me decide
Galaxy S is quite good, having not used an iPhone 4 I can’t compare. The laggy software will hopefully be fixed by Samsung.
After having read the detailed review, the only thing that concerns me about this phone is its inherent lag in the software. is this by any chance a function of eclair not being mapped for 512mb or is it something more sinister? in other words, will a froyo update fix the lage later down the track?
thanks
Well I gave a friend of mine who is a Google Android Dev the log of the phone, and he didn’t know what the issue was, so it’s something Samsung have done with Touch Wiz. I’m sure they can fix this in a future update, but at the moment it’s atrocious.
I’ve read that you can get better performance using an alternate launcher, such as Launcher Pro or ADW (and then killing Samsung’s TW launcher). Personally I like Launcher Pro a lot and use it on my N1 (likely to soon be replaced by the SGS1 …)
I used ADW Launcher, but the problem still remained.
Playing with my new Galaxy that got delivered today.
Pretty good features, screen is amazing, video capture execellent but all its lacking is a LED flash. My biggest complaint with the iPhone has come back to haunt me with the Galaxy S 9000.
Hey but if you have an ABN grab it with 3 month free from this site : http://www.optus.builtforbusiness.com.au/phone.php?phone_ref=samsung_galaxy_s
Well, I just sauntered into an Optusworld to check out said phone (Galaxy S, herein after referred to as “her”) the guy there eventually brought her out from the back room to show me. They got her today and her battery had been given a workout to be sure. I got the impression he had to wrench her from someone out back to show me. Now that I’ve seen her with my own eyes I wont be satisfied with anything less than her Super Amoled glow. And if you’ve held one in your hand, you’d probably have to agree that… Read more »
Hi,
If you were to Root the galaxy would you still be able to use the daily briefing feature?
Kind Regards
Fraser
Nope, if I were to root it, I wouldn’t have any of Touch Wiz on it at all.
Just wondering… Is the GPS functional even when no cell-phone network is available, i.e. can it be used as a standalone GPS device? And what about other phones like the Desire or Nexus One?
GPS does work without a mobile network, as long as you have clear visibility of the sky.
The only problem I had with the Galaxy S is that it would let GPS work when it felt like it, I had problems with getting my location on Google Maps.
Excellent! Cheers!
Got My Galaxy S from ExpansysUK. On Mounting as Mass Storage. On my PC just selecting to mount as Mass Storage then going into notifications and choosing mount SD card works…. On my Mac you need to take the same steps as above however before connecting the USB go into Settings>Applications>Development then enable USB debugging… then should mount both internal and external storage. About touch wiz.. yes i feel the lag too, Freezes and random black screens. Oh my god: The wifi turning on and off randomly does happen. often.. really kills me. Personally I’m waiting till someone makes a… Read more »
Glad you got yours into Mass Storage mode easily, my problem was probably with my laptop :P. I’ll edit my comment 🙂
Yeah, the software has massive flaws.
hey buzz how good do the roms run? do they have things that dont work 100% in they way they are meant to as the phone is ment to have a skin on it?
I haven’t put any other ROMs on it as I am not allowed to (it’s a review unit). But I would imagine everything would run just fine.
went to my local optus shop and reserved one of their stock for Thursday morning 🙂
would you get this over a desire or nexus one?
Yes, but only because I’d root it and flash a Vanilla Android ROM. Touch Wiz is terrible.
If you weren’t rooting/flashig it, would you go for a Desire instead?
Also, does it have voice search?
Yep. Voice Search, yes, I did run in to that 🙂
Samsung Galaxy Pro update:
http://apcmag.com/galaxy-s-pro-probably-not-for-australia-says-samsung.htm
“McGee says that while Samsung’s product portfolio is available to carriers, it’s down to the carriers to choose which products they want to carry. If none of the 3G telcos see a strong local market for the Galaxy S Pro, it won’t be launched here. “They’re a pretty good judge of what their customers want”, McGee told APC.”
Not a ‘No’ in my opinion, but seems unlikely.
Yeah, I wouldn’t call that a ‘No’ either.
optus have a low end android QWERTY y not a high end one too
Does anyone know if the GPS on this phone works well?
Half the time it couldn’t find me in Google Maps. Also, WiFi will turn itself on and off whenever it feels like it.
Hey Buzz, have you seen if fastboot oem unlock works for the Galaxy S? As a fellow Milestone owner, I don’t want to be locked out from my device again! Ta.
It doesn’t but you can root the device which allows you to unlock the bootloader
Apologies if this is the wrong place to do this but the Galaxy S with a keyboard just got confirmed http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/28/samsungs-epic-4g-for-sprint-seems-to-live-up-to-its-name/
Oooh, I hope that makes it over here in GSM form. I’d really love to have the qwerty and camera flash.
does if feel as if it will break easier then other phones?
It’s very lightweight, but it doesn’t feel as though it will break easily, although it creaks when you put a lot (I mean, a lot) of pressure on it.
