Samsung Galaxy S (I9000)

Though Samsung has produced Android phones before the Galaxy S (I9000), none have gotten as much attention as this model. This is because the company has really given this phone the best it has to offer, including a brand new processor and an improved display technology called Super AMOLED. So, is the I9000 better than what's offered by Samsung's competitors, particularly Android specialist HTC? We find out.

Design

One of the best things about the Galaxy S has to be its 4-inch Super AMOLED display. This has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels (WVGA) and measures 4 inches diagonally. An Android phone with a similar screen is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X 10, though its resolution is slightly different at 854 x 480 pixels.
The "Super" moniker for the screen identifies it as one using Samsung's new AMOLED technology. The advantages compared with regular AMOLED are that it's thinner, brighter, uses less power and has better screen legibility under direct sunlight. One of the first things we observed about the touchscreen was that it's very sensitive to our fingertip touches. It responded to the lightest of touches, which is good when you want to type fast and not worry about missing letters. Watching videos was a good experience, thanks to the large display and eye-popping colors reproduced by the panel. Furthermore, you can watch DivX HD videos stored in the memory without messy format conversions, perfect for those who plan to use the Galaxy S as a media player.
We took the Galaxy S out under direct sunlight, comparing it with the HTC which is equipped with a regular AMOLED screen. At maximum brightness, the Galaxy S did not appear to do any better or worse than the Desire in this test. Now, this isn't a bad thing. As we've noted in the HTC Desire review, this meant text was readable under direct sunlight, so most people will do fine using a browser or following a map when under the noon sun.
Even with such a large screen, Samsung has managed to keep this Galaxy slim and light. Its thickness is a mere 9.9mm, while the weight is 118g--which is quite light for such a large device. In comparison, the iphones' thickness and weight are 12.3mm and 135g, respectively.
Admittedly, some may still find the Galaxy S a little large with a footprint of 122.4 x 64.2mm. This is almost identical to the HTC  120.5 x 67mm, and we all know how big the HD2 is.
There are three buttons below the screen, two of which are touch-sensitive--the Menu and Back keys. Between those two is the physical Home button. There's no directional pad, so navigating the interface will rely solely on the touchscreen. This could pose a problem when moving the cursor in text fields as it is sometimes difficult to get the cursor exactly where you want using a fingertip touch. Fortunately, Samsung has implemented onscreen arrow keys in its software keyboard to address that. More on that later.

We like the sliding cover for the micro-USB port. (Credit: Damian Koh/CNET Asia)

Like the Samsung Wave, the micro-USB port on the Galaxy S has a sliding cover. We like this small design implementation as it keeps lint out of the connector while not being as fiddly as some pull-out rubber port covers. Near the micro-USB port on the top edge is a standard 3.5mm jack for audio output.
Other buttons are scarce with just the power toggle on the right edge and volume controls on the left. The back is where you'll find the speakers and a 5-megapixel camera with no flash. There is also a secondary camera in front for making video calls.
Though the Samsung will likely be positioned as a high-end smartphone, it's a pity the materials used didn't feel more premium. While the plastic back cover was attractive, it would have been better if the Galaxy S had a metallic finish like the Samsung Wave.

Features

You can't have a high-end Samsung phone without every single feature crammed in, and the Galaxy S is no exception. Connectivity-wise, it comes with HSPA for high-speed downloads and uploads over the cellular network. It has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS for satellite navigation. An FM tuner is also built-in for those who prefer their music and news from the airwaves.
The I9000 is equipped with Android 2.1 (Eclair). With the Galaxy S, you get all the standard Android features including tight integration with Google services such as Gmail, native Microsoft Exchange support and a Webkit-based browser that supports multitouch gestures but not the Adobe Flash plug-in.

TouchWiz 3.0 For Android

Now that we've the standard things out of the way, let's look at what makes the Galaxy S unique, software-wise. Samsung's custom interface is called TouchWiz 3.0 for Android. TouchWiz has been used in other Samsung mobile phones and this version for the Galaxy S is in some ways similar. On the Home page, there's a fixed dock with four shortcuts to Phone, Contacts, Messaging and Applications. The rest of the Home pages (which goes up to seven screens) are pretty much what you find in other Android phones. This means you can fill them up with either widgets or shortcuts and is fully customizable.

