Specifications of samsung galaxy phones. Samsung i9000 Galaxy S review: Android of the highest class. Galaxy S4 - unattainable "spaceship"

Galaxy S5, which has absorbed all the latest technical advances. It seems that this year it can become the most popular smartphone, for this he has everything. There have been many rumors about what it will be, but compared to the S4, the company's new flagship has taken big steps forward. And so let's start the review of the Samsung Galaxy S5.

In terms of appearance, the smartphone looks more rectangular, it has become closer to the Note 3 than the Galaxy S4. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is nearly 6mm longer and 3mm wider than the S4 and weighs 15g. more. The body of the smartphone is completely protected from moisture and dust and is certified according to the IP67 standard, which means that the phone can be completely submerged in water and absolutely dustproof. The phone is equipped with a fingerprint scanner located on the button below the screen and note the sensor can also be used to securely enter any application on the smartphone, and not just to enter the main menu of the phone. On the back is a sensor that detects your heartbeat.

The body material has not changed, it also remained plastic, but its texture is good, so it is pleasant to hold it in your hand. The smartphone is also equipped with an IR infrared port, with which you can control all the appliances in the house, that is, you will have one control panel. The phone has a compass, gyroscope, accelerometer and barometer.

Smartphone size: 142 x 72.5 x 8.1mm, 145g

There is a sensor on the back of the phone that detects your heartbeat when you place your finger on it.

Processor and software

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is an ultra-performing device powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor clocked at 2.5GHz and Adreno 330 graphics chipset.

Android flagship operates on the basis of the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system with a new version of Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz interface. The interface has been changed and improved, it has become more understandable. Completely changed the settings menu and updated some of the applications.

Very nice icons, light and a bit airy. The menu has become nicer.

Children's mode (Kids Corner) looks very high quality and has a large number of customization options

Memory

The smartphone has 2 GB of RAM. Internal memory 16 or 32 GB, expandable with up to 64 GB.

Screen

What can I say, the image on the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S5 has excellent qualities: wide viewing angles, colors are bright and saturated, fading in the sun is very low. (ppi) pixels per inch and 16 million colors. The display is covered with Gorilla Glass 3.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 features a 16MP (1/2.6") camera with a new autofocus system, capable of capturing (3840 x 2160) 4K UHD video at 30fps and 1080p video at 60fps With. The additional front camera has a resolution of 2.1 megapixels and is designed for video communication.

The image quality is excellent for a top-end smartphone.

Pictures from the S5 camera.

We can now say that the quality of the pictures is higher than on the Samsung Galaxy S4. The camera in this phone will not disappoint anyone.

Communication opportunities

The smartphone supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 BLE / ANT+, USB 3.0, IR, GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, 3.5 mm audio jack, .

Networks: EDGE/GPRS/GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), WCDMA (850/900/1900/2100 MHz), LTE

Battery

The new smartphone is equipped with a capacity of 2800 mAh, which is slightly larger than the Galaxy S4.

The capacity of this battery is enough for a day of use at an average load. The smartphone also has a special Ultra Power Saving mode, when it is turned on, a black and white image is displayed on the screen, while you can only make calls and send messages, while the Internet is turned off. The manufacturer says that with 10% of the remaining energy, the smartphone can work for another whole day.

Price

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is expected to start at Rs 29,990 for the 16GB version.

Smartphone Samsung Galaxy S5 video review:

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The release of the Galaxy S series began in 2010. Samsung wanted to compete with the most equipped smartphones of well-known companies, including Apple.

Samsung Galaxy S

In South Korea, the smartphone set a new record for sales of Android phones. In a month and a half, a million copies of Samsung Galaxy S were sold in the USA. As for the main characteristics, the SuperAMOLED smartphone has a 4” screen with a resolution of 480x840 pixels, an ARM Cortex A8 processor with a frequency of 1 GHz. The RAM is 512 MB, and the amount of built-in memory depends on the modification (from 2 to 16 GB). The smartphone has a PowerVR SGX540 graphics chip, support for microSD cards up to 32 GB, two cameras.

