Review of Nokia N8

If you've been a Nokia fan for years, then you'll have noticed that the Finnish firm hasn't been competing at the sharp end of the game for a while now. The likes of the N97 and X6 have both been trumpeted by Nokia over the last year or so, but neither has particularly won critical acclaim, mostly due to a sub-par OS when compared to the whizz-bang-iness of the iPhone and Android set, as well as taking a veritable age to start using the latest technology, like capacitive screens and slimmer lines.

Now the N8 is here, bringing all manner of high end features to a Nokia phone: 12MP camera, HD video recording, reams of internal storage and a high end media player, as well as the new Symbian^3 OS.

But is it a case of all spec and no trousers? Or is this a phone that truly sees Nokia combining the best of the tech with a great UI to properly challenge the smartphone frontrunners? The Nokia N8 is a fairly large device - but that's not to say that it's chunky. It's merely large due to having a large 3.5-inch OLED screen, and it comes in at just 12.9mm thick.

Admittedly it's not the thinnest on the market, but when it's down to a matter of a few millimetres, it doesn't really matter in the pocket right? The Nokia N8 is ridiculously packed with all manner of technology, and for once you can see it when picking up the phone for the first time.

Although, before we get into all the great things the Nokia N8 does, it does rankle that the phone doesn't have a removable battery, with the case being screwed down tightly. As you can see this means the only way to get the SIM card and microSD memory is through some side doors - fiddly to use but do add to the overall slick feel of the phone.

Not letting you remove the battery is a pretty big statement from Nokia, as it's saying that it won't be plagued by the freezing bugs of before - battery pulls used to be a necessity in those situations. However, the phone sites nicely in the hand despite the larger size, and you can't help but feel that the overall impression is increased by the sleeker look from no removable battery cover.

The frame is covered in anodised aluminium, which Nokia was keen to show us was resistant to scratches. However, as you can see by the side unlock switch, this isn't always the case - some colour has been lost.

HTC Touch Review

Get used to new-fangled touch screen phones popping up like chic geeks at an LG Prada giveaway, thanks to the iPhone. HTC entered the game officially on June 5, 2007 with their showing of the HTC Touch. This is a Windows Mobile Professional (aka WM6 Pocket PC Phone) with a screen that's not only stylus-friendly like all PPCs, but finger sensitive. The screen requires a firmer touch than prior Windows Mobile devices, so if you get one, don't be shy-- press firmly for best results.

The Touch uses a difference kind of touch screen to achieve finger-friendliness, especially gesture-awareness. It's not a multi-touch display like the upcoming iPhone and you can use a stylus, again unlike the iPhone which needs a human touch to work correctly. 

In conjunction with the finger-friendly screen hardware, HTC has created software that's easy to operate by finger, using tap and gestures. HTC has created a special home screen and an application that provide large, touchable targets; and in fact HTC has written their own touch screen driver. Here's the challenge, HTC can't re-write the entire Windows Mobile operating system to make it finger-friendly and gesture-aware. We'd have to leave that up to the folks in Redmond who author the OS. So you won't see a major transformation of the Windows Mobile 6 we've come to know and (err, love?). The Programs and Settings groups look and work the same. So do IE, email, contacts, calendar and solitaire. You'll face the same stylus-sized scroll bars and tiny 'x" close box up top.

So what is different? There's the Today theme with quick access to an application launcher, the weather and a listing of calendar events. More interesting is the swipe action: swipe your finger from the bottom of the display to the top to bring up a spinning 3-sided cube (OK, not really a cube since there are only 3 sides, but you get the idea). Swipe from right to left (or left to right) to move through these faces. One has a palette of user-assignable images for your contacts. Put your favorite folks' photos in their, then tap on the picture to bring up their contact info in the address book. No, it doesn't dial them, you have to then hit the call button at the bottom of the screen. Flip your finger left or right to move to the next face of the "non-cube" which is an application launcher. The third face is for multimedia: HTC's music player (which unfortunately doesn't support as many file formats as Media Player Mobile), Photos (this launches MS' Picture and Videos app) and Videos (this also launches MS' Picture and Videos app).