Tapping on the Applications shortcut will bring up the main menu. Instead of one that slides upward from the bottom, the pages of apps scroll horizontally. This is consistent with Samsung's TouchWiz interface from its earlier devices. The dock at the bottom doesn't change in the menu page aside from the Applications button which now shows Home instead for getting out of the menu back to the Home page.
While different from the default Android interface, Samsung's implementation is quite good. It's not too complicated and can be easily edited to your liking. You can move icons around without much trouble, similar to how it's done on the iPhone. Another thing we liked is that new applications automatically get added to the last available page. Google's default interface puts apps in alphabetical order and there's no way to arrange them. What's more, in the process of editing the main menu, you can even delete programs completely. Yes, you don't have to enter the settings page and go through a series of submenus just to delete all the apps you want purged from the system. You can increase the number of menu pages according to how many apps you have. We went up to 26 pages before getting tired of going further. Essentially, there're lots of menu space for apps, so the 2GB ROM for storing programs can be put to full use.
Now, here's the bad news. Samsung has made it impossible to delete a lot of preinstalled programs. This is fine for most such as YouTube and the FM Radio app--you don't want to end up without those. But in our SingTel-branded set, there were dedicated icons for operator services such as InSing and AMPed. AMPed is a music download service which some will never use, yet you cannot get rid of the application. InSing is even worse--all it does is bring you to the operator's online portal in the browser. Imagine that, a browser bookmark that takes up one slot in your menu and cannot be removed. Though we understand that operator relationship is important to a manufacturer, the way these "apps" have been forced to remain in the Galaxy S is too heavy-handed. This is after all a Google Android smartphone, and we believe many of its intended customers want to be able to fully customize it. Right now, the best solution is to shift all the apps you don't want to see to the last page of the menu.
Samsung has also tweaked the notifications bar that resides at the top of the screen. As with the vanilla Android, you access the bar by pulling it down. In Samsung's implementation though, you get four shortcuts embedded in the notifications page--Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Silent and Vibration. This makes toggling these features really convenient. Ordinarily, this is achieved by entering the settings page or downloading third-party widgets that reside on the Home page. We did notice a bug in the notifications bar when it informs you of a new text message. When you tap on the notification and get brought to the new SMS, the little message notification refuses to go away until you exit the message thread, which involves pressing Back at least twice. Generally, once a user is done reading or replying to a text, he will simply press Home or turn off the screen, In the case of the Galaxy S, this will cause the new SMS notification to remain on the top bar.

Social-Networking Addons

Integrating social-networking services appears to be a big deal for any Android phone these days and the Galaxy S is no exception. For starters, you can integrate your Facebook and Twitter friends into your Contacts list. This is similar to what's available in HTC Sense, though not quite as polished. For starters, setting it up takes quite a while. In the case of Facebook, you are shown your entire list of friends, which have to be sifted through to select who to appear and link with your Google contacts. For those with thousands of "friends" who are not friends that ought to appear on your mobile phone, this can be quite a chore. HTC nailed this by showing only those the software feels matches a contact in Google. If it missed out one, you can manually add it.
After linking a contact with your friend's Facebook profile, the person's profile picture will appear on your contacts list. What really annoyed us was that this photo appeared mangled because the Contacts application simply fitted it into a square without scaling it properly. Fellow CNET Asia writer Damian Koh, for example, uses a profile picture in portrait mode, so he appeared squashed horizontally on our review phone. Though it seems trivial, let's not forget phones are becoming the primary avenue of access to many social-networking services and individuals' profile pictures are a crucial part of that. To see so many stretched and squashed faces of friends throughout widgets and in the contacts page is very uncomfortable, to say the least, and shows a lack of attention to detail.

Text Input

Text input methods included with the Galaxy S are the Samsung keyboard and Swype. The Samsung keyboard is a simple one that's pretty effective. The size of the screen makes tapping buttons very accurate, and without much practice, we were able to type very quickly.
However, it could do with a little more complexity. The letters don't serve two purposes, so you can't, say, simply press and hold M to get a question mark. Except for the full stop (which gets a dedicated key on the QWERTY page), all other symbols require switching to the symbols page. Pressing and holding the symbols key will bring up an editing page which gives you arrow keys and other editing tools like select and copy. In the browser, the address bar doubles as a search field. The Samsung keyboard detects this as a URL field only and replaces the spacebar with ".com", so search for phrases that require spaces becomes a chore. As with the extra features in the contacts application, the Samsung keyboard isn't poor, it just needs refinement.
The other text input option is Swype. This lets you move your fingers in a single motion to "link up" letters. It's an interesting take on the QWERTY keyboard and requires only one hand. We found it pretty effective, but have to admit it takes some getting used to and may not suit everyone.