The phone is in the forefront of mobile devices supporting Bluetooth 3.0 and DivX/XviD. The Galaxy S was the first smartphone to have TouchWiz 3.0 installed. At one time it became the thinnest Android smartphone. The company also released a cheaper version of the Galaxy S scLCD, which has an LCD display, an OMAP 3630 processor, and a PowerVR SGX530 video processor.

Then Samsung released an updated version of the Galaxy S Plus (Galaxy S 2011 Edition with the index I9001). The new model received a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8255T processor with a frequency of 1.4 GHz and an Adreno 205 graphics accelerator. The battery capacity was increased to 1650 mAh, everything else is identical to the first released model.

Samsung Galaxy S2

In February 2011, the new Samsung Galaxy S2 was announced. The smartphone has a processor of its own production Exynos 4210. It contains 2 ARM Cortex-A9 cores with a frequency of 1.2 GHz. At the time of the appearance on sale, the smartphone was ahead of its competitors according to the results of performance tests. The new ARM Mali-400 MP4 GPU replaced its weaker predecessor. The amount of built-in memory depends on the modification and is 16 or 32 GB. The smartphone also supports removable media up to 32 GB. RAM about 1 GB.

The SuperAMOLED+ screen has reduced the amount of power consumption by 18% compared to conventional SuperAMOLED. It also uses new technologies to reduce graininess, and the ability to control color saturation. However, the problems with color reproduction were not completely resolved, a yellow stripe was observed in the corner on a gray background. The resolution of the 4.27-inch screen is 800x480 pixels.

The main camera has 8 MP, autofocus, LED flash, 1080p video recording. The front camera has a resolution of 2 MP and a fixed focal length. The smartphone has built-in data encryption. Initially, Android 2.3 was installed, and since 2016 an upgrade to Marshmallow is available.

By analogy with previous models, they released an improved version of the Galaxy S2 plus. The performance is not inferior to the standard S2, although the processor and graphics accelerator have been replaced. In this modification, they abandoned the protective glass Gorilla Glass and TV-out. OS - Jelly Bean with version 5 of the Touch Wiz shell.

Samsung Galaxy S3

May 2012 marked the release of the next smartphone in the Galaxy S line. Samsung Galaxy S3, iPhone 5 and Lumia 920 became the top three smartphones of the year. In addition to improved technical performance, the phone has a new Smart Stay technology.

Its essence is to save the display brightness settings and not block the smartphone when the front camera captures the user's gaze directed at the display. Smartphone voice control technologies have been added, a vibration signal if the user picks up a phone with missed calls, people recognition in photos and matching among friends on social networks, and several other functions.

All modifications are based on a 4-core Exynos 4 processor with a frequency of 1.4 GHz, with the exception of a device released specifically for the United States, based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 with 2 cores. In addition to the standard set of functions, the 8-megapixel rear camera takes a series of 20 shots in auto mode, and can also choose the best shot among 8. Full HD video shooting is available. The front camera has a resolution of 1.9 MP and shooting video in a smaller format (HD).

The display size was increased to 4.8 ″ and returned to SuperAMOLED and Gorilla Glass, but a more modern second version. The screen resolution was 720p, the pixel density was 306 pixels per inch. Modifications differ in the amount of internal memory 16, 32 or 64 GB, the RAM is the same for all and equal to 1 GB.

By early 2013, Samsung had sold 40 million copies. A version of the Galaxy S III mini was released with a 4-inch screen, a dual-core 1 GHz processor and cameras with a resolution of 5 and 0.3 MP.

Samsung Galaxy S4

Less than a year has passed since the introduction of the Galaxy S3 to the public, as a fresh flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S4, appeared on the shelves of electronics stores. Unlike the phone of the previous year, according to the latest trends, the novelty has a 5-inch screen with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels and a pixel density of 441 dpi, a 13-megapixel camera, 2 GB of RAM and additional functions.

