Samsung Galaxy S : new star for the galaxy Android

If there's a criticism regularly leveled at Samsung, it must be lack of class when it comes to its phones. The Galaxy S, the new Android arrival, could well threaten this image.

We were in Zurich last week to see the presentation of the new phone in the Galaxy range, the Galaxy S. Bouyed by the success of its Galaxy and Galaxy Spica, both much criticised but also both big sellers, Samsung is enriching its catalogue with a new, more evolved, more mature phone.

Samsung also seems to have taken certain criticisms on board.

A mouthwatering spec

For those who haven't followed the rumours on the internet, here's what the Galaxy S offers on the inside:

- 3G+, aGPS, Wi-Fi n and Bluetooth 3.0 for communication;

- on the hardware side a Samsung ARM Cortex A8 processor (same architecture as on the iPhone) @ 1 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, a microSD slot and 8 or 16 GB of internal storage;

- multimedia has also been attended to with a Super AMOLED 4" screen (800x480 pixels), a 5 MP photo sensor (720p video) and a mini-jack connector;

- its dimensions are 122x64x10 mm and it weighs 118g.


Convincing handling

The first funny thing, its ARM Cortex A8 processor is none other than the one in the iPhone (some of the components on the current Apple phone are made by Samsung), puffed up to 1 GHz (600 MHz on the iPhone). Although we've only seen prototypes and not for extended periods, the phone already seems very responsive at all levels.

The second thing to note is that the Super AMOLED 4 inch screen (equalent to the one on the HTC HD2) is very bright indeed. At JournalDuGeek they've been comparing it to the Nexus One. At full power, the screen is already brighter, but when you lower brightness, that's when the differnce really becomes obvious. Where the Google phone loses in legibility, the Galaxy S does not.

Continuing with the multimedia side, the photo sensor was very good, without being extraordinary (note that there's no flash), but gave really good video recording, one of the best currently. The audio out, rapidly tested with a pair of in-ears, seems clean. We should also add that Samsung has slightly modified the audio playback interface which is now nicer to use, with the exception of a very poor taste CoverFlow.

Android 2.1: there will be updates!

Samsung has always had a problem with software follow-up of its phones. At MWC in Barcelona in March, representatives from the French subsidiary told us that they had fed back lots of criticism relating to the lack of updates.

It looks as if HQ have been listening as it has been announced that updates will be made available after the change over to Froyo (Android version 2.2). It remains to be seen if this means new versions of Android (Google has just said that, after Froyo, it would like to see just one new version each year), or intermediary updates, for example, to correct bugs.


Their adaptation of Android 2.1 with the TouchWiz 3.0 layer was no less interesting for all that. The "tethering" mode (use of the phone as a modem) is already available, while it is only included natively on v2.2 of the OS.

Several proprietary applications have been pre-installed, including Social Hub.This groups several social networks in a single display and manages synchronisation of your contacts and so on.

A Daily Briefing display panel brings together different widgets, such as weather, the markets and so on for a more coherent display. Amusingly, the Nexus One applications menu has been substituted for a carbon copy of the iPhone one. Generally speaking, the phone's home page aesthetic borrows liberally from the iPhone, starting with the icons that are visible at the bottom of the screen.

An interesting phone that lacks personality!

After this look at the phone, one thing stands out: the Galaxy S isn't a low end phone such as Samsung has often brought out in the past. It is also really nice and attractive in plenty of ways, but where manufacturers such as HTC or even Motorola have worked hard on both the design of the hardware and software to mark themselves out, Samsung has copied.

From the front, it looks like a big iPhone. From the back a typical Samsung with poor plastics (though the finish has been improved).

As with the software interface, Samsung hasn't taken many risks. We do like the good handling of the phone and its moderate weight. We could however have done without the two touch sensitive buttons that cause manipulation errors (who hasn't one day lost a text by mistakenly pressing on these buttons?) and on which the backlighting goes off after a few seconds of inactivity, making themselves entirely invisible.

In spite of the criticism, the Galaxy S that we should see on the shelves and with operators within a month, should please plenty of users. It has a mouthwatering spec and should be on sale at a fairly low price. We'll have more details for you in a forthcoming test.


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