[extreme_torque]

Got a chance to play with my friend's Samsung Galaxy S for 1.5 days and I am not very impressed. My current phone is an iPhone 3GS on iOS 4.0.1 and the Galaxy S was running the 2.1 build.

Samsung Galaxy S likes:
1) The screen is awesome. The best redention of 'black' on a mobile phone screen.
2) The form factor is nice and the 4 inch screen is a perfect compromise as far a portability and usability is concerned.
3) The phone even though built entirely plastic feels pretty high quality. I would have preferred some metal though.
4) Micro-SD card slot.
5) 720P video recording
6) Nice pre-installed Applications.
7) Automatic text scroll in browser if you double tap the screen.
8) Live wallpapers

Dislikes:
1) The much touted browser is choppy compared to my iPhone 3GS. Kinetic scrolling is there but iPhone has inertia kinetic scroll which is far far more usable in my opinion.
To give you an example: If I want to go down a webpage and I flick upwards to scroll, on Galaxy S the browser will not stop and keep going on until it reaches the bottom. What is the point of Kinetic Scrolling if I have to scroll using my fingers all the time to reach where I want to.
2) The pinch to zoom gesture isn't well implemented, more so in the browser where it stutters.
3) The phone gets hot with extended usage.
4) The screen becomes a pain after sometime because the contrast and color saturation is way too high. You sort of loose sense of contrast and saturation both.
5) Autofocus in the cam is not as snappy.
6) The interface is disjointed and does not feels like 'one' as in the iPhone.
7) Photo gallery takes a lot of time to open and the camera interface isnt as fast as well.
8) It has more settings for everything but the iPhone lets you do all those things and more without fiddling with too many settings.
9) For all those hardware specs - 1 GHz processor and the most powerful GPU on a phone, the phone feels decidedly slower than my yesteryear 3GS which has a 600 MHz CPU and an inferior GPU.
10) I am not a fan of Samsung or Android widgets. I feel they clutter the screen and are a drain on the battery. If I want some information I can always click the icon and get it
11) No way to close applications. If you come out of the application, it continues to run in the background and the same thing happens for upto 6 applications. If you open 7th one and come out, it will close. You have to install a separate app to close applications.

I have no idea how much of an improvement is the 2.2 Froyo build in terms of interface and how everything is wound together. I know the browser is fast but if gestures are choppy, I am perfectly happy with my iPhone which will open the same webpage some 10th of a second slower.

This is all I can remember as of now but will update if I am able to recall something else. As of now if you ask me to decide between 3GS and Galaxy S, I would pick up the Apple anyday. iPhone 4 I feel would be head and shoulders above.

[Gandhi]

Looking at the comparison above, looks like Samsung has taken best of both iOS and Android and put it in their bada OS.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by NIP

I've been using my Galaxy S for over a week now, and I use GPS extensively. I have so far had no issues with google maps, or my other navigation software 'NDrive'. Locks on to the satellites within few seconds.

Originally Posted by yzfrj

Also will froyo be made available "pre-installed" by end of the month

Doubt it. Will take a while before 2.2 comes pre-installed, as it will take a while for that stock to get to india.

Originally Posted by revtech

... i was just browsing the market and came across a few apps.the price is in rupees and although i haven bought any yet it there is a "Buy" option.

Paid apps are now available in India (and a bunch of other countries) as of 2-3 days back.

Originally Posted by revtech

... however the apps whose price is in another currency that can be found online or app brain cannot be purchased(normally)

Some developers restrict the sale of their apps to certain countries only. You might be seeing these in appbrain.

Originally Posted by revtech

... Ps does any one know which app i can use to take screenshots

ps2 does any one know how to use street view ? I cant seem to figure it out. or is it not available in india

AFAIK You need to root your phone to be able to take screenshots with a program.

Street view isn't done for india.

Originally Posted by proton

Waiting for Gingerbread Android 3 now, Oct 15 being the tentative date.

Gingerbread == Android 2.X
Honeycomb == Android 3.0 (complete UI revamp etc)

Originally Posted by srishiva

I thought I saw a Galaxy at Reliance Digital that had a flash. Do we get one with a flash in India?

Maybe you saw something other than the Galaxy S. (im not sure if other galaxy phones (3/5 etc) have flash?)

@extreme_torque - with the current state of the galaxy's firmware, it really needs to be tweaked a lot to get the best performance out of it. The current state of my Galaxy (after a lot of tweaking) i'd say i enjoy it more than the iphone 4.

When 2.2 comes out, we'll see if in stock form its capable of the same. If not, it will be a disappointment, and a really poor show on Samsung's part.

cya
R

[Gandhi]

Skype is available on Android OS for some days now. How come no one is talking about that?

Skype mobile? for Android? smartphones

[yzfrj]

Originally Posted by srishiva

I thought I saw a Galaxy at Reliance Digital that had a flash. Do we get one with a flash in India?