The user's gaze tracking technology has advanced further, and it is possible to stop the video if the user stops looking at the screen and show the next page of text if the user is looking at the last word on the current page.

The performance of the Galaxy S4 has improved compared to previous models in the line, as it now has an 8-core processor. Depending on the required performance, the necessary 4 cores are included. For some countries, they released a model with a 4-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor. The smartphone was equipped with several new sensors for measuring weather conditions (atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity) and gesture control. The device is able to work as a remote control.

The company abandoned FM radio in its devices, explaining that users began to listen to music on social networks and YouTube. In the arsenal of camera functions, panoramic shooting and the ability to overlay pictures one on top of the other, taken by different smartphone cameras, appeared. Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE was also released (more about it - http://spb.aport.ru/samsung_gt-i9505_galaxy_s4_lte/mod430516) and a "miniature" version of the Galaxy S4 mini with simplified specifications.

Samsung Galaxy S5

By tradition, at the beginning of 2014, a new Galaxy S5 model was released. Changes have been made to design, performance and camera. The highlight was the addition of a fingerprint scanner and a heart rate sensor. An additional bonus was the compliance of the smartphone with the IP67 certificate (dust and moisture protection).

As before, phones with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor (4 cores, 2.5 GHz) or Exynos 5422 (4 cores at 2.1 GHz plus 4 cores at 1.5 GHz) are presented for different markets. The RAM remains the same, only two memory options remain - 16 or 32 GB, supported removable storage media can have a capacity of up to 128 GB.

The screen has increased slightly to 5.1 inches, the resolution has not changed, the pixel density has decreased by 9 pixels. The 16-megapixel main camera can shoot video in the new Ultra HD format, while the 2.1-megapixel front camera shoots in Full HD. Initially, Android 4.4.2 was installed on the Galaxy S5, later updates to version 5 Lollipop became available.

Samsung Galaxy S6

The Galaxy S6 was announced in March 2015. Most of the characteristics have undergone significant changes. The design has changed and the body has become completely made of metal. For the first time in the past few years, the company decided to release its flagship only on its Exynos 7420 processor. As before, it consists of two sets of cores with the same frequencies as the previous model, but the type of cores is different - Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 are used .

The RAM has been increased to 3 GB. Abandoned slot for memory cards, but increased the capacity of internal memory to 32, 64 or 128 GB, depending on the modification. The screen size and technology of its manufacture remained the same. Increased resolution and pixel density (Quad HD, 557 dpi). Android 5.0.2 was originally installed.

In the summer of the same year, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge + was introduced. Unlike a simple Galaxy S6, it has 4 GB of RAM, 5.7-inch display. Its design features are rounded edges and a glass back. Unfortunately, the company refused to protect its smartphones from dust and moisture.

Samsung Galaxy S7

The Galaxy S7 appeared on the Russian market in February 2016. Outwardly, it does not differ much from the Galaxy S6, but the internal contents have improved significantly and allow the smartphone to claim the title of the best device released at the beginning of the year.

The novelty is equipped with the Exynos 8890 chipset, in which the Exynos M1 cores are also of the company's own production. According to the test results, the processor shows high performance among other smartphone processors currently available on the market. Improved work with single-threaded calculations, since not all modern applications can use multiple cores at once. Some markets will have the Galaxy S7 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset, which has 4 Kryo cores clocked at 2.15GHz and 1.6GHz. RAM 4 GB, and internal memory 32 or 64 GB.

The Galaxy S line has returned a slot for removable storage media with a capacity of up to 200 GB. At the main camera, the number of megapixels was reduced to 12, but the quality of shooting was much improved, especially in low light. Screen size and resolution remain the same. The smartphone comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and an updated TouchWiz shell.

Conclusion

In each new model of the series, the hardware and functional stuffing changed. The basic principles of display manufacturing and the desire to surpass the main competitor, Apple, remained unchanged. To do this, Samsung is constantly improving the performance of its smartphones, improving the quality of shooting, trying to fully satisfy the desires of consumers.

