Let me also say before I forget to mention it - running Froyo on the SGS, Samsung have implemented an easy method to take a screenshot that Google would do well to steal (press and hold "back" then click "home").
Basically since Samsung as near as damn it supply bits and pieces of the iPhone 4 BOM means that they share very similar components and spec. The SGS does try a little too hard to look and act like an iPhone which is a little bit sad but easy enough to revert with third party apps from the Android Market (eg LauncherPro).
So you get it, the Samsung is similar and more cost-effective than iPhone 4 despite sharing and in some cases exceeding the iPhone spec. Sound familiar?
Anyway, what follows is pulled from a bunch of notes I wrote as I got acquainted with the SGS (bear in mind I was coming from a Nexus One running Froyo and an iPhone 3G before that).
There's no camera flash. Hurrah! I fucking hate cheap LED camera flashes that do more to contribute to a bad photo than a good but low-contrast (and shock horror grainy) photo.
It's very light. I like that. It might not be as macho as your gay icon unibody iPhone, but who's counting ismisms.
It looks iPhoney (old style 3G). I think this will put people off, and lead people to compare to the iPhone and say things like "it's got not flash" and "it's light so it must be a girl's phone look how macho my iPhone 4 is".
The UK version does have a front facing camera. Fuck that, I'm not shaving to answer the phone, go straight to voicemail you cnut.
No trackball. Big fucking deal. I haven't missed it once. Swype has cursor keys. Use them.
No visual alerts. Oh big fucking deal, you mean you could see your visual alerts on your Nexus One when the fucking thing was in your pocket? Douchenozzle.
Battery life - easily gets me through a 12 - 22 hour day depending how heavily I use it. I don't have a set routine, sorry. It's on a par with the Nexus One and iPhone 3G - no better, no worse, that I've noticed. I could always buy a spare battery and swap it out, and no doubt extended battery packs will be forthcoming.
I'm not a fan of Samsung's tweaks to vanilla Android. Of course, being that this is open source Android, Samsung have released source code and now it will just take time and a few hacker geek types to get an Android build as Google intended, which I will likely prefer.
Judging from the performance of Asphalt 4 HD (a racing game), this could set the bar for what an Android gamer's device should be. Not that I care since I don't do a lot of gaming on any platform.
TV-out - got it, though you'll need to buy a cable (Nokia CA-75U will do it) and it's SD only out of the minijack. There's also rumours that the USB port will output to HDMI in a future build, though I'm sure Hollywood would like to squash that one sooner rather than later. Go to the cinema you cheap shit!
I rarely take video using phones, however running about with the SGS and reviewing the results on my 24" iMac screen - this reminds me a lot of the early '90s when I would run around with a Chinon Super8 and project the results on my wall. The SGS does a pretty good job at auto-everything. It won't replace your dedicated videocam, but I can see the day when app-phones will be used as auxillery cameras then embraced by indies and outlaws for sure (I mean like within the next ten years, not the next ten weeks). Audio quality? A not too stunning 16kHz (32kHz would have been tolerable, 44kHz would have been great, 48kHz would have been all you need) - Apple SoundTrackPro reads the bit depth as 32-bit which I'm not convinced is correct (was expecting 8bit or 12bit or 16bit) - however listening back it does seem to sound pretty good on recording voice. So maybe the 16kHz/32bit combo (if it really is 32bit and not just STP getting confused) will do fine for near-proximity voice intelligibliity. Go double system anyway.
XXJF3 firmware seems to have memory management problems, whereby the phone doesn't efficiently close out unused programs from memory which leads to lagging (swapping), and recently a couple of total phone lock-ups needing a hard power-down and reboot. Oh dear oh dear.
So to fix this (and so far so good), I rooted (an easy application of a certain update.zip) and run MinFreeManager. Need to leave things running "as normal" a few more days to see if it has fixed anything. Hopefully they'll be an official firmware from Samsung soon to tidy up these bugs else they're gonna be pissing people right off. Also take a look at MoDaCo and XDA device specific forums. Since I wrote about MinFreeManager there's been better ROM releases that don't need it. Though nothing official from Samsung yet as far as I know.
iSyncr has been updated specifically to support the SGS, hurrah!
Froyo XXJP3 firmware (based on Google FRF91) fixes a lot/all of my performance gripes. Slated for release at the end of September 2010, SGS + Froyo final will be a great combo (though not as awesome as Froyo AOSP on SGS would be …) - do check the XDA forum if you're running pre-release XXJP3 to find out how to change your build.prop parameters so that the unstable JIT is minimised (heap size 24mb is working for me).
So currently if you want the best from the SGS you'll have to get your hands dirty. It really depends what your time is worth. The iPhone 4 is around £200 more than the SGS (comparing unlocked versions) and MobileMe is a further subscription on top (though the free Google services do work well on the iPhone).
So, if iPhone 5 is £200 cheaper than a top Android handset, has at least a 4" screen with 16:9 ratio - I could well switch back.
Hahaha just fucking with ya.
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I'm not convinced the GPS issues with the Samsung Galaxy S will ever be fixed to my satisfaction. Currently I am hedging my bets with a zorkphone which has no such satnav/GPS issues and also has a 5" screen which is great for navigating with.
Still no official Froyo, still not fixed GPS.
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