Samsung Galaxy S (2010 smartphone)
File:Samsung-i9000-galaxy-s.jpg | |
Manufacturer | Samsung Electronics |
---|---|
Slogan | Turn on Smart Life |
Availability by region | June/July, 2010 |
Predecessor | Samsung Galaxy i-7500 |
Form factor | Candybar smartphone |
Dimensions | 122.4 mm (4.82 in) (h) 64.2 mm (2.53 in) (w) 9.9 mm (0.39 in) (d) |
Mass | 118 g (4.2 oz) |
Operating system | Android 2.1 (Upgradable to 2.2) [1] with TouchWiz UI 3.0 |
CPU | Samsung Hummingbird S5PC110, 1 Ghz |
Memory | 512MB RAM, 2GB ROM |
Storage | 8/16 GB (Flash Nand Memory) |
Removable storage | microSD (up to 32GB supported) |
Battery | Li-pol 1500mAh Talk time: 2G/803 min, 3G/393 min. Standby time: 2G/750 hrs, 3G/576 hrs. |
Display | 4.0” WVGA Super AMOLED (800x480) (0.38 Megapixels) with mDNIe |
Rear camera | 5 Megapixel with Auto Focus but no flash, 720p HD Video, Self shot, Action shot, Panorama shot, Stop motion, Smile shot, Add me |
Front camera | Front-facing VGA camera (on select models) |
Connectivity | Dual band CDMA2000/EV-DO Rev. A 800/1900 MHz CDMA 800/1900 MHz EVDO Rev. A, WiMAX 2.5 to 2.7GHz; 802.16e 2.5G(GSM/GPRS/EDGE): 850/ 900/ 1800/ 1900 MHz; 3G (HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps): 900/ 1900/ 2100 MHz; Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n); Bluetooth 3.0; USB 2.0, DLNA, Radio FM |
Data inputs | Multi-touch capacitive touchscreen display, 3-axis accelerometer, additional 3-axis gyroscope in USA version, digital compass, proximity & light sensors, Swype |
Other | TV out, Integrated Messaging ‘Social Hub’, Android Market, Samsung Apps, A-GPS, Augmented Reality with Layar Reality Browser, Video Messaging. Exchange ActiveSync, Offline & No SIM Mode, Voice Command, RSS Reader, Widgets, Smart Security[2] |
The Samsung i9000 Galaxy S is an Android 2.1 smartphone that was announced by Samsung in March 2010, now confirmed to be getting Android 2.2 in the future. It features a 1 GHz "Hummingbird" processor along with 8-16 GB internal memory, a 4 inch 480x800 Super AMOLED widescreen, capacitive touchscreen display, a 5 megapixel camera in addition to a VGA front-facing camera,[3][4] and a PowerVR graphics processor yielding 90 million triangles per second, making it the fastest graphics processing unit in any Android phone.[5] In addition being amongst the first phones to offer bluetooth 3.0 and/or Divx HD,[6] at 9.9mm it's the thinnest Android phone.[7]
Sprint will offer a variation that will feature a 4G radio and a hardware keyboard. [8]
Samsung sold over 500,000 devices in the first month of sales in South Korea and aims to sell 10 million world wide in 2010.[9]
Launch
The phone was initially launched in Singapore on Friday June 4, 2010 priced as low as $0 on a two-year contract and SG$1098 (approx. $780 USD) without a contract.[10] Before the end of its first weekend on sale in Singapore Samsung tweeted that Singtel, the exclusive carrier to sell the device in Singapore, were sold out of devices.[11][12] On Friday June 25th 2010, the phone was launched in Malaysia through Maxis at RM1699 (approx. $515 USD) with a 12 month data plan contract.[13] It is to be released in the U.K. and parts of Asia in June 2010, later in June it should make its way to other parts of Europe.[14][15] It is set to launch on over 100 carriers worldwide in 100 countries.[16] Samsung announced that minor variants of its Galaxy S smartphones named as Epic, Vibrant, Fascinate and Captivate would be released "soon" for US Markets. [17]
Critical reception
Samsung is shipping an initial 1 million units of the Galaxy S to its carrier partners to satisfy demands for the phone.[18]
CNET Asia gave the Galaxy S a favourable reviewed with a score of 8.4/10.0. The Galaxy S was compared, and preferred, to current high-end Android-based phones such as the HTC Desire, the Xperia X10 and the Nexus One as well as smartphones using different operating systems iPhone 3GS, which runs iOS, the HTC HD2, which runs Windows Mobile, respectively. [19][20]
GSMArena described the Galaxy S as having "perfect audio quality". [21] Overall, the phone's superior all-round performance made it a "new leader of the Android pack". [22]
Hardware versions
It is expected that there will be multiple versions of this phone released in order to support the different wireless technologies used by different carriers.
The initial version of this phone supports HSPA at 900, 1900, and 2100 MHz (as well as the usual four bands at 2G). Due to the incompatible wireless technologies used by carriers in the American market, each carrier will be supported with different versions of this phone.
User Interface & Software features
The Phone employs the latest proprietary Samsung TouchWiz 3.0 UI. Unlike TouchWiz 3.0 on Samsung Wave, it only allows up to 7 homescreens. However, different from other Android UIs, TouchWiz 3.0 actually allows users to add, delete and re-arrange homescreens. The program launcher is also different from other Android UIs, when it's opened, it brings up an iOS like program menu which allows you to customize the arrangement of program shortcut icons. In addition to that, the 4 icons at the bottom of the screen can also be edited to users' liking.