Swipe from the top of the screen to the bottom to hide the HTC UI. You can swipe up to bring up the HTC UI from anywhere, even inside an application. Swipe down to hide it again. Cool.

It's all very clever and pretty, though I'm not feeling it improves ease of use all that much since the special user interface doesn't extend beyond the Today Screen and the cube-launcher application. The on-screen keyboard is still the tiny Windows Mobile variety rather than a specially created one (or licensed 3rd party full screen keyboard) with larger keys that would make SMS possible via finger. So be prepared to whip out the stylus for text entry. And again, HTC isn't the author or owner of the OS, so there's only so much they can do. Phones like the Prada and iPhone have an easier time since their OS and UI were written together, allowing the touch metaphor to be pervasive. The HTC goodies work well and are easy to get the hang of-- good going there. And you can use the finger swipe to bring up the HTC cube when in any application. But HTC, why don't they work in landscape mode? That's right, there's no gesture support in landscape mode, so you can't bring up the cube-launcher and its finger-lovin' goodness. The touch screen has more glare than a standard PDA screen, so we had to tilt it for best viewing under sunlight.

Features at a Glance: Now that we've covered the touch screen and UI, let's get down to the basics. The HTC Touch runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional on a 201MHz processor with the standard 64 megs of RAM and 128 megs of flash ROM. It's an unlocked triband GSM phone with EDGE for data. The first version released will be triband 900/1800/1900MHz, which is better suited to Europe and Asia than the US where AT&T uses the 850MHz band heavily (T-Mobile uses 1900MHz, with only some 850MHz roaming). The was first released in Taiwan (HTC's home) in the summer of 2007. HTC promised a US triband version with 850MHz by the end of 2007 but it never materialized. The remarkably small Touch has WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, a 2 megapixel camera and a standard QVGA resolution display. The HTC Touch is available in two colors: black and wasabi green.

In the Box: The HTC Touch comes in an elegant and hefty black gift box. Slide off the outer sleeve and lift up the box's cover to reveal the phone nestled between earbuds on a faux suede textured foam surface (they're going for that iPod and Sony packaging high). Underneath you'll find the standard HTC USB connector world charger with Asian prongs and no prong adapter (some vendors may throw one in and the US version should ship with US prongs), USB sync cable, spare stylus, a neoprene-ish slip case with soft material inside, HTC's usual thick manual, a thinner getting started guide and software CD.

Design and Ergonomics: This is a beautiful and small phone. It looks elegant, extremely modern and sexy. Did we mention it's small and light? Check out the comparison photos of the Touch and the original Motorola RAZR V3. The Touch has the same rubbery soft-touch finish as the T-Mobile Dash (aka HTC S620) and Wing: it feels great and helps keep the device securely in hand. The matte black finish does show fingerprints, but not as much as glossy phones. A chrome strip wraps around the edges of the phone, again making for a great look. The device is made of plastic, including the chrome trim. The curved corners and bottom taper make it feel natural in the hand and there are no edges to catch on pants pockets nooks and crannies. At 3.95 ounces (112 grams) and 0.55" (13.9mm) this is the smallest Windows Mobile Professional phone on the market.

There are relatively few controls (despite the touch screen, we'd like more). There's a 5-way directional pad below the display which works well and easily, the power button up top (takes some effort to press, and that's a good thing), the camera button and a volume slider with a center ridge for better grip. Two Windows Mobile softkey buttons the d-pad, and that's it. No OK or Windows Start Menu buttons, no voice command button-- nothing. This adds to the Touch's minimalist design but it means you'll be missing a few keys that speed up interaction with the device.

 

The battery lives under the back cover, and the entire cover slides off, rather than just a section. You slide upward in the direction of the camera lens, and we found it very hard to get off with the exception of one staff member who made it look easy. Alas, the rest of us couldn't master the trick. Though the SIM card and Micro SD card slots are under a pop-out section of that chrome trim rather than under the battery, unfortunately you'll still need to remove the battery cover to open that long chromed-plastic door. The door fights with you a bit as you try to access the slots, but we hope its rubbery-plastic mounts will withstand a few years of fighting.