Before moving on to the discussion of the smartphone, I want to apologize to our readers for such a serious delay in this material, there were objective and not very reasons for that. And now let's start.

The site already has two materials about the Samsung Galaxy S, these are my thoughts about the device immediately after its announcement, as well as a detailed first look from Eldar Murtazin. From these articles, you could get a fairly complete impression of the device, so in the review I will not go into details, but rather just describe what the Galaxy S is like in reality after several weeks of active use of the device.

Positioning

Since the announcement and after the start of sales, as well as now, when the device is (temporarily?) out of production, its positioning has not changed in any way. This is still the top Android from Samsung, still the flagship and simply one of the most technologically advanced smartphones on this OS. The Super Amoled screen, a 1 GHz processor, the presence of an integrated graphics coprocessor, and so on can be noted as things that determine the positioning. The company uses almost all of its latest developments, including software ones, in this device.

Design, body materials

My subjective impression of most Samsung devices is the same - they do not cause any emotions in me. In part, perhaps, I myself am to blame for this, on the other hand, and the company does not make much effort in terms of updating the design of its products, Samsung devices are often unemotional, for my taste, and of the same type. I don't know if that's good or not for a top smartphone, but the Galaxy S is the pinnacle of boring design in my opinion.

The device is made of glossy plastic, along the perimeter of the front side - a frame made of plastic, reminiscent of a chrome surface. On the battery cover - plastic with a pattern. Together, these materials form a “soap box”, a smartphone that feels like an inexpensive phone in the hand, another drawback in this regard is the low weight of the device. It would weigh a little more, and the feeling of weight would smooth out the inexpensive materials a bit, but it doesn't.

The surface of the back side is easily soiled, but marks and prints are almost invisible. Another thing is the rapid wear of the surface, there are a lot of tiny scratches and abrasions on it, and after just a couple of weeks of use the device already loses its neat appearance. The solution to the problem can be the use of a case or just very careful operation of the smartphone. The screen surface is easily soiled, but this is a problem for all devices with large touch screens.

The smartphone is dark blue, if my vision does not change, colors. The battery cover "plays" with colors, in the sun it looks dark blue, in low light - black.

The build quality is good, there are no complaints here. For two weeks of operation, nothing in the device was loosened, there were no backlashes of the halves.

Dimensions

In terms of dimensions, the Galaxy S is comparable to the Apple iPhone 4 and HTC Desire, although I would even compare it with the HTC HD2, it is a bit narrower, but just as tall:

• Samsung Galaxy S- 122,4 x 64.2 x 9.9mm, 119g
• HTCHD2- 120.5 x 67 x 11mm, 157g
• Sony Ericsson X10- 119 x 63 x 13mm, 135g
• HTC Desire- 119 x 60 x 12mm, 135g
• Apple iPhone 3GS- 115.5 x 58.6 x 9.3mm, 137g

Despite the fact that on paper the dimensions of the device are large, in reality, when you take it in your hand, it does not seem so big. So if we compare it with how it feels, for example, HTC HD2 and Galaxy S, then the first one in the hands seems like a shovel, and the second one is just a smartphone, it is convenient to hold it, it is comfortable to talk on it for a long time. By the way, light weight also plays a role here. It is convenient to wear "eska" in the pockets of trousers, jeans, due to the small thickness of the case, it will fit even into narrow pockets.

Controls

In terms of control, the Samsung Galaxy S is very simple - there are three keys below the screen: a context menu call, a confirmation button and a back key, a double volume button on the left edge and a lock key (screen off) on the right. The central key under the screen is hardware, those to the left and right of it are touch-sensitive.

In general, many users, including me, when they first get acquainted with a smartphone, have the feeling that the key under the screen is also a touch panel. This feeling arises because Samsung devices often use this type of touchpad, and this key really resembles a touchpad. However, in the case of the Galaxy S, it's a simple button.

