PACKAGE CONTENTS:
- Samsung T959 Galaxy S ( Vibrant ) 3G Wi-Fi 1Ghz Processor Andorid New Unlocked
- Charger
- Standard Battery
- Stereo Headset
- Data Cable
- English manual (Hard Copy or CD)
COMPATIBILITY:
- T-Mobile
- Asian & European Carriers
- Unionn Wireless
- NEP wireless
- Longline wireless
- iWireless
- Indigo wireless
- Farmers wireless
- Unicell
- Edge wireless
- Cincinnati bell wireless
- Quantum Wireless
- SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc
- Wireless Alliance
PRODUCT INFORMATION:
Samsung's latest phone, the Vibrant, has the body of an iPhone and the brains of an Android.
The Vibrant's industrial design is shockingly similar to the iPhone 3G: The rounded curves at the corners, the candybar shape, the glossy, black finish and the chrome-colored metallic border around the display. The Vibrant even has its volume and ringer buttons in almost the same spot as the iPhone 3G.
But if you are willing to get past the derivative design, the Vibrant has some sweet tech specs. The Vibrant is part of Samsung's new portfolio of Android devices collectively called ‘Galaxy S.'
The Vibrant has a 4-inch AMOLED screen that's bright and vivid and the 1-GHz Hummingbird processor makes the device pretty zippy. There's GPS, Wi-Fi and a 5-megapixel camera. Overall, the phone (weighing 4.16 ounces) feels remarkably light. By comparison, the iPhone 3G weighs around 4.7 ounces.
There's one disturbing thing about the phone. The device comes packed with apps you probably don't need: MobiTV, GoGo Inflight internet and Electronic Arts' The Sims 3 game. Sure, you can always delete these apps if you don't use them, but why bundle them into the phone instead of giving users the option to download the apps if they want them? We'd hate to see bloatware start to overwhelm brand-new phones with junk the way it does with most new PCs.
The Vibrant runs version 2.1 of the Android operating system. That means access to all the standard Google apps such as maps, YouTube and e-mail. Setup, as with most Android phones, is easy — just enter your Google e-mail address and the device unlocks access to your Google account and to the Android Market.
Specifications for the Samsung Vibrant include the following:
- Android 2.1 with Samsung Touchwiz 3.0 experience
- Cortex A8 Hummingbird, 1GHz processor
- Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G (1700/2100 MHz)
- 4 inch WVGA (480×800) capacitive Super AMOLED touch display
- Integrated 16GB flash memory and microSD card (2GB included)
- 5 megapixel camera without flash
- Dedicated, touch-sensitive Home, Menu, Back and Search areas
- Proximity sensor, light sensor and digital compass
- Integrated GPS
- Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n)
- Bluetooth 3.0
- 1500 mAh battery
- 3.5 mm headset jack
- Dimensions: 4.82 x 2.54 x 0.39 inches and 4.16 ounces
Some of the more impressive specs from above are the Super AMOLED display, integrated 16GB of memory with support for a 32GB microSD card, Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11 b/g/n, and Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor. I cannot find definitively if there is a FM radio in the device or not, but there is currently no application to use it if the hardware is in there. The size is also quite impressive and even though the display is 4 inches, it feels quite pocketable.
You will also find a few software goodies on the device that I will talk about below. The 2GB microSD card seems quite minimal, but it is preloaded with the full Avatar movie that is protected by DRM so if you do not plan on watching the movie you can simply take it out and put in a card of your choosing.
Samsung Vibrant Navigation Experience
After spending about two weeks using the Samsung Captivate, our assessments can apply directly to the Samsung Vibrant because both phones utilize TouchWIZ 3.0 on top of Android 2.1. Don't worry—the Samsung Vibrant will be upgradeable to Android 2.2 Froyo when it is available. But our current Android experience is going quite well. First off, we love the ability to assign a custom sound to nearly every notification. For instance, any time we get a Gmail, we here Super Mario sliding down a pipe. A text message is the Zelda Magic sound and our Ringtone is a cut from the Road Rash II (Classic motorcycle Sega game) theme song. These were created by us, loaded onto the MicroSD card, and applied within seconds on the Vibrant. Let's see Apple offer that level of customization.
