Alright so I had bought a G2 with the T-Mobile warranty, recently my baby cousin got a hold of it, and while I was talking to his parents he proceeded to dump it into the fishbowl saying "The fishes needed a new toy." I fished it out but it had been in there for over half an hour and there was no chance of recovering it, so I took it into the store, and they had recently added another 50 dollars to the price of the G2, so they didn't seem too enthusiastic about giving me a replacement one, then this phone caught my eye, and to be honest I liked it. With some haggling I walked out of the store with a new Galaxy S 4G which I got for free, a Gel Silicon case, a screen protector, and my old number on a new Sim Card (the old one was beyond saving).
So far I have only had this phone for two day's so I will update my impressions after a week of use, but for now initial impressions.
The phone compared side to side to the Vibrant it is infinitely faster, plus has infinite less lag. Over the two days I have had I have gotten 12 emails and it pulled them down faster than my work desktop in 9 out of 12 instances, the 3 that is was slower had some seriously big attachments with it.
Whenever I scroll through the pages or open the app drawer I never see that perceptual lag that I still see on the Vibrant. And it is so much faster, perhaps minor changes to the chipset, or maybe they had more time to optimize the software for the phone. The camera is amazing it performs as good as or sometimes even better than my friend's 8mp camera on his Evo, but it isn't as consistent as getting good photo's I guess those 3mp do make a difference. As for the 720p video recording, it is beautiful, if you transfer it to your computer it will seem like a HD video it is supposed to be. To your T.V well?um the pixilation set's at that time. So not really Video's made for your T.V.
The screen is large and amazing, it blew me away, and I always used to think "The SAMOLED is overrated." Well I have now eaten my words and I have never been so happy to be wrong. As for the HSPA+ connectivity it is amazing, the Uploads beat out my two friends Atrix, and Evo in normal browsing, downloading an app, and uploading a photo. The battery was amazing to say the least, I got 28 hours using it in normal day to day activity, browsing on 4G, downloading apps, uploading things, streaming video, constantly getting emails in, texting furiously, and calling every now and then. When I did place a call, the quality was loud, clear and solid. The mobile hotspot was a great performer, although when we got to 4 or more devices it got kind of slow.
The front facing camera was normal far, it was great for styling your hair, and the occasional video chat (Which were clear and loud) as for self portraits, not the best choice, but it will do an okay job. The overall design of the phone was stronger and better at defending the phone ten the vibrant did.
Ok now for the negatives. Samsung seems to be emulating Apple here; they refuse to put a flash on the phones on T-Mobile. There no way directly around it, but the camera did a so-so job of low light setting, but low lights are not ideal for the camera. There's no HDMI, which means no streaming to your T.V the way I got around this is that I connected it to my laptop then connected my laptop to the T.V, while it's not the simplicity of the EVO, it still works. The third con is that while this phone is (IMO) the best phone on T-Mobile, and is serving as the flagship to compete with Android devices like the Atrix (AT&T), Evo (Sprint), and the Droid X (Verizon), the hardware is kind of old WHEN compared to the phones that are yet to come out, if put head to head in the phone market available today, this is some serious hardware + software=Killer Package. The last con and the only reason this phone did not get a perfect 5 is the reduced memory, they went from 16 gigs internal to 1 gig internal, and that seriously hinders memory capability, although it came with a 16 gig card(which I switched out for a 32 gig one). Frankly for normal people 16 gigs is enough, which is why Apple, is getting away with a fixed amount of memory, but for Mediaphile's, Apphiles or for people who need a lot of storage this a serious detractor from this phone's offering.
WRAP-UP
This phone is an amazing one, it admirably performs in all task's you would expect a normal phone to, it gives a one-up to the current galaxy s generation, and takes the place as T-Mobile's Flagship phone.
Great Screen-Check
Good Build-Check
Speedy and Zippy in all things-Check
Decent Camera Modules-Check
Great Battery Life-Check
Actually Makes Calls-Check
Great Phone-Check
Updated on Mar 3, 2011
overall i am very satisfied with the phone. gave it 4.5 stars out of 5 because with a second generation phone you would think that they would add flash to the camera. most free phones have flash.