The most important aspect of all 3 generations of TouchWiz UI is the Widget interface. The most prominent widgets that come with the Galaxy S are the daily briefing, weather clock and the buddy widget. Daily briefing brings up all essential day to day information (finance, weather, AP mobile news, Schedule) in 1 page. Weather clock is a classic Analog Clock with a City's weather of your choice being displayed below the clock. The buddy Widget allows you to text and call your contacts quickly. In addition to Samsung Widgets, standard Android widgets can be added and removed from the homescreens.
Software wise, the phone comes with the Layar Reality Browser. It is a program that visualizes GPS direction. Aldiko e-book allows you to read books that you download. The phone also comes with various upgraded versions of software that came with Samsung's previous generation of smart-phones (such as i8910HD and i8000 Omnia II).
Media support
The Galaxy S comes with support for many audio file formats, including 2 lossless audio codecs, video codecs and video formats:
Video codecs
Video formats
Lossless audio
Other audio
U.S. Variants
- On June 17, 2010 a variant of this phone was announced for the USA by AT&T under the name "Samsung Captivate". It does not have a front camera.[23] Rogers announced this same variant for Canada availability under the "Samsung Galaxy S Captivate" name. [24]
- T-Mobile released a version of the phone called the "Vibrant" on July 15th, 2010[25], making it the third Android 2.x phone officially supported on the T-Mobile network (after the Nexus One and MyTouch 3G Slide). The price is $199 with a new, two-year contract, or less through some distributors.[26] Current T-Mobile customers can upgrade with two-years contract extension for $149.99. It does not have a front camera, nor does it have an LED camera flash.
- "Samsung Epic 4G" by Sprint features a 4G radio, a hardware keyboard and reworked version of Android 2.1. This version is 14.2mm thick. This includes the front camera of the international version, a full QWERTY keyboard, and also adds a camera flash.[27]
- Verizon has revealed plans to release a "Samsung Fascinate", though no specifications or images have been released as of yet. It removes the front camera found in the international version, but adds a camera flash.[28]
Twitter Giveaway
A twitter account called samsungukmobile started to give away this phone to people who have complained about the iPhone 4, the giveaway has been confirmed as legitimate and was quite popular with gadget reviewers Phandroid and Cnet both praising this action. This may have been used to take advantage of Apple's "Grip of Death" problem in their iPhone 4.
GPS and compass problems
Many users across the net have started reporting GPS and compass problems with the Galaxy S[29], Captivate[30], and Vibrant[31]. GPS problems range from device not being able to lock on to any satellites, to signal being constantly dropped. The magnetometer which is built into the device is also having problems determining the correct bearing and renders the compass in some cases useless. It is still unclear whether this is a hardware or a software issue, which could potentially be amended with future firmware updates.
See also
References
- ^ http://twitter.com/SamsungMobileUS/status/17368587945
- ^ "Samsung Unpacked". Retrieved 18 April 2010.
{{cite news}}
: Text "date 2010-04-18" ignored (help) - ^ "Samsung i9000 Galaxy S Android Smartphone In Action – Video", Geeky Gadgets, 24 March 2010
- ^ "Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000 Android 2.1 smartphone announced", SlashGear, 23 March 2010
- ^ "Samsung Galaxy S "Hummingbird" chip to have 3x GPU power of Snapdragon", Android and Me, 26 March 2010
- ^ "Galaxy S in a Hurry to become world's second Divx HD phone", Engadget, 23 March 2010
- ^ "5 reasons to wait for the Samsung Galaxy S", Android and Me, 30 March 2010
- ^ http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/28/samsungs-epic-4g-for-sprint-seems-to-live-up-to-its-name/4#c28929703/
- ^ http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2010/07/133_70404.html
- ^ http://www.techknots.com/mobiles/samsung-galaxy-s-to-arrive-in-singapore-first
- ^ http://www.eurodroid.com/2010/06/samsung-galaxy-s-launched-in-singapore-already-sold-out/
- ^ http://twitter.com/samsungsg/status/15544638024
- ^ http://www.soyacincau.com/2010/06/28/first-impressions-samsung-galaxy-s/
- ^ http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/samsung-galaxy-s-will-hit-asia-in-june-get-froyo-later/
- ^ http://www.eurodroid.com/2010/05/retailer-uk-samsung-galaxy-s-delayed-until-17-june/
- ^ http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/06/03/2010060301729.html
- ^ "Samsung's Galaxy S Series Is Epic, Vibrant, Fascinating and Captivating". WINARS.
- ^ http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=456021
- ^ http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39051199,45229322p,00.htm
- ^ http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39051206,39000063c-20000066q,00.htm?&sort=2/
- ^ http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9000_galaxy_s-review-478p6.php
- ^ http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9000_galaxy_s-review-478p9.php
- ^ http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=18033&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=30881&mapcode=consumer
- ^ http://redboard.rogers.com/2010/samsung-galaxy-s-captivate-coming-soon-to-rogers/
- ^ http://galaxy-s.t-mobile.com/
- ^ http://tmobilephones2010.com/2010/07/t-mobile-ramps-up-with-samsung-vibrant-get-it-for-99/
- ^ http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1441988&highlight=
- ^ http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/28/samsungs-epic-4g-for-sprint-seems-to-live-up-to-its-name/4#c28929703/
- ^ http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s/104872-gps-issues.html
- ^ http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/128026-everyone-who-having-gps-problems.html
- ^ http://androidforums.com/samsung-vibrant/132109-gps-doesnt-work.html