Then we had the ability to scroll though our contacts and swipe right to call one and left to text message them — simple, intuitive interface implementations that sped up our navigational process. Samsung offers Social Hub, which takes all Facebook, Twitter, Google, and MySpace accounts and merges them into one. This is great for instant feeds and push notifications regarding what everyone is up to, but it can become overbearing, especially with thousands of contacts. We actually had a minor breakdown and went on a massive de-friending spree after using Social Hub. However, Samsung offers its own widget called Buddies Now, which allowed us to group all of the contacts we actually cared about into one Rolodex style address book for exclusive updates and easy-to-access contact info. The bottom line is that no matter what your social preferences are, the Samsung Vibrant will offer a high level of customization.
With the 1GHz Hummingbird processor, the Samsung Vibrant is a quick little phone. It's certainly not as smooth as the iPhone, and we could detect lagging and catching while moving pages and objects throughout the screen. We get seven home screens with the ability to easily customize our icons and shortcuts by pressing and holding the thumbnail and dropping it anywhere we wanted on a home screen. We get Google's Voice Search, YouTube in High Quality, a fast Internet browser, Wi-Fi Wireless N, POP3, IMAP, and Exchange email support, and a host of other user-friendly applications and programs that made our navigational experience feel complete. For keyboards, we could choose between Samsung's, Android's, and Swype, but Android's was the most intuitive.
Samsung Vibrant Multimedia
Even the Samsung Vibrant's packaging is a raging Avatar endorsement, and this is nothing new regarding T-Mobile. The company loves its partnerships for obvious reasons—everybody gets a piece. T-Mobile and 20th Century Fox work out a nice little deal and the consumer gets Avatar preloaded on the Vibrant for free. We saw it with the HTC HD2 and Transformers, and we'll see it again on the next hot multimedia phone. T-Mobile will snag the next graphics-heavy blockbuster, no matter how lame a story plot, in order to show off the new high-tech screens on its phones. Needless to say, Avatar looked amazing on the Samsung Vibrant, and that's because of the Super AMOLED screen.
But we're not done with the preloaded content. T-Mobile also offers the Sims 3 game, showcasing a full (well, mostly full) 3D rendering option of the game, which happens to be chock full of T-Mobile ads placed subliminally on t-shirts and building facades. Honestly, the game graphics and controls were lackluster and scenes took far too long to load. We much preferred downloading our own content from the Android Market, and Samsung's Media Hub will be available shortly, offering content from the biggest names in entertainment to be downloaded directly to the Vibrant. MobiTV, Amazon Kindle, AllShare, Amazon MP3, GoGo, Google Maps, and Slacker Radio were waiting for us when we powered on the phone, so the Samsung Vibrant will give you a great start right out of the box.
Samsung Vibrant Voice Quality
Just like the Samsung Captivate, the Samsung Vibrant gave us nothing to complain about on the talking or receiving end of the phone. Its noise cancellation and call quality rivaled the iPhone 4, and we actually called an iPhone 4 from a busy road with cars and trucks grumbling by to see how much noise pollution would actually make its way into the microphone. Surprisingly, we were able to have a clean conversation, unhindered by the roaring bustle of a tourist-heavy street, so that's one thing Samsung dialed in correctly with their Galaxy S phones—call quality.
Samsung Vibrant Still Image Quality
Surprisingly, the Samsung Vibrant fell behind in the imaging department, which is odd because we felt that the Samsung Captivate was a better performer, although neither phone beat out the iPhone 4. The Vibrant struggled to provide a sharp image and exhibited a hazy exposure at times. We think it boils down to the outer lens configuration—the Captivate has a different setup that appears to be utilizing actual glass while the Vibrant might have gone on the cheap with plastic or a different type of glass. In addition, the Samsung Vibrant lacked a flash of any sort. Whatever the case, the Samsung Vibrant gave us nothing to celebrate when it came to digital images, despite the fact that it has a 5-megapixel sensor and great camera controls.
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