Samsung Galaxy Android Smart Phone Review

Samsung Galaxy Android

I’ve spent several weeks toting this Samsung Galaxy Android phone (model GT-I7500L)  around with me and I’ve been comparing it to my old trusty iPhone 3G.

I’m not going to list a bunch of techy specs and all that jazz.  You can find that info at the Samsung site.    Instead, I thought I’d talk about the real life function and ease of use issues that are important to anyone busy enough to bother with one of these devices in the first place.

You should know that I almost never talk on the phone.  Ironic, for someone reviewing a phone I know…but for me, internet access and email and applications for finding my way around the city are far more important to me than actually being able to make a telephone call.  The only reason I need to have telephone abilities are so the dayhome can reach me in case of sickness or emergency.

Things that I loved:

Battery life – The Samsung Galaxy stayed charged and ready in the bottom of my purse for several days (3.5 to be exact)  which I liked.  The battery on my iPhone gives out somewhere between 18-30 hours.  It’s supposed to have 4 hours of talk time which I would never in a million years attempt to test.

Screen - the screen on this phone is super vivid.  The colors were bright, and images, video etc looked very nice.  I mean, it’s the kind of screen you’d expect from a Samsung device.  We have had a Samsung TV for several years now and it’s always looked great – I would imagine the display on the phone would be just as impressive for just as long.

Integration – the beauty of Android phones is that they are made specifically for Google Aps.  This means that Gmail, Maps, Talk and all the other Google bits and pieces work very easily and seamlessly.  Being a user of many Google powered aps, it was easy to set up my email etc.

Things I didn’t love as much:

Analog buttons- I just don’t see the point of eating up room that could be used for increasing the screen size with analog buttons. They don’t really serve any purpose.  I know many hardcore blackberry fans love that device because of the analog keyboard…but this phone doesn’t have an analog keyboard.  So for a phone that is designed around a touch screen, the buttons were just plain awkward.

Speed- I don’t know if it was a function of the phone itself, or the Bell network it was riding on but accessing the net was slow.  More than once I got sick of waiting for a site to load and ditched it for my iPhone which seems much faster for surfing.

Photo and Video- I love that this had a video cam integrated into it.  My oldie but goodie iPhone was pre-video.  So just having it was nice.  But these days just having it isn’t enough…it’s gotta be good.  It wasn’t bad – but I didn’t get blown away by it either.

Sharing video was super simple, but when I downloaded it to my PC, Windows didn’t recognize the sound.  I’ve uploaded a bit of video to youtube (below) so you can see the quality for yourself.  Sure, youtube might distort it a little bit but honestly – what you see is pretty close to what I can see on my PC (but for some reason….the sound uploaded no problem.)

Photo was the same quality to my uneducated, naked eye as I get from my iPhone.  The flash was super bright though…that does make a nice difference to the quality of pics you can snap in darker situations.

Final Verdict – Picking a cell phone is such a personal thing.  Some people love Blackberries while I can’t stand em.  I seem to be an iPhone junkie and although I tried to love this Samsung device I found myself going for my trusty iPhone 9 times out of 10.  If you’re shopping for a phone, check the Samsung Galaxy out.  It’s worth having a look at.  The screen alone is worth looking at!  You might find it’s just the one for you.  It was easy to navigate, set up and start using.  Heck, I didn’t even unpack the instruction booklet from the box .

Enjoy Little H singing – I’m a Little Teapot!

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