Phone Features, Reception and Data: The HTC Touch is a triband 900/1800/1900MHz GSM phone that's unlocked for use with any GSM carrier. The phone lacks the 850MHz band used heavily by AT&T in the US and by T-Mobile for roaming service, but HTC tells us a triband 850/1800/1900MHz version will be out by the end of 2007. We have to wonder why it isn't quad band, though; global travelers will be at a disadvantage with a triband phone. As with most recent HTC-manufactured phones like the Wing and the Cingular 8525, call quality is excellent and the volume is average by GSM standards. Though not deafeningly loud, the speakerphone's quality is good through the small rear-facing speaker.

The Touch has Cyberon's Voice Speed Dial, but there's no hardware key assigned to this function, and the only user-assignable button is the camera button (which has only a press but not a secondary press-and-hold assignable application). Voice Speed Dial uses voice tags rather than true voice recognition, but it's very accurate and works with Bluetooth headsets and car kits. Like all Windows Mobile 5 and 6 phones, the Touch has call history, photo caller ID, and supports call waiting, conference calling and flight mode. For data speeds, the Touch got an average of 85k on T-Mobile US. You can also use the phone as a wireless modem for a notebook over Bluetooth, though EDGE speeds aren't as compelling as 3G.

Horsepower and Performance: This isn't the Touch's strong point: the 201MHz Texas Instruments OMAP 850 feels underpowered. This CPU has been used widely on MS Smartphone/Windows Mobile Standard devices, and overall it's a good fit for that platform. It's also been used in older Pocket PC Phone Edition PDA phones such as the T-Mobile MDA and Cingular 8125 as well as the new T-Mobile Wing, and it felt a bit slow but usable. It's even slower on the Touch, perhaps due to the demands of the touch interface. Quite often we though we hadn't had success touching an icon when the problem was really a long delay before the device responded by opening a window or launching an application. We found ourselves tapping and waiting quite a bit. Video playback of very low bitrate WMVs that even an 201MHz MS Smartphone / Windows Mobile Standard Edition could handle floundered on the Touch. For example, we tested two WMV files, one a short 420kbps flick and the other a 301 kbps movie and both dropped enough frames that playback was about 10 fps. Rebooting the phone and running no other applications other than Media Player Mobile improved things, but realistically it's not practical to reboot the phone every time you want to watch a video.

Camera: The 2 megapixel CMOS camera with fixed focus lens takes acceptable photos, though not as good as the HTC TyTN (Cingular 8525) 2 MP camera. Given how little room there is inside the phone for camera hardware, we're not surprised that image quality took a hit compared to its much bigger brother. Images suffer from excessive foreground sharpening (so much so that detail is actually obliterated) that jars with un-sharpened background areas and creates a sense of limited focus. When resized down to VGA or 800 x 600, photos look decent but they still lack natural detail and contrast and white out add harshness to the images. Images sometimes have a purple color cast, as you can see in the photo of the dark gray buddha to the right. 

The camera can take photos at a maximum of 1200 x 1600 pixels, with lower resolutions available that are suitable for Today Screen backgrounds, MMS and caller ID. There are 4 quality settings, center and average metering options, a shutter sound that can be turned off, a self-timer and more. There are two video modes: standard and MMS. Standard video resolutions are unambitious: 128 x 96 and 176 x 144, but they do look decent, albeit small. Standard video mode supports H.263, MPEG4 and Motion JPEG file formats. MMS video supports H.263 and MPEG4 and offers the same resolutions as standard video. The camera has a self-portrait mirror but no flash.

WiFi and Bluetooth: The HTC Touch has 802.11b/g WiFi. WiFi worked reliably for us on our encrypted 802.11g network and range was good for a Pocket PC phone (despite the phone's small size). Data speeds averaged 1097 kbit/s, which is middle of the pack for Windows Mobile devices. The WiFi status control panel applet shows current SSID, mode (Infrastructure or ad hoc), Tx and Rx rates, BSSID, channel and signal strength. You can set the amount of power the WiFi radio consumes using a 3 position slider, set up LEAP and secure certificates.

