The Bell Canada Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant Complete Review
Introduction
We are looking at today Bell Canada’s version of the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant that was released a few weeks back and is Canada’s debut of the Samsung Galaxy S series in Canada. The long-awaited Samsung Android smartphone is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the smart phone industry so let’s take a look at it.
Looks
The Samsung vibrant is one hot looking android smart phone with a nice glossy black finish around the sides with a glossy black front which is mostly filled by the screen. The front buttons consist of a menu button a directional navigation pad and the back button. There is an up and down volume rocker, USB Port, 3.5 MM audio port and as well a small power button. The phone itself is 64x 122×9.9 mm in size and weighs in at 118g, making this phone extremely light and as well fairly thin in size. Overall this is the number three attractive looking phone that anybody would be happy to own.
Hardware
One area this phone is not lacking in is the hardware department as it is powered by 1 GHZ Samsung hummingbird processor that makes this phone run like a charm, also the GPU is top of the class in the android smart phones at this present time which makes for incredible visual output. But the phone has plenty of storage with 16 GB internal storage and 512 MB of ram and an expandable micro SD slot that comes with a 2 GB card included but is expandable up to 32 GB.
Screen
When this phone was first announced the one thing that stood out was the display and for good reason this hands down has to be the best display of any smart phone available on the market. The display type is a Super AMOLED capacitive touch screen, 16M colors which produces some of the a most amazing color, vivid, sharp and detailed images you will see on a smart phone. Samsung is a major manufacturer of AMOLED and is certainly a huge selling point for this phone. The screen size is 480x 800, 4.0 inches in size and is perfect for watching multimedia surfing playing with applications and more.
Battery
Becoming more increasingly important is the batteries that are on smart phones these days as smart phones start to do more and people start to use them for many different functions the batteries life becomes a major concern. The battery on this phone is a standard batteries LI-ION 1500 mAh which is rated four standby time of up to 432 hours and atop time of up to 6 hours and 30 minutes. The batteries statistics obviously can be varied based on your usage whether you have better running war applications in the background and as bait basically overall how much you are using the phone. Everyone is going to get different results with batteries life based on their own personal usage but some batteries seem to work better than others. The Samsung vibrant has very decent batteries life when compared to other android smart phones and is definitely not an issue with the testing that we have done.
Operating System
The operating system on this phone is Android 2.1 and with the processor that’s on this phone it easily handles it and runs blazing fast. The phone should see a software update to android 2.2 froyo in late September, although it could be a little later we do expect to see it on the phones soon and will be a welcome upgrade but should not hinder your reason for buying this phone as it certainly is not a drawback.
Software
The Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant is running Samsung’s proprietary user interface touch whiz, which android enthusiasm either love or hate. The reason that’s some people do not like the user interface is because it is a little far off from the stock android interface and can be a little limiting. I certainly don’t think of this as a drawback as most avid android users will be able to find a way to replace the user interface quite easily. I for example installed the application launcher pro that gave the Vibrant the stock Android look and functionality. The touch whiz user interface has some very neat bells and whistles to it and actually runs extremely smooth on this phone, it does have a bit of an I phony issue looked to some of the icons on it but I will not hold it against it because the functionality is spot on. Regardless of whether you love it or hate it the software on this phone runs flawless an extremely smooth is with no lag at all.
Applications
In terms of applications Samsung and Bell Canada have loaded this phone up with some great featured apps and widgets to make your android experience pleasurable. There are so many on this phone is almost impossible to list them all but I will try to cover a few of the basic ones so you get an idea of the feature rich applications available on this android smart phone. First off the home screens are customizable with that could set of widget applications that are extremely functional and useful. They have a sharp-looking clock with temperature, daily briefing application which covers whether, stock prices world news and calendar all bundled into one widget. There is also would do all time zone clock, active applications widget, feeds and updates widget which helps you stay in touch with your social media, buddies now making it easy to call in message your favourite friends and also a diary application widget. The phone also comes with all share application which helps you sink media files between your computer servers in devices. FM radio and an application that will show you local FM radio stations that are available. Also has the Samsung apps which has a list of applications that you can put on the phone such as lay a rap, radio companion, road SMS which is a transparent SMS application allowing you to see what’s in front of you while texting. Samsung maps has some great little apps is well and continue to add to them there is also social hub for configuring your social Media Networks. They also have a mini diary eight application and a memo pad application with the cork board the sticky year notes. Also bell Canada has included a few applications of their own first they have tunes and applications where you can download stuff from the bells site and also TV and radio you can watch clips and TV shows available via bell. Also one little neat feature that they have included on here is called the bell remote PVR which allows you to change your P VR settings from your phone so fear out and away and you’re going to miss your favorite TV show you can program your PVR make sure you don’t miss it. Finally but not least it comes with the android markets you can download any application you want it also comes with the standard android applications navigation, calendar, calculator, maps, gmail, you tube. This phone is certainly full of great applications for any user and with the ability to download anything you want on the android market makes this a truly great smart phone.