Good work on covering this, but just a correction (from a fellow Galaxy S user), you don’t need to use kies at all (what crap software that is!). Go to Settings > About Phone > USB settings. There you can pick a number of options, including Mass Storage or PC Internet. (Or ask on connection, which, IMO should be the default). I chose Mass Storage. When you plug your phone in, go to notifications and there will be one about USB, select it and tell it to mount. It your SD card and your phone internal storage will both show… Read more »
Hey Rod.
Are you in Aust. If so, how did you get yours & how’s it goin? I’m esp interested to know if you’ve experienced the same lag in the touchwiz ui as Buzz.
cheers 🙂
Hi Geoff, Yeah I’m in Aus, got mine from Handtec in the UK, came very quickly once they received stock. I love the phone, screen is amazing, my first android phone too. I have had a few problems though. First is the battery life, everyone else gets days out of it, but mine has been lucky to last for 10 hours, with fairly minimal use. I did a factory reset on my phone and now that has improved though, so it could just be that I had some bad app installed. In regards to the touch wiz lag, before the… Read more »
I tried this so many times, but I gave up and installed Kies & it worked instantly. I know of others who had to install Kies to get it to work, maybe it’s just for some Galaxy S’s?
I hope this is not the case because there is currently no mac version of kies
Thats odd, worked fine on mine once i set it up in settings + mounted it.. does it appear in disk management at all?
I’ve been having problems with the calendar app on teh Galaxy. It comes up witha message saying process com.android.calendar has stopped
@Buzz Moody Moody Nice work on the post. Esp like the videos from St Kilda rd and Beach rd. Nice to see some local footage shot with the phone I’m excited about getting next month. I want to buy outright and pop in Telstra sim. Optus is too slow. Disappointed to hear about the laggy TouchWiz UI 🙁 Root + Rom sounds scary but maybe my only option. Do you think it would be difficult to do, any tips? Thanks 🙂
Haha glad someone picked up on where they were taken 😛
If you want to get the phone on Telstra, you should wait that little bit longer until they bring out the NextG version. Unless you’re desperate for the phone.
Rooting is pretty straightforward if you have some experience with ADB & the Android SDK as well as Linux CLI 🙂
Instructions on how to root: http://forum.samdroid.net/f49/dev-kernel-i9000-root-lk9-01-beta9-22-06-2010-a-1319/
Thanx Buzz. It sounds a bit beyond me to root + rom, after reading your link. I’ll prob wait another month & hope Telstra doesn’t put all their junk on it. It was that extra big pond junk that turned me off the desire. If they only consider 10% of all the negative feedback they should get rid of it. Who knows, may the big T will also get it to us in Froyo goodness, but I’m not holding my breath. Seriously, I would pay more for the phone if they didn’t put all the advertising on it, but I… Read more »
I’d like to echo Geoff’s comment; this site is excellent (and I’ve got most mobile sites bookmarked). Thank you, Buzz. Re Telstra, I wouldn’t be too optimistic. This company wouldn’t seem to listen to their customers at all! Shareholders, maybe. Customers, NO. I quite fancy a Desire down the line but as an existing Telstra customer, I will get one that is unlocked (I think that’s the term?). Just why they load their phones with all this cr#p is beyond me; nearly EVERY reviewer of a Telstra product complains about it. The arrogance is extraordinary!
haha i knew it was St Kilda Rd. I didnt know about the Beach Rd though. Sorry for being OOT.
most importantly, if you got to keep the phone would you use it over your desire\X10?
Yes, I would use it over the Desire & X10. Here’s why:
Hey buzz just wondering if on this phone, like with htc sense, can you turn off the skin?
Nope, it’s very much like Sense UI. It has the main themed out launcher, and the rest of the UI also has sprinklings of Touch Wiz. So there is no way to completely get rid of Touch Wiz.
The best I’ve found is that you install another launcher, such as ADW Launcher, but you will still get the unresponsiveness from Touch Wiz.
Manufacturer UIs suck.
Not many other review sites would give us an example of recording a video whilst driving and listening to Queen. Very nice.
That is one of the best darkness shots I’ve seen recorded with a phone.
I planned them out just for you guys XD
I didn’t see you mention about RAM of this Samsung Galaxy S? I heard it has 512mb but some people received their phone in SG only have 256mb
Thanks
that because the current kernel for galaxy s only support up to 256MB.. froyo will solve it..have a look at the bottom of page:
http: //developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.2-highlights.html
The useless unremovable Telstra-branded crapware is one of the major things turning me off the HTC Desire – how much Optus crapware comes on the Galaxy S, and can you remove it?
I believe it’s just Optus Zoo, App Store, SocialView & MyAccount. I don’t think they can be removed unless you root the Galaxy S and flash a generic ROM.
Nice! stuff. I got me one of these last week If you want to get rid of the default apps you just need super user access no custom roms Guide: http://forum.samdroid.net/f49/superuser-su-busybox-i9000-v-2-01-07-2010-a-1355/ All you do is download the Update zip, copy it to your SD card (at the top level) then hold down the Power, volume up and Home button. That will put you in reboot and recovery. Press the volume down button till it has selected update.zip and press the home button. When your phone has re-booted you will have the super-user app. Then install Titanium backup from the app… Read more »