Microsoft's Bluetooth stack and fairly plain user interface handle Bluetooth connections for the Touch, like all recent HTC phones. It has Bluetooth 2.0 and supports most common profiles including serial port, FTP, HID (keyboard and mice), headset, hands free, DUN (dial up networking for using the phone as a wireless modem for a notebook or desktop), and A2DP Bluetooth stereo. We tested the Touch with the Plantronics Discovery 655 and the Samsung WEP-200, and both worked well with good voice quality and and volume. We tested A2DP using the Plantronics 590a Bluetooth stereo headset and when we paired it, the Touch asked if we wanted to use it for stereo, handsfree or both. We selected "both" and all controls worked properly. Audio quality was very good, with clear stereo separation, strong bass and non-harsh trebles with plenty of volume. Very nice.

Battery Life: Here's where the Touch makes up for its weak CPU performance: battery life is superb by Windows Mobile Professional standards. The phone lasted 3 days on a charge with moderate use (about twice as long as the HTC TyTN/Cingular 8525) and longer with very light use. HTC claims 5 hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby and that's reasonably accurate according to our tests (we got 4.6 hours talk time). Standby was right on target. Given the wide range of things you can do with Windows Mobile phones, it's hard to describe an average usage scenario, but we tested the phone by making calls, listening to MP3s for an hour each day, watching a 2 minute video each day, looking up calendar and contacts information, checking email manually 8x/day and surfing the web over EDGE with Bluetooth left on at all times. WiFi will consume battery life faster, as will streaming media, though given the Touch's weak video playback performance we don't foresee many folks watching hours of video on the device.

RIM BlackBerry Torch 9800 Review

In this day and age, you've got to continuously innovate in a broad spectrum of categories to keep pace with the ever evolving nature of the mobile industry. It's clearly a live fast, die hard atmosphere with yesterday's high-end smartphones passing the torch and legacy to newer devices expected to live up to the expectations of the constant changing needs of consumers. Wherever you look right now, there is no denying the vast amount of devices available at the finger tips of consumers, but it truly takes something quite compelling to get them to side with one specifically more than another. RIM built their empire by attacking the business and enterprise end of the mobile market, however, they weren't as successful in attracting everyday consumers. We've seen them go through two touchscreen offerings, with the second one seen as a vast improvement over the first, but regardless of all of its prowess, the BlackBerry Storm2 still could not firmly grasp itself as a heavy contender.

Enter the BlackBerry Torch 9800 which not only holds RIM's legacy on its back, but it's also showcasing a rebooted platform which is optimistic in grabbing the mind share of the everyday consumer – the demographic they've been unable to consistently attract. Sporting a whole new form factor we haven't seen produced ever by RIM, and with competition encroaching on their usual turf from all sides, will the BlackBerry Torch 9800 be able to keep it at bay, while being able to catapult itself as a worthy and viable competitor in this cut throat industry? Let's find out!
The package contains:

• BlackBerry Torch 9800
• Hands-free stereo headset
• Wall charger
• microUSB cable
• Polishing cloth
• BlackBerry User Tools CD
• Quickstart Guide

Design:
In classic RIM fashion, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 doesn't stray too far from the usual medley of solid feeling hardware crafted by them, but it's their very first one to employ a sliding portrait QWERTY form factor – something that's rare in itself across the board. Chrome plates accent a majority of the front and sides which is then combined with a plastic rear cover that employs a patterned soft touch coating.  The bottom of the handset is curved, which essentially provides for a natural grip in your hand. Overall, there is a discernible similarity between this one and the Bold 9700 – which is quite evident in its outline. Construction feels quite solid, which is something we usually expect out of RIM's handsets. the BlackBerry Torch manages to feel relatively normal sized without crossing the point of being regarded as bulky. However, you can easily notice its weight (5.68 oz) when you hold it in your hand, which can cause some alarm in the event you drop it. Despite radiating a durable exterior, they is no arguing the kind of damage it will incur from a nasty impact – especially more when it utilizes a sliding mechanism. By no means is the Torch something revolutionary from a design aspect, but it clearly embodies some of the best design elements in use with previous devices and combines them. Moreover, traditional BlackBerry users will find it fitting, but when you compare it to some of the fantastic looking industrial designed handsets out there, it doesn't come off as something exciting to drool over.