Personally, after talking with devices from HTC and Acer, the Samsung Galaxy S really lacked a search button. Of course, in a smartphone, wherever it is required, there is a soft “Search” key, but most “robots” are still equipped with a hardware search button, albeit a touch one.

The volume key in the smartphone is comfortable, there are no complaints about it. As for the screen unlock button, some users who are used to the location of this key on the top end will find it uncomfortable. For others, on the contrary, the layout of the assembly key will be familiar, so this is a matter of getting used to, and nothing more.

On the front side, in the upper part, there is a speaker, covered with a mesh. To the left of the speaker are a light sensor and a proximity sensor. On the right is the VGA camera eye. There is no indicator light in the smartphone, none at all. This trend of manufacturers to abandon the indicators, in my opinion, is as stupid and unjustified as the rejection of the camera's hardware keys. HTC abandoned the camera buttons at one time, and now it is gradually returning it. I hope the same will happen with Samsung, and the hardware keys of the cameras, as well as the indicator lights in future devices, will gradually start to appear again. In the meantime, in the Samsung Galaxy S, in order to find out if someone called you, if there are any new messages, and if the smartphone just works at all, or if it has sat down, you need to turn on the screen.

For some users, it will be good news that the smartphone has an eyelet for a strap or lace. This mount is located on the left edge of the smartphone just above the volume keys. At the top end there is a microUSB connector for connecting to a PC and charging, it is closed with a sliding plug. There is also a 3.5 mm headphone and headset jack.

And everything would be fine, but the Samsung Galaxy S has one completely incomprehensible and inexplicable feature for me associated with this connector. In any modern smartphone, you can connect headphones or a headset. In both cases, you can talk on the phone while the accessory is connected. If you connect a headset, you hear the interlocutor into it and also speak into it (into the microphone on the headset), and if you connect headphones, you also hear the interlocutor into the headphones, and speak into the microphone of the device itself, simply bringing it to you. Both ways are logical. If you have your favorite headphones and want to listen to music on your smartphone through them, then why not talk through the headphones too? In Samsung Galaxy S, when you connect headphones, not a headset, during a conversation you will not hear the interlocutor in the headphones, the sound will go to the speaker of the smartphone itself. Why is this restriction introduced?

The mount for the SIM card and microSD memory card is located above the battery, so that the SIM card cannot be removed without first removing the battery. The memory card can be changed without turning off the smartphone and removing the battery, just remove the battery cover.

Screen

The device uses a touchscreen Super AMOLED display from Samsung. Screen diagonal 4”, resolution 800x480 pixels (WVGA), the display displays up to 16 million colors. The screen has maximum viewing angles, it remains well readable in the sun even on a bright sunny day, and the display has just a huge contrast ratio and a margin of brightness.

Capacitive type display, multi-touch is supported, both in the main menu for displaying a matrix of screens, and in various applications: in Google maps, in a browser, when viewing pictures. The screen is covered with glass, the material can be scratched if desired, but there will be no scratches in case of accidental contact with keys and other similar objects, even if you try to scratch the surface, for example, with a simple knife.

Now let me be a little subjective. Personally, I'm convinced that screens like Super AMOLED won't catch on. Not only because while the company itself is experiencing difficulties with their mass production, and because the power consumption of such displays is very high. The thing is that if an ordinary TFT screen with a good resolution and a high-quality picture is simply pleasing to the eye, and this statement is true for most users, then everything is different with Super AMOLED. There are people who like the excessive contrast of this screen and its high brightness even at its minimum level, and there are those who simply cannot get used to such characteristics of the screen. Therefore, I cannot say that the display in the Galaxy S is simply one of the best. Yes, it is one of the best in terms of its contrast, the maximum brightness level of image clarity, but, in my opinion, the first two parameters in it are excessive, and this makes the screen controversial.

Camera

The smartphone is equipped with a 5 MP camera with autofocus. The camera eye is located on the top left of the back of the case, flush with the surface of the battery cover. If you often put the device cover down, scratches will remain on the surface of the camera eye, so it's best to be careful in this regard.