Samsung Galaxy S Pro has a flash. But I don't think its sold in India.

[proton]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Gingerbread == Android 2.X
Honeycomb == Android 3.0 (complete UI revamp etc)

Any new info? So far, the communications indicate Honeycomb is Android 3.5.

Samsung confirms Honeycomb as name of Android 3.5, more Tab models due Boy Genius Report

Quote
Sep 2 Today, at IFA, Samsung executives confirmed previous rumors and outed Google’s next, next mobile OS’ namesake: Honeycomb (also known as Android 3.5). No features or specific details were given about Android 3.5 other than its code name and the fact that it will focus on tablets with larger screens.

Linux Today - Android 3.2 Honeycomb to Follow Gingerbread 3?

Quote
19 Aug 2010 ... Android 3.2 Honeycomb to Follow Gingerbread 3?

Its all good: and like getting a new phone every coupla months! And every version is about 2-5 times faster than the previous! Confirmed!

[yzfrj]

Pardon the noob question.

Will all these newer versions will need bigger badder (bigger) hardware too ?
Say if I buy an SGS with froyo loaded I will be able to upgrade to Android 3 ?

Can I go beyond ?
Or will that mean I need 2GHz processor.

Or putting it very simply will it be like the Windows on a PC ?

[proton]

Originally Posted by yzfrj

Pardon the noob question.

Will all these newer versions will need bigger badder (bigger) hardware too ?
Say if I buy an SGS with froyo loaded I will be able to upgrade to Android 3 ?

Can I go beyond ?
Or will that mean I need 2GHz processor.

Or putting it very simply will it be like the Windows on a PC ?

Quote
Gingerbread on Google Android 3.0

Android 3.0 gingerbread will be released in mid-October (probably October 15 or 16) the first mobile phone using the system will be in November or December release, this machine will aim directly at the Christmas market. Gingerbread operating system in the allocation Android3.0 minimum hardware configuration requirements 1GHZ CPU, 512M memory, more than 3.5 inch display screen for more than 4 inch maximum support 1280 × 760 resolution. In addition Google has also declared Android3.0 system will only use the phone the original Google interface, there will be no HTC Sence, MOTOBlur and other mobile phone manufacturers developed their own interface. But recently several manufacturers have expressed their mobile phone interface will appear in that Android3.0 system.

First Android 3.0 Phone? New HTC Android Phone Leaks! - htc android 3.0, android 3.0 gingerbread, android 3.0 phone

So it looks like the Droid will not run GB. But take heart: XDA dev has managed to get Froyo running on the HTC Hero, even tho' it fell below specs.

As for SGS, it will definitely run GB, WHEN Samsung ships the SGS version. Some phone manufacturers are tardy: the Sony Xperia 10 still runs 1.6. :(

[ghpk]

I am planning to buy Galaxy 5801 soon.
I know its not as good as S, but the access to internet over phone is killing me.

Everytime I need a minute work on browser have to take out laptop which waste many minutes, and I've moved to E-lite on my blackberry as it was a crappy internet on Reliance CDMA blackberry.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by proton

Its all good: and like getting a new phone every coupla months! And every version is about 2-5 times faster than the previous! Confirmed!

Well disagree with this statement , Froyo Runs many times faster then Eclairs because till Eclairs 2.1 the Dalvik VM was highly suboptimal. To give you an idea Dalvik VM was approx 900 times slower then IBM JVM running a big loop with multiplication and div instructions. So software modifications gave that kind of performance boost on similar hardware.

We need to remember that normal JVMs are now quite optimized and we do not see a jump in performance with each release. Sooner or later Dalvik VM will hit the same state and performance will go up only along with the CPU
.So yes there will be performance upgrade but due to hardware , Honeycomb is going to support Multi Core CPU and CPU-GPU combination.

Dual Cortex A9 chipset based phones will start coming to market next year.

[Visaster]

Hello mates,
I got myself the SONY ERICSSON XPERIA MINI PRO a couple of weeks back.

I ADVICE EVERYONE TO STEER CLEAR FROM THIS PHONE

The phone looks awesome, no doubt about it.
The battery is bad - Google it and everyone has the same opinion.
The camera is not clear enough for a 5mp
Sound quality is bad - Infact my speaker got spoilt and iam taking it back to the shop today.

Will write a detailed review of my experience

[Rodeo]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Gingerbread == Android 2.X
Honeycomb == Android 3.0 (complete UI revamp etc)


R

Any idea which phone will get Android 3 first? I just cant get a Indian version of Desire in Hyd, hv been trying from a month.

[proton]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Well disagree with this statement , Froyo Runs many times faster then Eclairs because till Eclairs 2.1 the Dalvik VM was highly suboptimal. To give you an idea Dalvik VM was approx 900 times slower then IBM JVM running a big loop with multiplication and div instructions. So software modifications gave that kind of performance boost on similar hardware.