Unlike the the SurePress touchscreen found on their last touchscreen model, the Storm2, the Torch 9800 opts to stick with a tried and true stationary touchscreen – minus the gimmicks. Measuring up with a 3.2” HVGA+ (360 x 480 pixels) display, it really didn't radiate something too impressive versus the WVGA and up resolutions employed on some competing smartphones. With slightly less real estate than the Storm2 and retaining the same resolution, detail remains unchanged – granted though, text can be on the smaller and sometimes fuzzier side. We didn't have too much problems trying to view the device outdoors in direct sunlight since it had spot on viewing angles. Instinctively, your first inclination when using the touchscreen is to push down into it just like the Storm2, however, we quickly found ourselves adjusting and enjoyed its accuracy.

At a first glance, one can mistake the buttons below the touchscreen to be touch sensitive ones since they're all flush, but In reality, they're all physical buttons that have a responsive feel to them. Placed fittingly in the middle, you'll find the usual optical trackpad that RIM has decided to stick with – something that actually works pretty well and can come in handy with this model. The left edge is completely barren except for the microUSB port, while the right side houses the 3.5mm headset jack, rubberized volume rocker, and two-level shutter button. To the top, both the lock and mute keys are inconspicuously integrated into the surface with a small cutout in the middle for the speakerphone. In the rear, you'll find the upgraded 5-megapixel camera with flash with the Torch name inscribed into the surface. Removing the flimsy plastic rear cover, it'll provide you access to the SIM card slot, 1300 mAh battery, and microSD card slot.

iPhone 4: Everything you need to know about Apple iPhone 4 G

iPhone 4, that is the new name of the Apple iPhone 4 G phone that Steve Jobs announced during the WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference). This phone changes everything, at least according to Apple’s ads. Whether or not the iPhone 4 really changes everything we’ll let you decide that for yourself.

iPhone 4 Features

Features of the new iPhone 4 include FaceTime, Retina Display, HD Video Recording, and a 5 mega-pixels camera. FaceTime allows iPhone 4 users to video chat with each other by taking advantage of the iPhone 4’s front facing camera or back camera, and this feature only works on WiFi. Retina Display makes the iPhone 4 screen have a higher screen resolution. HD Video recording allows iPhone 4 users to record videos in high definition. The 5 mega-pixel camera allows users to record better quality videos and take better photos.

iPhone 4 Specs

Here we will tell you the iPhone 4 dimensions and weight, iPhone 4 colors, iPhone 4 Battery Life, iPhone 4 Display, iPhone 4 Camera, iPhone 4 Sensors, and iPhone 4 Buttons and Controls. iPhone 4 dimensions are 4.5 inches height by 2.31 inches width. Weight of iPhone 4 is 4.8 ounces. iPhone 4 is available in both black and white colors. Battery life of iPhone 4 is up to 7 hours talktime. iPhone 4 Display is 3.5-inch touchscreen with 960 x 460 resolution and has a fingerprint resistant oleophobic coating on front and back. iPhone 4 camera is 5.0 mega-pixels on the back, and also has a VGA camera in the front. iPhone 4 includes an accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, and a three-axis gyro.

iPhone 4 Release Date

The iPhone 4 Release Date is on Thursday, June 24, 2010. The price is 16 GB ($199 with 2-year contract) and 32 GB ($299 with 2-year contract).

Samsung Galaxy S Review

The Android smartphone segment keeps getting stronger, and the Samsung Galaxy S looks set to be a key player in 2010. Not only does it get the company’s coveted Super AMOLED display, but a 1GHz processor, 720p HD video recording and plenty of wireless connectivity. Now freshly announced as incoming to Verizon as the Fascinate, T-Mobile USA as the Vibrant and of course AT&T as the Captivate, the Galaxy S is certainly spreading itself around. Is this Android’s answer to the iPhone 4? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

n the time we’ve been carrying the Galaxy S, more than a few people – geeks included – have mistaken it for an iPhone 3GS. The glossy black plastic and metal-effect bezel both echo Apple’s second/third-gen smartphone; the irony, of course, is that the Cupertino company has now moved on with the almost retro lines of the iPhone 4, and the Galaxy S feels a little indistinct in comparison. It’s certainly a lightweight and slim handset, at 122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9mm and 119g, though it’s undoubtedly plasticky in its hand-feel. Still, there’s little creaking or flexing, and build quality feels decent.