Thrilled to leave Att and Apple in the dust. They didn't earn the pile of money i paid them and certainly didn't care about my business in the future. I love this phone and the freedom of Android and access to the entire internet... also loving my phone bill without data overages and a reasonably priced plan (as opposed to both Verizon and ATT's additional overcharges)
This is a fantastic phone. I came from the original Vibrant which was a good phone, but the small tweaks they made, this phone is a beast! Highly recommended
I love Samsung Galaxy S 4G. Samsung Galaxy S 4G is the best phone for Android users!!! I highly recommend this phone!!!
I switched from blackberry to this phone and was not pleased i do enjoy the larger screen to view webpages, but the phone felt clunky and not to used friendly. If your considering switching from blackberry forget it
This is my 3rd Android phone. I had the G1 on Day 1 and upgraded to a Nexus S a month after it came out. I have been on Android from the start watching it develop into a real world contender for Apple. The thing I acknowledged was always lacking was the multimedia capability of the phones on Android. Now with the beautiful SuperAMOLED screen, 4 inches of screen size, doubletwist with AirSync & the Samsung Media Hub & T Mobile TV over 4g this phone is finally competitive with the fruit phone. I have clocked up to 5mb download and 1.8 upload so far with this phone. I'm seeing 3mb download and 8-900kb uploads consistently. This phone actually holds a signal also unlike my Nexus which dropped calls repeatedly (thanks to HTC for putting the antenna in the bottom of the phone....idiots).
My biggest gripe with this phone (and the new Nexus S as well) is that they don't have large enough internal memory. When you won't allow me to put all of the apps on the SD card then how about installing a reasonable amount of internal storage!! 4GB would have been nice with 3.5GB available for app storage or at least 2GB with 1.5 for apps. Applications increase the functionality of the device. You want more people to buy apps on the market place then HELLO!!! Put more storage space in the phone until all the apps can be off loaded onto a SD card. That rant alone cost this phone 3/4 of a star in the ratings area for me. The other poor element is the lack of a flash on the camera. That is unacceptable.
I have loaded several 1080p videos from my computer to the device and the picture quality is impressive. Sound Quality for music, video and phone calls is very good over the speaker as well as through the earbuds included. I'm a bit surprised but charging this phone through the included USB to micro USB cable takes FOREVER. The battery life is pretty good though. The screen is sensitive & accurate to touch. The inclusion of Swype and doubletwist with air sync are thoughtful inclusions. After upgrading from a Nexus 1 I think I may actually keep this even though I'm still upset about the lack of internal storage space in the phone. Overall a really good device that could use just a couple of minor tweaks to make it world class.
Some may say that this is just the Vibrant with a little bit of a facelift and that its still the same old mediocre Samsung product. That however would definitely be a mistake. I have been very tired of my Vibrant ever since I bought it from someone. I decided that I would look past this Samsung stigma and give the Galaxy S 4G a shot and if I didn't like it, I would return it. This one is definitely staying in my pocket.
First off, the most important part for me is that it is extremely smooth running. My Vibrant was always one step behind me, even with Froyo. The Galaxy S 4G keeps up with me every step of the way. I never have to wait for it to catch up.
Second, the battery lasts a very long time. I had the phone charged to about 65% before I had to take it off of the charger to take it to work. 8 hours later, the phone was still at about 30% charged. Other smart phones, last half as long. I remember sometimes my Vibrant battery would last at longest, 16 hours.
Front facing camera - The front facing camera is great. Not only so I can check out that ghastly pimple when I'm out and about, but I can actually use it for video chat. Yeah the video quality isn't that great, but if it was better, we would definitely be using up our 5GB data allotment very quickly.
Multimedia support - Being able to easily sync my multimedia files to my phone using wireless connection is awesome. I never have to mount and unmount my sd card again.
The facebook integration is so much better. The feeds and updates widget allows you to click on links, photos, and videos that people post on their profiles. It even allows you to upload photos from your home screen. Definite "Like".
I've only had it a day and there are probably many many more things that I will like about it as time goes by. I can't believe I'm saying it but kudos to Samsung for making a really well thought out product.
This is phone is just an updated vibrant. With some added bells in whistles which should of been in the first place. I really do like this phone. It's fun it's fast etc