In viewfinder mode, the screen displays basic information, selected settings, shooting mode, current resolution, and remaining shots in two columns (left and right). To call additional settings, you need to click the icon at the bottom left.

The following resolutions are available for photos:

• 2560x1920
• 2560x1536
• 2040x1536
• 2048x1232
• 1600x1200
• 1600x960
• and below

In the settings, you can also choose the quality of the shots, the shooting mode, and other options.

I will not describe in detail how well or how badly the camera in the Samsung Galaxy S shoots. Each reader can draw conclusions for himself from the examples of pictures. However, I want to say this: objectively, if we compare the pictures taken with the Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Desire, HTC Legend, Acer Liquid E and several other fresh Android devices, Eska is in the lead. The pictures taken by this device are the best, of course, not perfect, but with a banal comparison you will see the difference. So we can say that among the "robots" the Samsung Galaxy S has one of the best photo components. By the way, the same can be said about video recording.

Camera shot examples:

Video

Video is recorded in 3GP format (H264 codec) at 30 frames per second.

The following resolutions are available for video:

• 1280x720
• 720x480
• 640x480
• 320x240
• 176x144

The settings in video mode are the same as those in photo mode. While recording a video, you can use the zoom function. You can evaluate the quality of the video by the examples below.

Offline work

The device uses a Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 1500 mAh. The manufacturer claims up to 13.5 hours of talk time (GSM) and up to 750 hours (30 days) of standby time. These data are strongly, more than twice, exaggerated.

Under standard conditions (30-40 minutes of calls per day, sending 10-15 text messages, configured Gmail accounts and MS Exchange Server with push mail), my Samsung Galaxy S sample lasted an average of a day and a half. If you add to these functions the Internet (1-2 hours a day) and listening to music for 3-4 hours a day, then the operating time is reduced to a day. In any case, against the background of devices from HTC (Desire) these are good indicators. The smartphone confidently lasts a working day and even more; garden of new HTC devices).

Performance

The smartphone is built on the Samsung S5PC100 (ARM8 Cortex) platform, with a 1 GHz processor and a PowerVR SGX540 graphics coprocessor. Until recently, the company did not use this platform, but now a tablet from the company, the Galaxy Tab, also works on it in parallel with the Galaxy S. By the way, the Meizu M9 smartphone that I personally expected (I advise you about this device) is also built on the basis of this platform.

The device has 512 MB of RAM and 8/16 GB of memory for data storage. As for video playback. Even when the device was just announced and announced support for the following formats: Mpeg4, H.264, H.263, H263Sorenson, DivX / XviD, VC-1, formats: 3gp (mp4), WMV (asf), AVI (divx), MKV ( container), FLV, it was clear that the company expects to present the strongest smartphone among “robots” in terms of such a parameter as “video viewing convenience”. In practice, nothing has changed, the smartphone really “chews” videos, TV shows and films in all common formats without any problems and spins videos up to 720p resolutions without any problems.

The overall speed of the smartphone for me personally for two weeks of operation did not cause any complaints, I can’t say that everything “flies” and whistles on it, but it was very comfortable to work on the device, just like on HTC Desire, for example. At the same time, I can enroll myself, apparently, in the club of those lucky ones who are just lucky. After all, now that the smartphone has been on sale for a long time, it is safe to say that the Samsung Galaxy S has obvious performance problems.

I will not describe the problem and its solution called lagfix in detail, those who have encountered these difficulties already know everything. You can read about it in detail. In my case, there were no special delays, there were no slowdowns in work.

Interfaces

The smartphone works in GSM (850/900/1800/1900) and UMTS (900/1900/2100) networks. Both EDGE and HSDPA high speed data transfer standards are supported. Enabling and disabling various communication modules can be done in the settings menu or using the system panel, which is pulled out from above. This aspect of the device is thought out very well, all interfaces are presented in this panel, and they can be enabled or disabled with one touch.

For synchronization with a PC and data transfer, the included microUSB cable is used. USB 2.0 interface. When connected to a computer, you can choose from several types of connection, including data transfer (visible memory card microSD and internal memory of the smartphone) or synchronization with a PC.