Hardware controls are minimal, consisting of a volume rocker on the left hand side, the power/standby key on the right, and a home button under the screen that’s flanked by touch-sensitive menu and back buttons. Long-holding the menu key calls up search. The power button feels poorly placed, and we’d rather it were on the top edge of the Galaxy S; it’s also a little vague in its physical feel, and more than a few times we’ve accidentally hit it twice or held it too long and had to dismiss the power-off menu. The absence of a D-pad or optical joystick is generally not a problem; we only missed it when trying to precisely navigate within text to make spelling or URL corrections.

As for the rest of the hardware, keeping the whole thing moving is Samsung’s own 1GHz Hummingbird processor, paired with 8GB (or 16GB, depending on version) of internal storage. In our 8GB review unit that’s partitioned into approximately 2GB for apps and 6GB for media; there’s also a microSD slot (for up to 32GB cards). Connectivity includes triband 900/1900/2100 HSDPA/HSUPA along with WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and a microUSB 2.0 port; there’s also GPS, an accelerometer, digital compass, and both proximity and light sensors. Like the iPhone 4, the Galaxy S has two cameras: one, a 5-megapixel autofocus unit on the back, and a VGA-quality front facing camera for video calls. No flash – LED or otherwise – however, though you can record 720p HD video at 30fps.

It’s probably the display that is the Galaxy S’ crowning glory, with Samsung’s own Super AMOLED technology making a reappearance after its decent showing on the bada-powered Wave. Here, though, it’s grown to 4-inches (800 x 480 resolution) and it’s quite the eye-catcher. Colors are vivid and beautifully saturated, while the brightness is easily strong enough on the medium setting. That adds up to reasonable outdoor performance, too; unlike the Nexus One, the AMOLED display of which requires more than a cupped hand in order to make it out, the Galaxy S is visible – though not ideal, we have to say – in normal daylight conditions.   

The obvious comparison is against Apple’s new Retina Display technology, and of course the Galaxy S’ resolution can’t compete with the 326dpi of the iPhone 4′s outstanding screen. Nonetheless, it’s one of the best panels we’ve seen on a mobile device of late, and certainly better than most AMOLED and LCD displays. Here, Samsung have paired it with a decent, responsive capacitive touchscreen that requires only a relatively light touch.

Software wise, the Galaxy S runs Android 2.1 partially disguised by the company’s own TouchWiz 3.0 UI. The main improvement is in the notification bar, which now gets persistent shortcuts for toggling WiFi, Bluetooth, silent and vibration modes, together with media playback controls when the MP3 app is running. Four fixed icons – Phone, Contacts, Messaging and Applications – run along the bottom of the screen and can’t be moved or replaced.  [Update: only Applications is permanent; the others can be swapped out by going into the app menu and choosing Edit from the menu - thanks tnt!] Still, we’ve made our feelings clear about TouchWiz (in its various incarnations) in previous reviews; suffice to say, it lacks the appeal of HTC Sense, and most of the time we’d have preferred the basic Android 2.1 interface. More worryingly, whatever Samsung has done to the ROM has introduced numerous points of lag and even freezing.

Try to open your email inbox, or view a specific message, and the Galaxy S sometimes seizes up for a few seconds before the content is shown. There are similar pauses when deleting items or marking messages unread, with pop-up contextual menus hanging around on-screen for seconds longer than they should. Meanwhile the back control can be reluctant in its action, before suddenly catching up and slinging you to the homescreen. We’ve got two Galaxy S handsets on hand from different sources and both show the same sort of issues (more noticeable when you’ve loaded your email inbox and contacts). It’s frustrating, especially given that the 1GHz chip can otherwise feel faster than smartphones running Qualcomm’s rival 1GHz Snapdragon CPU.