Keyboard
I was actually very surprised by the accuracy of the keyboard on this phone, some touch screen keyboards can have accuracy issues but I find the Samsung Keyboard highly accurate and easy to use.
Web Browsing Camera and Video
This version of the Samsung Galaxy S vibrant comes with a front facing camera where the U.S. version does not. This allows you to make video calling and to also use applications on the android market that require front facing cameras. I must say that this camera has plenty of options when it comes to picture quality as it has a huge selection of automatic shooting modes, Scene modes and you are able to adjust the exposure on the cameras well and also was well a dish and all settings to adjust your images based on your surroundings. The camera is a 5MP with zoom and multi shot and as well shoots HD video recording at 720P and supports a multitude of audio and video codec’s.
Call Quality
The call quality on this phone is superb and not an issue at all and with the volume rocker place conveniently you can adjust the sound based upon her hearing needs.
Pros:
- At complete full featured android smart phone
- Front facing camera
- Topple the line AMOLED screen display
- HD video recording
- Excellent CPU
- The best GPU available
- Tons of applications
Cons:
- None really
- 2.1 operating system but will be fixed soon
- Touch whiz user interface for those who don’t like it.
Conclusions and Final thoughts:
I was looking forward to reviewing this phone since the date it was announced and had a good feeling that it was going to be a winner. I’m not been a Samsung fanboy or even like some of their previous Android smart phones to be honest with you. The Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant is a well designed and powered android super phone. There are not many phones on the market that I would trade mine nexus one in for but this phone is probably the only one that I would pick as a replacement. Every time I look at the display I am amazed. I also am so impressed with how smooth this phone runs, it glides through every application with no lag and is a pleasure to use. I highly recommend this phone for anyone who is thinking of getting it. It is very user-friendly and comes with tones of options and applications and more, you’ll be getting one of the finest android smart phones on the market if you decide to purchase this phone. You’d like to purchase this phone you can go to Bell Canada and buy it on a three-year contract at the low rate of only $149.95 at the current time of this review.
Category: Phones
Just found the greatest app to manage all my cards in my Samsung Galaxy S: Cardmobili http://www.cardmobili.com
So, I've had this phone for four months now and I've just taken it into Bell to get it "fixed" it stopped working on Christmas Eve Day. After dealing with some horrible support people in the stores, I paid nearly $50 to have it sent in. This is a COMMON hardware problem. Don't buy this phone.
Phone keeps freezing in low signal area. Took it back to the dealer, they DOA'd it and gave me a second one. Same thing, so I took it back, the guy, locked it onto 800 band. Stable for a week, then froze again. Called Bell, told me to bring it into a Bell store and they will send it in for repair. The guy said it would be 3-6 week, and no guarantee that the problem would be solved. The guy said they didn't have any loner phones, so I didn't send it out.
A week later I went to another Bell store with the phone. The person working was very nice and told me there was a firm ware update released and all the freezing problems would be solved. I went home, opened Kies,plugged in the phone and hit the check for updates button. There was no update available, I tried again, same thing. I finally call Bell, the tech service guy had no idea (atleast he acted that way), and he put me on hold. Minutes later he tells me that the update (Froyo 2.2)has been pulled. I ask him when this issue will be resolved, again he has no idea but sends me to customer care.
I ask customer care to subsidize me for a new (different phone), the lady talks to her manager. The answer was no, there are none available. I tell her I can wait until they become avaible, but the answer is still no! She offers me 100 extra minutes for the next three months, seeing as I was getting no where I accept. What a waste of time and money.
I have had no problems with my Galaxy S Vibrant. This is the best phone i have owned. Do not miss my crappy iphone at all. The new Galaxy S 2 phone should be in Canada in quarter 2 according to internet resources. Every new phone that comes on stream has its bumps to work out even the flashy iphone. Android is going to become the number one OS in the very near future.
I have had no problems with my Galaxy S Vibrant. This is the best phone i have owned. I had an iphone before the galaxy and was very dissappoint with the iphone. I am looking forward to the new samsung galaxy 2 phone coming in quarter one of 2011 i hope.
I have had this phone since september 2010, its rock solid, sure I have the 2.2 update but like any phone if your not willing to take the time to maintain the operating system of your computer what do you think happens… problems do not get fixed. The issue here is andriod which is linux based is the refresh cycles are much more often customers expecting all the bugs worked out on a unmaintained phone is just asking too much. Go buy an Iphone and call apple when you have an issue and see how far you get.