The launch of Samsung’s first high-end smartphone, the Galaxy S, has seen the manufacturer go toe-to-toe with HTC and Apple at the higher end of the market. But does the Galaxy S have the tools to compete with the bigwigs in the mobile phone world?
The overall design of the Galaxy S will make the phone win many fans right from the start. Measuring 122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9 mm, the phone looks sleek and stylish. The phone’s smart black finish helps achieve this, as does the device’s remarkably slim depth. The screen technology used in the phone is a major factor behind this slim look. The Galaxy S uses a very high quality Super AMOLED screen. The standard AMOLED display uses one panel for the screen and then overlays it with a second sheet that is touch sensitive, giving you touch screen functionality. Super AMOLED combines these two sheets into one, dramatically reducing thickness. Dimensions are not the only area that this technology improved. Black levels increase as does the viewing angle on the screen, ultimately improving visibility in sunlight. The screen is really the most outstanding feature of this phone. Capable of displaying 480 x 800 WVGA resolution, it measures 4″ and produces an excellent quality image, regardless of whether you’re viewing text or video. Samsung built its own user interface into this phone, called TouchWiz. Adding a bit of fun for procedures, this also offers very functional features, such as the smart unlock system. Letters of the alphabet can be assigned to certain functions of the phone. When in lock mode, drawing this letter on the screen starts the default function.
Samsung is a true multimedia company, and the features offered in the Samsung Galaxy S are very well specified. Numerous audio file formats are supported, and combined with the ever-useful 3.5mm stereo jack, the phone works perfectly as a portable audio player. If you’re worried about whether your shelves full of albums will fit on the phone, then you don’t have to. The device comes with 8GB or 16GB of internal memory, and if that’s not enough, a micro SD card slot allows you to add additional cards up to 32GB. A 5 megapixel camera is included which can also record HD video. Movie is captured in 720P resolution at an exceptional frame rate of 30 per second. DNLA support allows images to be streamed directly to compatible computers and televisions.
Given the sheer volume of smartphones currently available, the Galaxy S rightly stands out from the crowd thanks to the excellent Super AMOLED display along with a host of other great features.