    

Lag isn’t the only problem we’ve had, either. The Galaxy S has randomly lost our email inbox in the time we’ve been using it – requiring inputing all our Exchange settings again, and performing a full sync – and the camera app has crashed a couple of times, refusing to load until we power-cycled the phone. Elsewhere, the UI is simply frustrating. New SMS alerts, for instance, aren’t removed from the Android notification bar until you not only view the message in the bubble conversation view, but actually tap the new bubble itself and “open” it on a separate page. No new information, but an extra step all the same. We prefer the regular Android icons to those in TouchWiz, though admittedly that’s a matter of taste, but the way Samsung has managed the desktop is slightly at odds with Google’s own approach with Android. The Galaxy S has seven homescreen panes with the default “home” pane on the far left; the Android OS is more used to the “home” pane being central, and so if you choose Google Maps as your Live Wallpaper – which normally uses GPS to center the map on your current location – the maps are offset since the center point is on homescreen four. Nit-picking, yes, but it’s the sort of poor polish that undermine a successful UI.

Sadly there’s no way to easily turn off TouchWiz and return to the native Android UI, so owners unwilling to experiment with unofficial ROMs will be stuck with Samsung’s interface. Some of the company’s preloaded tools aren’t bad, however; there’s a full copy of Swype, the gesture-based keyboard (though it isn’t enabled by default) and Samsung’s multimedia player is far better than the standard Google offering. It supports MPEG4, H.264, H.263, DivX, Xvid, WMV, AVI, MKV and FLV video, among others, together with a healthy clutch of audio formats including OFF and FLAC. Paired with the 3.5mm headphones jack and onboard storage you’ve got an Android phone that could certainly give an iPod touch a run for its money.

Social networking tools are fashionable, and Samsung’s approach is a little similar to HTC’s. The Galaxy S has Samsung’s Social Hub, a combined stream of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter messages – complete with a desktop widget and the ability to send out an update to one or all services simultaneously – but there’s also a “Mini Diary” app that allows you to easily create journal entries complete with photos, stored weather information, text notes and more. Unfortunately, once created they’re basically stuck on the phone; there’s no way to remotely sync them or upload them automatically to a blog somewhere.

    

More useful is Samsung AllShare, which takes DLNA media sharing and puts a cellphone-friendly face on it. AllShare allows you to stream multimedia from the Galaxy S to a WiFi-connected player – whether a standalone audio system, network-connected HDTV or a computer – or vice-versa, or even to act as a remote control for your media server, selecting files to play remotely. Video, audio and images can all be streamed, and the Galaxy S simply showed up as a media source in compatible apps.

As for playback on the Galaxy S itself, understandably it’s video that shines best thanks to the Super AMOLED display. We had no problems getting various DivX and Xvid files to play, with 720p HD video looking great. Interestingly, there’s a TV Out option in the settings pages, though no sign of an adapter in the box to actually hook up a bigger screen. Audio, meanwhile, is reasonably loud and clear via the Galaxy S’ own speaker, but Samsung’s bundled earbuds are actually surprisingly good and, while still not outperforming a reasonable aftermarket set, do at least avoid the noise leakage and underwhelming bass of Apple’s standard set. There’s also an FM radio, complete with auto-scan and user presets, though it relies on the headphone wire to act as antenna.

Samsung has something of a reputation for decent cellphone cameras, and the Galaxy S generally doesn’t disappoint. At 5-megapixels with autofocus, the only thing missing from the spec sheet is a flash of some sort. What you do get are various photography modes, including blink, face and smile detection, panorama and high-speed shooting, together with a decent amount of control over manual settings. There are also multiple effects, such as vintage and cartoon, and a high-visibility mode which boosts the UI so that it’s easier to see while outdoors. The end result are bright, clear and well balanced shots, with decent colors and – as long as you don’t use the digital zoom – little noise or pixellation. Without a flash you’re obviously limited in your low-light use, with focus being a particular trouble, though we might argue that LED flash units are generally underwhelming anyway. There are samples in the gallery below, unedited aside from being resized by 50-percent.

Video, meanwhile, can be recording in one of five resolutions from 320 x 240 to 1280 x 720, with or without audio and with manual control over exposure, contrast, saturation and sharpness. However there’s no focus control. Interestingly, during recording you can choose to either pause or stop; pausing allows you to chain several segments into the same clip. A size counter shows how big the file is getting while you can also use the 4x digital zoom (which is jerky moving between levels, rather than a smooth optical zoom). Files are recorded in MPEG-4 in a 3GP container and at around 11.6Mbps, along with mono audio from the Galaxy S’ single microphone.