Embedded module Bluetooth 3.0. The following profiles are supported:

• Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) - control music playback from a wireless headset.
• Generic Audio/Video Distribution Profile (GAVDP)
• Audio/Video Distribution Transport Protocol (AVDTP)
• Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) - Bluetooth stereo audio transmission
• Hands-Free Profile 1.5
• Human Interface Device (HID)
• File Transfer Profile (FTP)
• Object Push Profile (OPP)

The sound quality when listening to music through wireless headphones is not bad.

WiFi (802.11b/g/n). The work of the Wi-Fi module did not cause any complaints. On your smartphone, you can configure Wi-Fi sleep rules, use only a static IP address when connecting, and add security certificates. When using Wi-Fi, the smartphone practically does not heat up, at least the heating is minimal and barely noticeable in comparison with the same HTC HD2, where the case heats up noticeably when the Wi-Fi module is active. In addition to supporting all modern versions of Wi-Fi, the device supports the DLNA protocol.

Navigation

The Samsung Galaxy S has a built-in GPS chip. A cold start takes about a minute and a half, then it takes 10-20 seconds to search for satellites (testing was carried out using the Maverick program, available in the Market). According to my feelings, the quality of satellite signal reception in Galaxy S is no worse and no better than that of its closest competitors or other “robots”, all these devices are approximately on the same level in terms of their navigation component.

There are two programs for navigation in the device. First - Google Maps. With this application, you can get directions (not accompanied by voice prompts), search for addresses by street names or places (restaurant, cafe, name of your own institution, etc.). The advantage of applications over more functional navigation software is that maps are downloaded from the Internet, and, accordingly, in theory, all major cities of the world are available to you for navigation, wherever you are. The main thing is to have access to the Internet. This is also the main disadvantage of Google Maps, without an Internet connection, the application becomes inoperable. Maps of major cities are available for Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Perm and others.

Second application - Navifon, this program is good on simple phones, where the resources of the devices do not allow the use of full-fledged navigation software, but on the Samsung Galaxy S its presence looks strange. Although, of course, something is better than nothing.

Entering text

The Samsung Galaxy S uses the popular Swype keyboard for typing. What it is? Swype is to the world of Android on-screen keyboards what the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 is to the world of ten-finger touch keyboards. That is, for entering text in Swype, of course, everything is there, however, in my opinion, this is far from the most convenient keyboard for Android. Especially when it comes to the layout with the Russian language, in which the letters are very narrow, and hitting them is problematic at first, it takes getting used to.

Another disadvantage of the keyboard is the difficulty in switching languages. The latest version of Swype has a key to switch the language, and in the version that is installed on most Galaxy S, it looks like this. To switch the language, you need to press the keyboard, on the settings button, then select the Language item and then select the required language from the list, confirm the choice - and voila, you switched the language. Simple, isn't it? In fact, the keyboard, of course, provides for quick language switching. To do this, you need to make a stroke from the “information” key (i) up with your finger, but how can you find out about this just using your phone? I don't know, the first pages of the Swype help don't say that, you have to guess for yourself, maybe.

Of the advantages of the keyboard, one can note the following. First, if you get used to Swype, you can type really fast. Secondly, the keyboard itself has a huge number of settings, and it can be very finely tuned for yourself. You can also set up capitalization, and automatic spaces, accompanying clicks with sound or vibration, as well as other parameters.

Software

The smartphone runs on Android 2.1 operating system, the proprietary shell of the company TouchWiz is used as an interface. In this review, I will not describe in detail all the features of the interface in the Galaxy S, but will focus on the main positive and negative points. Let's start with what's good.

The smartphone has a lot of additional software. In my opinion, this is a plus. I meet people who grumble about this: “a lot of programs have been installed, and then I have to figure out what is needed and what is not.” However, it is worth looking at from a different angle: the Galaxy S comes preloaded with a handy book reader, a beautiful note-taking app, a travel app, an RSS news reader, moreover, it is one of the first Android smartphones with a pre-installed file manager, which I personally I sincerely wish the products from HTC. Yes, most applications are indestructible, but with the amount of memory that the Samsung Galaxy S has, I don't think this is a problem.