Other Software Features

Other applications bundled with the Galaxy S include ThinkFree Office (for viewing and editing documents) and augmented reality browser Layar. Others proprietary to Samsung include Social Hub and Write and Go. Social Hub puts all your email and social-networking accounts in one place for easy access--we didn't find this very useful and ended up with our dedicated apps most of the time. We felt Write and Go was more useful as it lets you pen a thought before deciding if you want to send it as an SMS, email or as a status update on Facebook or Twitter.
Though tethering is not supported natively by Android 2.1, Samsung has included a feature called Mobile AP. What this does is to make the device act as a wireless access point, tapping on the phone's HSDPA Internet connectivity. This worked without a hitch and, to our surprise, used WPA encryption for the Wi-Fi network, which gives stronger security compared with WEP.

Camera

Photos taken with the Galaxy S' camera were of very good quality. They showed colors accurately and performed well indoors even without flash. Video recording is supported up to 720p resolution. Video quality looked good as long as expectations were kept in check--this is no Canon Legria camcorder.

 

One word of warning when using the camera--the photos look better on the device's screen than on the computer. While this is generally true for all digicams and mobile phones because the small display hides blurriness and noise, it's especially pronounced for the Galaxy S. The Super AMOLED seems to brighten all the colors. So once you view it on a color-corrected monitor, the images just don't seem so great anymore.

Performance

Samsung is to perform better when it came to CPU performance and graphics. This was evident in our day-to-day use of the device. Web browsing was smooth and the smartphone generally felt snappy throughout. We downloaded a few graphics-intensive games and the I9000 handled them perfectly.
That's probably thanks to the new Samsung Hummingbird processor complete with PowerVR SGX graphics. This is rumored to be a variant of what's found in the Apple iPad and is jointly designed by Samsung and Intrinsity. Intrinsity was recently bought by Apple.
512MB of RAM is available for running applications, while there's 2GB ROM for installing apps. This is part of the internal 16GB memory, so 14GB is left for storage and appears as a removable drive when the Galaxy S is connected to a PC. There's also a microSDHC card slot for expansion if the onboard storage not sufficient.
Though the Super AMOLED screen is supposed to be more battery-efficient, the Galaxy S didn't do much better than the HTC Desire. With two email accounts and all social-networking services set to auto-sync, we got slightly under 24 hours of use before the battery depleted fully. Tweak these settings and it's possible to go about 1.5 days on a single charge.
Call quality was good, with the other party able to hear us clearly. We did not experience any dropped calls or reception abnormalities during our test period, either. Take note that this phone also supports video calls, something many Android smartphones are not capable of.

Conclusion

The big question on everyone's mind is probably this: Should I buy this over the HTC Desire? One thing we can say for sure is that HTC's Sense UI is definitely more polished than Samsung's TouchWiz for Android. This extends to integration of social-networking services, text input and even the quality of custom widgets. The HTC also feels more solid physically and has an LED flash for lighting up dark subjects.
However, the Galaxy S has its own advantages, the most prominent of which is the large 4-inch Super AMOLED screen. The powerful processor is another big plus, which performs admirably whether it's during general use or for CPU-intensive tasks.
Weighing these factors based on their own merits, we would say the two are neck-and-neck. When we reviewed the HTC Desire, Froyo had not been announced yet. Now that we know it adds significant user features and greatly unlocks the potential of the smartphone's processor, whether or not an Android device gets this upgrade becomes an important factor. While both manufacturers have committed to such an update, there has been no estimated timeline given.
Though it's hard to make guesses for such matters, HTC does have more experience when it comes to pushing out updates for Android phones. It is after all the most experienced Android manufacturer around and one of Google's closest partners for the mobile OS. In the meantime, if Samsung will be taking a number of months to get Froyo ready, we hope it will at least resolve some of the niggling issues we had with the software in an intermediate update.
If you liken the two Android handsets to cars, the Samsung would win in a drag race, while the HTC would beat it in a track full of turns. Choose the Samsung Galaxy S for its raw power and potential for greatness given the right software tweaks. But if a polished UI and ease of use are what you looking for in an Android phone, the HTC Desire would fit the bill.
Depending on where you are in Asia, the Galaxy S will be available at different dates starting from June. Its retail price is pretty steep at S$1,098, but the smartphone can be had for much less if you factor in subsidies that come with mobile plans. Contact your local operator for more details.

