The last two days we switched from our previous provider Simyo to BASE (both companys of e-plus+). We switched, because we get 30mins + 30 SMS internally + 50mins into every mobile & regular network p/month + an internet flat (250MB 3G, then it will be limited to EDGE/GPRS, but at NO additional costs) for “just” 15€ per month. That’s a MUCH MUCH better deal!

Searching for new mobile phones, a friend of mine told me that he has a Samsung Galaxy S and he’s quiet happy (not to mention that he meanwhile send the Samsung back to Amazon and ordered an iPhone 4 from UK (unlocked ). So it sounds very well and the videos on YouTube! about it were looking very promising, so I’d just ordered it and got it today.

The Samsung Galaxy S is based on Android, but comes with a lot additional software by Samsung. The display is a 4″ SuperAMOLED display which is indeed really stunning, you can remove the battery and add up to 32GB MicroSD cards. Something you can’t to with an iPhone. Also, it allows you to tether 3G to your notebook – and it’s fully compatible to Mac OS X (the tethering). It seems like there’s currently no way to sync you data between your Mac and the Samsung Galaxy S – the software “KIES” by Samsung is only available for Windows, but hey – it’s Android, so it would work the way using the Cloud – in this case GoogleApps.

You can see all these photos in high quality on flickr: sgsreview

The unboxing itself was not very spectacular. It was the same process like unboxing an iPhone, except that you have the chance to put the battery in on your own.

MicroSD slot on the left, SIM on the right (and yes, you need to remove the battery to insert the SIM).

Putting the Samsung Galaxy S and the iPhone 2G side by side, they indeed look pretty similar. The Samsung has a 4″ display while the iPhone has an 3.5″ one. Also, the Samsung has a Home-Button like the iPhone, but comes with 2 additional touch-buttons for the menu (left) and back (right). As long-term iPhone user, it’s very uncommon to use them

The first look: Indeed, the display is very good, but compared to the iPhone 4 (as far as I remember) it’s not sooo much better (in my personal opinion).

You can see all these photos in high quality on flickr: sgsreview

My first SMS, sure, it was the very first time using the BASE card, since the number is not yet ported from Simyo to BASE.

Software

Of course, it’s not only hardware that matters, maybe even more important than the hardware is the software nowadays. Far away a these days with monochrome LCD displays of Nokia 6110 and so. They were great – these days, but nowadays you EXPECT a better OS on your cellphone. Especially when you’ve used an iPhone for the last few years.

The software, namely Android, looks a but undone for me. The optic is mostly ok, but far far away from the “stunning” of iOS appz. Maybe I’m not that open-minded as I wanted, when trying this cellphone. Of course you can’t really compare an Android to an iPhone. Why? Because you can’t compare things which a different. You can’t compare OS X to Windows or one of them to Linux, UNIX or OpenSolaris. No way!

In my mind, it’s a great phone, if you were not using iPhones in the past or simply don’t like them. But for me: I’m a bit disappointed. The menus are complicated, you’ve a billion options, which is great, and that’s one thing that I would love to have on my iMac (yeah, I switched my Macs, but that’s another story ), but on a cellphone, it’s honestly a bit overwhelming.

Video

Videos are looking fine on the SuperAMOLED screen, no question, but you can’t zoom it when watching YouTube! like you do on an iPhone (you know, removing the black bars from top/bottom or left/right).

Audio

The speaker is a mono one, a little tiny spot on the back of the phone. Yes! Right! It’s on the back, which means, if you want to watch a YouTube! video and put the phone on the desk, the audio volume and quality drops tremendously.

Flash

Internet is fine and yes, it has Flash. The first I visited was the Speedtest.net website, because for an unknown reason their app didn’t installed right for the first 1/2 an hour from the Android app store. What it tells me was: “This flash version is outdated.” Tapping on the link to Adobe told me: “Newest Flash will be available in Froyo/2.2″. Great! So that’s why you want Flash on a mobile?

3G Network

Anyway, after 30mins I was able to install the Speedtest.net App and I got a good transfer rate inside my office and in the garden (1700KBit/s down, 333KBit/s up using BASE 3G service). That’s not much and far away from 7.2MBps, but it’s ok.

USB / Access to the data

It took a few moments to access the files directly which are stored on the internal storage. I had to go through 3 menu options to enable USB sharing, then I could access the storage using the USB cable like a regular SD Card.

Camera / Video

Here is a photo and a short video I’ve done with the Samsung Galaxy S. I have to mention, that I’ve forgot to set the camera to 720p (1280×720), but it’s in 720×480 and the quality is very nice in my mind. The camera is really a highlight!

Click here to download:

video-2010-07-22-20-01-38.3gp (14326 KB)

Camera / Photo

Personal Resumé

The Samsung Galaxy S is not a bad phone, it’s maybe for some Android-liking people the best mobile available. But for me and our Apple-centric household, I think we should better get 2 iPhone 4′s from UK and use them for our (already bought) applications. There are 3 I can’t live without:

- Things Touch
- DeliveryStatus
- WebEx
+ ChocChocShop which is a fantastic game

I think I will return it tomorrow to Amazon. My wife should have the chance to play with the Samsung when she comes home later, but I guess she also wants to have an iPhone after this experience.

Ciao
Dennis

PS. Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/klein2 and NEW http://www.twitter.com/klein2podcast // You can see all these photos in high quality on flickr: sgsreview