06-16-2011, 05:13 PM | #1 |
Evangelist
Posts: 405
Karma: 479729
Join Date: Feb 2011
Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Paperwhite 2
|
Opinions on the Samsung Galaxy S 4G?
Anyone do any reading on it? How is it as a phone in general? What about as a "smart" phone?
T-mobile has a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S 4G on its prepaid phone page for $349. I only spend about $5-10 per month on calls/text messages, and I have access to enough wifi hotspots that I'm pretty sure I can get by with an occasional data "day pass" ($1.50 for 24 hours). My current phone is a prepaid "dumb" phone. I also had--until my toddler decided to give it a bath--a 2nd generation iPod Touch that I was planning to replace until I saw the T-mobile deal. So is the Galaxy worth an extra $120 vs. keeping my old phone and adding a new (or more likely refurbished) iPod Touch? Keep in mind that I have about $50 in apps (including several that are not available for android), and I have a MacBook (not sure if Android phones have any problems getting along with Apple computers). |
06-16-2011, 10:31 PM | #2 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,671
Karma: 12205348
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: Galaxy S, Nook w/CM7
|
Response
The 4G is pretty much the vibrant with 4g data speeds as opposed to 3g. That said I have a vibrant and its a great phone totally recommend it. I it's been my best phone ever. He screen is brilliant and the phone is very light, you will be amazed. Of course the phone is a year old now, so there are much better phones out that come with dual core and gingerbread. The those phones however are more expensive. As far as working with a mac, android is not really made to tether to a pc much of the synchronization is done over the web via google accounts. There are applications that can file browser a shared directory. And if you are in a bind and must connect to your pc it will act as a mass storage device. There are some phones that do have a hard time with macs, I don't know if the galaxy is oneof them. |
Advert | |
|
06-16-2011, 10:51 PM | #3 |
Evangelist
Posts: 405
Karma: 479729
Join Date: Feb 2011
Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Paperwhite 2
|
Thank you, =X=.
Do Android phones get operating system updates, or do they stick with whatever was originally loaded? From what I understand, the Galaxy S is running Froyo... can I update it to Gingerbread (and do I *want* to update it? LOL!) or is that for Samsung to decide? Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure my brother has a Vibrant. Guess I'll have to test it out! Although, he does rather hate Apple with a firey passion, so I'm not sure he'd be willing to let me test its compatibility with my mac. |
06-16-2011, 11:03 PM | #4 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,763
Karma: 30063305
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Singapore
Device: Boyue
|
As smart phones go all galaxy s phone are great and you can get most apps that you need for free on Android they might not be as visually appealing as on iOS but they get the job done and usually can do a lot more. I love the galaxy s screen but some people don't like it I would advice checking it out yourself first.
If you like to play around with the device jailbreaking etc you might have problems with a mac as far as I know their is no official mac software from samsung but like =X= said their is no real need for a pc with an android device. If you do get the device and would like to mess around with it you might try this Heimdall opensource software that can be used for flashing on Mac http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=755265 |
06-16-2011, 11:06 PM | #5 | |
Wizard
Posts: 1,763
Karma: 30063305
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Singapore
Device: Boyue
|
Quote:
|
|
Advert | |
|
06-16-2011, 11:26 PM | #6 |
Evangelist
Posts: 405
Karma: 479729
Join Date: Feb 2011
Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Paperwhite 2
|
Thank you, Dopedangel. In regards to connecting to a PC and/or Mac: I mostly want to be able to do this so I can upload my music library.
Oh, any recommendations for an Android app for listening to podcasts? Most of my apps are replaceable, but I haven't been able to find an Android equivalent for iSpin Toolkit. |
06-17-2011, 12:58 AM | #7 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,763
Karma: 30063305
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Singapore
Device: Boyue
|
Your phone will get detected as usb device you can just copy any files you want to it no problems
Regard spin application is a very specialized app was not able to find it. Maybe you can try to contact its author to port it to android. |
06-17-2011, 10:18 AM | #8 |
Bookaholic
Posts: 14,391
Karma: 54969924
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Minnesota
Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +
|
Another thumbs up for the Galaxy S line
I have the Sprint version (Epic 4G) which is a little different than the others in that it has a slide out keyboard, but otherwise it's the same. As =X= says the screen is excellent. Some of the apps I use all the time... DropBox Kindle Out of Milk |
06-17-2011, 12:17 PM | #9 |
Wizard
Posts: 3,671
Karma: 12205348
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: Galaxy S, Nook w/CM7
|
There is a program called doubletwist. Its sole purpose is to wirelessley sync itunes content to your android phone. I've never used this app , but it has gotten great reviews.
Google has a very nice podcast app. I can't remember the name. The me personally I use an app called podtrapper. The it's by far the best podcast app and the dev for that app is just great. |
06-17-2011, 12:39 PM | #10 |
Evangelist
Posts: 405
Karma: 479729
Join Date: Feb 2011
Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Paperwhite 2
|
Thanks guys!
I managed to find an android app called SpinTech that has some, but not all, of the same calculators as iSpin. Still not sure if it will make a decent replacement as the included calculators are things that can be easily calculated by hand and the missing ones are, of course, the ones that I really miss having. Can someone explain the whole internal memory, internal SD card, external SD card thing? Preferably with small words and using hand puppets? I did see one review for the Galaxy S that said it needed to be jailbroken in order to efficiently load apps with the available memory... or something like that. Review is here. Anyway, is this true? |
06-17-2011, 02:10 PM | #11 | |
Wizard
Posts: 3,671
Karma: 12205348
Join Date: Mar 2008
Device: Galaxy S, Nook w/CM7
|
Quote:
You don't have to root the phone, to install apps period. You can even install apps from different Markets like Amazon's Appstore or from websites directly. What the reviewer was saying was how to removed apps that came from the phone provided like T-Mobile, where you do not have access to remove those apps. As a root user you can. =X= |
|
06-17-2011, 02:20 PM | #12 | |
Evangelist
Posts: 405
Karma: 479729
Join Date: Feb 2011
Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Paperwhite 2
|
Quote:
|
|
06-17-2011, 02:24 PM | #13 | |
Banned
Posts: 2,391
Karma: 1001781
Join Date: May 2010
Device: The Nook, Nook color and Droid X
|
Quote:
is that T-mobile specific apps? Because one of the features of Froyo (v2.2) was having the ability to move apps to your sd card. |
|
06-17-2011, 02:25 PM | #14 | |
Banned
Posts: 2,391
Karma: 1001781
Join Date: May 2010
Device: The Nook, Nook color and Droid X
|
Quote:
|
|
06-17-2011, 02:39 PM | #15 |
Evangelist
Posts: 405
Karma: 479729
Join Date: Feb 2011
Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Paperwhite 2
|
Yeah, the T-mobile installed apps. It's quite possible that I misunderstood the review that I read, but it sounded like rooting was needed in order to get rid of the pre-installed apps.
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Samsung Galaxy s2 | edwinm | Devices | 13 | 07-05-2012 03:06 AM |
Just bought the Samsung Galaxy | jocampo | Android Devices | 108 | 03-11-2011 04:29 PM |
Wi-Fi Only Samsung Galaxy Tab | jocampo | News | 33 | 01-30-2011 01:20 PM |
Samsung Galaxy Tab | mgmueller | Android Devices | 96 | 11-16-2010 08:19 AM |
Samsung Galaxy Tablet | kennyc | Android Devices | 67 | 09-22-2010 02:13 PM |