HTC Desire

When Google announced the Nexus One smartphone earlier this year, there was little doubt that the manufacturer, HTC, would eventually put its own version out for sale, too. Sure enough, during last month's  in Barcelona, the HTC Desire was unveiled.

Upside

Most of the features found on the Nexus One are in the Desire, too. You get a 3.7-inch AMOLED display with a screen resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, as well as a slim sub-12mm chassis. Connectivity options are also plentiful in the Desire with support for HSPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and A-GPS for satellite navigation.

Performance-wise, the Desire seems to have some improved specs compared with its older twin. While they both contain the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, the Desire has more RAM at 576MB, 64MB more than the Nexus One. A reason HTC may have done this is to accommodate the Sense UI software which requires a little more system memory to run smoothly.
HTC Sense is a big selling point of the Desire. This is absent on the Nexus One because Google uses it to showcase the vanilla Android software. HTC's custom software gives the user more widgets and a deep integration of social-networking services into the address book. Other standard features in the Desire include a 3.5mm audio jack, accelerometer for screen orientation and a proximity sensor that will turn the screen off when you are making a call.
Aside from those, this Android 2.1 smartphone also comes with some special features. For example, you can mute the ringer by simply flipping the phone face down. Also, certain settings and data such as text messages and bookmarks can be backed up onto the microSD card.

Downside

One of the most obvious exclusions in the Desire is tri-band HSPA support. Designed for the European and Asian markets, this smartphone works in the 900MHz and 2,100MHz bands, but not 1,700MHz as used by T-Mobile in the US. Users who travel frequently to the US and need 3G support there may be better off with the Nexus One.

Outlook

Currently, Google ships the Nexus One only to Hong Kong and Singapore in Asia. One of the best things about the Desire is that it will be widely available as HTC will have full control over where it will be sold. Furthermore, partnerships with operators will allow subsidies, making it more accessible, price-wise--though we don't expect this to be extremely low, given it's a high-end product. We expect to see the HTC Desire in stores and from operators starting Q2.

Making sense of MWC's Android handsets

In early 2009, choosing a mobile phone that ran the Google Android operating system was easy. That's because there was only one, the HTC Dream. Just a year on, the situation is very different, with devices from almost all the major handset manufacturers. In fact, you have only to look at the announcements coming out of this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to see how popular Android has become. In this article, we'll give you a brand-by-brand breakdown of the new smartphones. Read on if you are planning to switch to Android in 2010 and need to narrow down your choices.

Acer

Computer giant Acer was the most prolific of the brands, announcing a trio of devices that will sit in three distinct market segments. The Taiwan-based manufacturer has always been very aggressive when it comes to pricing, and we expect the same treatment for its smartphones.

Nokia X3

The good: Great battery life; convenient music features; inexpensive; microSD slot; 3.5mm audio port.
The bad: No 3G; flat keypad is not great; FM reception for some stations is spotty; basic camera features.
The bottom line: If what you need is a basic mobile phone with decent music features, the X3 delivers the goods at an attractive price.