We need to remember that normal JVMs are now quite optimized and we do not see a jump in performance with each release. Sooner or later Dalvik VM will hit the same state and performance will go up only along with the CPU
.So yes there will be performance upgrade but due to hardware , Honeycomb is going to support Multi Core CPU and CPU-GPU combination.

Dual Cortex A9 chipset based phones will start coming to market next year.

I kinda disagree with your disagreement ( ) : its apples and oranges. In other words, you would have to compare the Dalvik VM (which was par for the course) running on the same platform as the IBM VM, to make a true comparison.

What really made the difference was Google taking the experimental JIT concept, which hobbyists have been playing with and modifying, with bad results (read XDA.DEV), and delivering their own finished version. So:

MFLOPS Benchmark
Dalvik VM: 6-7 MFLOPS
Dalvik VM+GoogleJIT: 38-40 MFLOPS!

In other words, Eclair was acceptable, quite snappy in fact, but Froyo just raised the game to another level: play around with some Flash video, and update all my apps in the background, all at the same time. And no, Android does not need a task killer app: the OS handles it all seamlessly and elegantly. Reading the nuts and bolts of how it is done is quite satisfying in the sense that the process is handled cleverly, if that kind of thing interests you.

I am planning to buy Galaxy 5801 soon.
I know its not as good as S, but the access to internet over phone is killing me.

Everytime I need a minute work on browser have to take out laptop which waste many minutes, and I've moved to E-lite on my blackberry as it was a crappy internet on Reliance CDMA blackberry.

The following is a short comparative list of solutions for mobile browsing:

Reliance CDMA 1X Unlimited =Light & Cheap browsing
Reliance CDMA 1X Unlimited =Heavy & Expensive browsing
Reliance CDMA 1X (Special Package!)=Heavy & Cheap browsing
Reliance CDMA/EVDO Unlimited = Heavy & Expensive & Fast Browsing and Downloads

BSNL GPRS Unlimited=Heavy & Cheap browsing
BSNL 3G Unlimited = Heavy & Expensive & Slow Browsing and Downloads

Wireless Broadband – 3G Or Evdo What Is The Choice? - Reliance Mobile (CDMA & GSM) - Discussion Forums

Contact the Bazaar section for the Special Packages!

Any idea which phone will get Android 3 first? I just cant get a Indian version of Desire in Hyd, hv been trying from a month.

Try Flipkart Bangalore

http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/mobi...-thread-8.html

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by proton

I kinda disagree with your disagreement ( ) : its apples and oranges. In other words, you would have to compare the Dalvik VM (which was par for the course) running on the same platform as the IBM VM, to make a true comparison.

FYI Exactly that is what I had done more then 2 years back when Android was released in fact Dalvik VM on ARM11 and IBM j2ME ( JVM) on ARM 9 phone for same code in Java. Froyo improves using JIT but still performance is below mark as compared to any J2ME for VM performance.

Equating the CPU difference the performance dip was more then 900 times on G1

FYI this is an open secrete and you can even find the benchmark code on net. Now one may ask why code does not look so slow on Android the answer is that major portion of the framework code runs as native ARM binary and only application code is in Java and everytime you make a call JNI lookup happens.

I think I posted the test code itself sometime back on a thread on T-BHP.

[ghpk]

Originally Posted by proton

The following is a short comparative list of solutions for mobile browsing:

Reliance CDMA 1X Unlimited =Light & Cheap browsing
Reliance CDMA 1X Unlimited =Heavy & Expensive browsing
Reliance CDMA 1X (Special Package!)=Heavy & Cheap browsing
Reliance CDMA/EVDO Unlimited = Heavy & Expensive & Fast Browsing and Downloads

BSNL GPRS Unlimited=Heavy & Cheap browsing
BSNL 3G Unlimited = Heavy & Expensive & Slow Browsing and Downloads

Compared to e-lite plan and others, the browsing plans are too expensive.
have used the full 1099 pack for more than a year and was not at all happy with performance on my curve handset + even after paying so much you would get charged extra for tethering.

idea behind going for galaxy3 is you can use Airtel GPRS till 2GB @ just Rs.98/mo. + you can always use that SIM with laptop and will not be charged extra.

So now for cost break up and real comparision.

moving to full blackberry plan would make you pay Rs.9600 extra per year with limited browser access, the unlimited doesn't realistically happens on such crap speeds + tethering would be charged extra @ Rs.24/hour.

Going for anroid phone you pay only Rs.1176/yr. for connectivity with freedom of using it along laptop + experience new applications, no need to worry about skipping an important mail which would wait to arrive during your browser session in a blackberry.

just 2 cents from my tech. junkhead.