Last year’s Samsung Vibrant, T-Mobile’s version of the Galaxy S, was a hit: T-Mobile sold large numbers of what was then an Android Superphone with a Super AMOLED display and fast 1GHz Hummingbird CPU. Roll around to early 2011 and the Vibrant is looking a little long in the tooth. While few phones are actually shipping with dual core CPUs now, they are sporting 4G, front cameras and multimedia streaming services. And that’s just what Samsung has dished up with the Galaxy S 4G: it’s a Vibrant with a front-facing video chat camera, 4G HSDPA, a higher capacity battery and both Samsung’s Media Hub and T-Mobile TV. The 4G Samsung runs Android OS 2.2 Froyo with Samsung TouchWiz 3.0 software. If you’ve used the Vibrant, Captivate or other Samsung Galaxy S family phone, you’ll feel right at home. And if you’ve been waiting endlessly for Froyo, it’s finally here.
Specs at a Glance
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4G has a 4”, 800 x 480 multi-touch capacitive Super AMOLED display with the usual deep, deep blacks and super-saturated colors. It runs on a 1GHz Hummingbird CPU (ARM Cortex-A8) with hardware graphics acceleration and approximately 190 megs of internal storage. A 16 gig microSD card is pre-installed in the slot located under the back cover, and the movie Inception is pre-loaded. The phone runs Android OS 2.2 Froyo with TouchWiz 3.0 and Flash 10.1. It has WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth and a GPS. Like the Vibrant, it has a 5 megapixel autofocus rear main camera with no flash and a front VGA video chat camera. The phone has a 1650 mAh Lithium Ion battery and it’s quad band GSM with 3G/4G on T-Mobile US’ 1700/2100MHz bands.
Design and Ergonomics
From the front, the Galaxy S 4G looks nearly identical to the Vibrant, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s an attractive slab with chrome accents and a 4” display that dominates the front. The Vibrant drove use crazy with its fingerprint-loving gloss black plastic back that got mucky quickly and made the thin curvy phone as slippery as a bar of soap. The Galaxy S 4G has a very interesting matte plastic back with a faux metallic finish that changes as you move it under the light. It’s almost iridescent and though not expensive looking it is cool. The surface texture and raised ridge make it easier to keep safely in hand.
Unfortunately, the power button is still on the right side, directly across from the volume controls. It’s far too easy to accidentally press the power button when pulling the phone from pocket or purse and when using the volume controls. Please Samsung, start putting the power up top where it belongs. The micro USB port lives under a sliding door as it did on the Vibrant, and the 3.5mm jack is up top. Though there’s just a small speaker grille on the phone’s back, it’s incredibly loud and full sounding.
Specs at a Glance
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4G has a 4”, 800 x 480 multi-touch capacitive Super AMOLED display with the usual deep, deep blacks and super-saturated colors. It runs on a 1GHz Hummingbird CPU (ARM Cortex-A8) with hardware graphics acceleration and approximately 190 megs of internal storage. A 16 gig microSD card is pre-installed in the slot located under the back cover, and the movie Inception is pre-loaded. The phone runs Android OS 2.2 Froyo with TouchWiz 3.0 and Flash 10.1. It has WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth and a GPS. Like the Vibrant, it has a 5 megapixel autofocus rear main camera with no flash and a front VGA video chat camera. The phone has a 1650 mAh Lithium Ion battery and it’s quad band GSM with 3G/4G on T-Mobile US’ 1700/2100MHz bands.
Design and Ergonomics
From the front, the Galaxy S 4G looks nearly identical to the Vibrant, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s an attractive slab with chrome accents and a 4” display that dominates the front. The Vibrant drove use crazy with its fingerprint-loving gloss black plastic back that got mucky quickly and made the thin curvy phone as slippery as a bar of soap. The Galaxy S 4G has a very interesting matte plastic back with a faux metallic finish that changes as you move it under the light. It’s almost iridescent and though not expensive looking it is cool. The surface texture and raised ridge make it easier to keep safely in hand.
Unfortunately, the power button is still on the right side, directly across from the volume controls. It’s far too easy to accidentally press the power button when pulling the phone from pocket or purse and when using the volume controls. Please Samsung, start putting the power up top where it belongs. The micro USB port lives under a sliding door as it did on the Vibrant, and the 3.5mm jack is up top. Though there’s just a small speaker grille on the phone’s back, it’s incredibly loud and full sounding.
The faintly masked Android capacitive buttons below the display are unchanged from the Vibrant, and they remain hard to see when backlight is off. The front-facing video chat camera that works with Qik sits above the display to the right of the earpiece.
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