The smartphone also has a voice recorder, a calculator with the ability to switch to engineering mode, and a few more utilities.

Now for the cons. The first drawback is the incomplete localization of the dialer and interface in the address book. I often meet with the fact that the HTC smartphones that I take for tests do not have a Cyrillic strip for scrolling in the address book. However, in the case of HTC, this feature remains in engineering and test samples, while the latest devices come to the market with the Russian language in this strip. In Galaxy S, including in commercial, there is no Russian language on the strip for scrolling through contacts. Also it is not in the dialer.

Second drawback. For some inexplicable reason, the developer decided to remove most of the standard widgets offered by the Android operating system from the smartphone. It may seem like a small thing to some, but it's not. The fact is that widgets from Samsung, in my opinion, have not been developed for a couple of years now, and therefore are mostly useless, widgets in the Galaxy S are no exception. The main complaint against them is the inability to select the size of the widget, and most of them are either full-screen or half-screen. If in any other Android smartphone I pull out the clock widget on the screen and I can drag about 10 more program icons onto the same screen, then in the Galaxy S, the proprietary clock widget alone will take up most of the screen. And so with all other mini-programs.

Conclusion

During the use of Samsung Galaxy S, I had no complaints either about the quality of signal reception, or about the volume of the conversational and ringing speakers. Both of them are loud, so you can miss a call or not hear the interlocutor except in a very noisy environment, in other situations there are no problems. The vibrating alert is average in strength, I personally sometimes missed it.

About the price. The official price tag for the Samsung Galaxy S is an average of 28,000 rubles at the beginning of October. Gray devices can be easily found for 18,000-19,000 rubles, the difference between “white” and “gray” smartphones is simply colossal. The gray Galaxy S costs the same as the gray HTC Desire, while Samsung's smartphone has a larger screen size, a better camera, and built-in storage. On the side of HTC Desire, there is a more convenient shell (yes, I keep saying this), the presence of an optical trackball for navigating through the menu and a slightly more compact size, as well as a greater readiness of the device out of the box to work as a smartphone just for calls and messages, mail .

For me, each new flagship from Samsung that I have used and reviewed has been ambiguous in its own way. So it was with Samsung i900 (WiTu), so it was with Samsung i8000 (WiTu 2). However, then, with all the controversy of the devices for me personally, I knew for sure that in general these smartphones are unequivocal hits, and all their minuses, visible to me, are mostly tastes. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy S, the situation is different - for all its advantages, the device has visible drawbacks: inexpensive case materials and general tactile sensations from working with the device, not the best keyboard for quick getting used to, incomplete localization. However, at the price you can buy the Galaxy S for today, it's still one of the best "robot" deals out there, even if you have to spend a little time getting to know it.

Description:

• Class: smartphone
• Form factor: monoblock
• Competitors: HTC Desire, Sony Ericsson X10
• Housing materials: matte plastic, metal
• Operating system: Android 2.1
• Networks: GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS/HSDPA 900/2100
• Processor: Samsung S5PC100 (ARM8 Cortex), 1 GHz
• RAM: 512 MB
• Storage Memory: 8/16 GB + microSD card slot
• Interfaces: Wi-Fi b / g / n, Bluetooth 3.0 +EDR (A2DP), microUSB connector (USB 2.0) for charging / synchronization, 3.5 mm for a headset
• Screen: capacitive, Super AMOLED 4” with a resolution of 800x480 pixels (WVGA), automatic backlight level control
• Camera: 5 MP with auto focus, video is recorded in 720p
• Navigation: GPS/A-GPS
• Optional: accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor, FM radio
• Battery: Removable Li-Ion 1500 mAh
• Dimensions: 122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9mm mm
• Weight: 119 g.