Nokia gives green light for free navigation service

Nokia today announced free passes to its turn-by-turn walk-and-drive navigation on Ovi Maps, ending what was previously a subscription-based service.
Users can immediately download the new Ovi Maps on 10 Series60 devices (see list here). Moving forward, the application will be preinstalled on GPS-enabled smartphones starting March, along with preloaded maps, Lonely Planet, restaurant (HungryGoWhere) and event guides, as well as weather updates. Live traffic information will be available in over 10 countries including Singapore. Users can also share their location via the Lifecasting application which goes out of beta today.
According to Nokia, the free navigation service is now available only on S60 devices, but will eventually be extended to S40 handsets and devices running on Maemo, although the phone-maker didn't commit to a specific time frame.
When asked about its plans for its Navigator series, which comes bundled with the free real-time navigation service, Nokia skirted the question by saying that this was more about the "big picture" and to "change the market".
Users who have bought turn-by-turn navigation licenses before the announcement today, however, will not be getting any refunds.
"We are not able to offer any refunds, but all existing licenses remain valid. The [users] can choose to keep their existing version (Ovi Maps 3.0) or upgrade to the free one," Nokia told CNET Asia in an email.
The world's largest phone-maker has sold about 83 million GPS-enabled devices since the launch of the N95 in 2007. This accounted for 51 percent of the total number of such handsets in 2009, according to research firm Canalys. It expects that the number of users using GPS navigation on their mobiles would potentially leap from 27 million (in 2009) to 50 million after today's announcement.
In 2008, Nokia acquired digital map provider Navteq for US$8.1 billion as the former turned its focus to navigation and location-based services on mobile phones. Last September, the Finnish company released mapping and navigation APIs with the Ovi SDK, allowing developers to write applications for the platform.
With today's announcement, Nokia goes head-on with Google which introduced its free navigation service for Android 2.0 devices last October. This was first available on the Motorola Droid from Verizon in the US. Google had no updates when we asked if the service would expand to other countries.
Unlike Google Maps for mobile, which pulls map data in real time, users can download Ovi Maps onto the PC and sideload it on the handset, saving on local data charges and roaming. Nokia also said its maps can be set to offline mode when navigating. This means a network connection isn't needed to utilize the maps. Map data downloaded over-the-air and the initial data packet (in KBs) for a faster location fix are still chargeable, though.
Nokia said last month that one of its operational priorities is to provide third-party developers with tools to create applications and content for the Ovi ecosystem, among other goals such as re-engineering the Symbian user interface and introducing its first Maemo 6 device in the latter half of 2010.

Motorola plans to release up to 30 smartphones in 2010

We strained our ears to hear news from Motorola for most of 2009. The company finally answered with the Cliq and Droid in the US some time last September. These devices run Android 1.5 and Android 2.1, respectively. There wasn't a lot of love for us across the pond in Asia, until today when Motorola brought the Dext (the GSM version of the Cliq) to Singapore. One of the biggest questions on everyone's mind was naturallyThe answer turned out to be pretty simple. The Dext runs MotoBlur, the company's proprietary interface that is packed on top of the Android operating system. The Milestone, on the other hand, didn't.Of course, we didn't miss the chance to speak to Spiros Nikolakopoulos, vice president and general manager for Asia Pacific and International Distribution for Motorola's Mobile Devices business, to find out more about the company's plans. Below are some excerpts in our short aside.
On the number of Motorola devices we expect to see in 2010.
There will be between 20 and 30 smartphones globally and, at this moment, all of them will run Android. Naturally, not all will be available everywhere as it depends on the company's partnership with the various telco operators in each country. For non-smartphone models, they will run either Brew or the Motorola's own operating system.
On MotoBlur being a closed platform and plans to open it up.
Nikolakopoulos said it's on the cards but didn't commit to a time frame. He added that MotoBlur is not just on the device but runs off data servers where the information is gathered and pushed to the handset. One of the benefits of being a closed ecosystem is that it allows the company to manage the service and quality of the software.

The Android 2.0 MotoRoi will be sold by SK Telecom in Korea. Motorola said the smartphone will be available in Q1 in selected markets.

On the location of these data centers.
There are two in the US and another two in Europe. The company is in the process of building one in Asia, which will probably be ready in the latter half of the year.
On Android engineering teams.
A third of the engineering team is based in the US, while another third in China and the final third in Korea. The team works solely on everything Android, including the integration of the software with the device. Nikolakopoulos didn't say how big the team is, though.
On launching MotoRoi in Asia Pacific.
The MotoRoi will be launched in China, but it'll be known as a different name because "MotoRoi" is specifically for the Korean market. The device will be delayed for a few weeks due to the recent Google fiasco in China, but the company remains committed to the platform. Nikolakopoulos later explained that Motorola has three lines of Android devices: Those that run MotoBlur; those that have some customization but which remain largely stock Android; and those without any sort of modification to the software.
On the company's market share.
Nikolakopoulos said the company under co-CEO Sanjay Jha no longer looks at market share and doesn't have a real target, either. Same goes for Singapore, although he didn't say whether it follows for Asia as a whole. When pressed further, he said the company needs to have between 5 and 10 percent of the global market share in order to stay relevant.