Samsung Galaxy S 4G - Hands-On Review!I was pleased to have the opportunity to receive a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S 4G review unit. I was able to use the handset and service free of charge for two weeks, which gave be a reasonable amount of time to test the device. The review below is based on my personal experience, and I am otherwise not affiliated with T-Mobile. In other words, what you'll read below are my true, honest, and unbiased opinions of the Samsung Galaxy 4G LTE smartphone.First Impressions The 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen is nothing short of pure display exhilaration! I know that sounds strange to say, but plainly put, the screen is absolutely vibrant and beautiful. Although I didn't get a chance to compare it 
to Sprint's HTC EVO 4G (the comparable competitive device at the time),
at this point in
time I can't imagine a better screen. Text is crisp and
clear,
and colors are striking. Next to the Sanyo
ZIO and LG
Optimus
M,
it makes the displays on those devices look dismal and pathetic to say
the least. Of course, the Samsung Galaxy S 4G is not in the
same
class as
these other entry level handsets, though the comparison is amusing.After getting over the delight of the Samsung Galaxy display, the next thing I noticed was that the chrome contour was clearly iPhone 3G inspired. I suppose flattery is nice, however, I've since heard that Apple is suing Samsung for stealing elements of its design DNA; it's probably going to be a difficult defense for Samsung. I then immediately took note of the back cover. This is actually the most disappointing part of this smartphone. For a flagship 4G device, it looked and felt extremely low quality and and cheap. I found this to be extremely disappointing.
Operating System & Performance The Samsung Galaxy S 4G came with Android OS 2.2 pre-loaded. At the time, this was the latest available Android operating system. As there is plenty of discussion about the OS elsewhere on this site, I won't elaborate here other than to say that this was the first Android smartphone that I found really zipped along with no issues. This was likely due to the 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, which was not in the other Android handsets that I've used or reviewed. With the smooth performance of the operating system on this smartphone, I can only imagine what the upcoming dual core processors will add. Perhaps only further drain on the battery, or compensation for poorly designed apps? But I digress..... T-Mobile Extras
Given that I raved so much about the brilliant, vibrant screen in the first impressions section above, I'll only add here that I believe the quality of the screen lead to a much improved (i.e. better accuracy) typing experience on the virtual keyboard. Though, I honestly have to say that I still struggle with virtual keyboards, and I don't know that I'll ever get used to them. I'm personally waiting for a vertically sliding keyboard to materialize on an Android handset, but no such luck so far (FYI, it's April 2010). I speak in more detail about my woes with virtual keyboards and Swype on the LG Smartphones page. Cameras The Samsung Galaxy S 4G comes with a VGA front-facing camera, and a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera with digital zoom, autofocus, as well as an HD camcorder that records at 720p. As I noted above, I didn't get a chance to play around with the front-facing camera. The 5 MP camera took reasonably good pictures, and shooting video on the enormous screen was a pleasure. Zoom is nice to have, and missing on many current camera phones. Overall, I still find that smartphone cameras still lack shutter speed, making it difficult to take pictures of anything that's moving (like children!). Reception/Service  I
have no complaints with reception, though I have to say that I didn't
do any extensive coverage tests other than using it where I live, work,
and play. I do have to say that I wasn't overly impressed
with
the 4G LTE service. When I used the Speed Test app that I
downloaded, I typically got around 2.2 to 5 Mbps. Although I
had
no speed issues downloading anything, this performance is pretty poor
compared to the theoretical 4G LTE speeds of up to 21 Mbps.
At
this point, a good solid 3G connection with good reception probably
performs very similarly to 4G, at least for my purposes. That
said, I suspect video chat would have probably shown a material
performance improvement.Battery Life I've previously spoken about poor battery life for smartphones in general, and the T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S 4G certainly didn't shine in this area. Though with its 1650mAh lithium ion battery, it was certainly able to keep up with the average poor performance of high performance smarpthones, being unable to make it through a typical day of moderate usage, including GSP navigation using Google Maps. Overall Conclusion This was the first Android smartphone that I could see myself using as a full-time phone (I haven't tested the Sprint HTC EVO 4G yet), largely due to the screen quality and snappy processor performance. However, the poor quality back cover, and overall cheap look and feel left me a little disappointed, and anxious for the next best thing. To comment on the Samsung Galaxy S 4G, please visit Samsung Galaxy S. To see what prepaid smartphones are currently available, visit the Smartphone Comparison page, or visit the Smartphone Review page to share your opinions on other prepaid smartphones.
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