We weren’t disappointed on playback, either. Audio, obviously, isn’t as precise as with a stereo microphone, but video was smooth, jerk-free and on a par with a point-and-shoot camcorder such as from Flip. Fast pans showed no blurring or jerking, and despite the absence of a manual macro mode during video recording close-up text was legible. It’s disappointing Samsung don’t include either an HDMI port or a suitable adapter cable for easily playing back content on a larger display, though of course if your TV is compatible you can use AllShare.

To get to grips with what the Galaxy S’ Hummingbird CPU could really deliver, we turned to Android benchmarking tool Quadrant. This measures processor, memory, I/O and 2D/3D graphics and combines them into a single numerical score. The Galaxy S (running Android 2.1) came in at 874, while a Google Nexus One (running Android 2.2 FRF50) scored 1,390. That’s a considerable difference, but a lot could be down to the OS rather than the hardware; according to Quadrant’s figures, the Galaxy S scored approximately 50-percent more than a Nexus One running Android 2.1, suggesting that should the Samsung handset get a Froyo update then it might pull ahead of the Google-branded phone.

Updates, though, are a sore issue among Samsung owners right now. The company recently pushed out Android 1.6 to its Behold II handset – launched in November 2009 with 1.5 – but also confirmed that the smartphone wouldn’t see any further upgrades to 2.x or beyond. Opinion understandably differs: some say the Behold II simply isn’t powerful enough to handle the Live Wallpapers and other system-intensive features of newer versions of Android, while others reckon Samsung are merely looking to forget the older phone and instead push on with their newer devices.

Meanwhile, Samsung has apparently confirmed that the Galaxy S should get an Android 2.2 Froyo update later in 2010, but the exact timescale for that still isn’t definitive. As we’ve seen with other Android devices that use custom UIs, manufacturers generally struggle to adapt to newer OS versions and that delays their release. Our advice is always to pick a phone which does what you want it to do today, rather than what it might do months down the line, but we’d also add that handsets with the basic Android build rather than a manufacturer-tweaked one should inevitably be your choice if speedy upgrades are your top priority.

         

We can’t fault the Galaxy S on phone performance. Voice calls are clear and loud, and the speakerphone is suitably booming. Unfortunately apps aren’t quite set up to take advantage of the front-facing VGA camera yet; Qik’s video call app only works on the EVO 4G right now, while Fring are still working on an update that can use the Galaxy S’ front camera rather than the back one. Battery life, meanwhile, proved more impressive than expected. With push email turned on and regular use, we got through two days from the Galaxy S’ 1,500mAh battery, surprising indeed for a modern touchscreen smartphone.

So what about the iPhone 4? There are certainly similarities: the processors (which despite the differing names were both developed by Samsung and Apple-acquired Intrinsity) each run at 1GHz, the camera resolution is the same, both are slim and relatively lightweight. However the two platforms – iOS4 and Android – differ significantly in their approach to users, developers and openness. Apple’s by now legendary approvals process for the App Store means that only those titles that suit the company’s intent for the iPhone will get through; on the other hand, users have greater confidence that the software they download is unlikely to negatively affect their handset.

Meanwhile the Android Market does without the strict gatekeepers, meaning the breadth of apps is greater though the risk of downloading something half-baked or even malware-infected is also higher. There’s growing choice, and the Android OS as a whole is far more flexible in terms of developer tinkering. In its more recent versions it’s relatively user-friendly, too, a far cry from the early days.

Is the occasionally staccato performance enough to sour the Galaxy S altogether, however? We’re not entirely sure what’s causing the occasional lag – poor CPU throttling perhaps – but we’re hoping Samsung can address it with a minor firmware patch. As it stands, it’s a frustrating mar on what’s otherwise a very strong smartphone experience. The Galaxy S’ screen is the best this side of a Retina Display – and larger too – while the phone, albeit erring on the plastic side, is well made and has impressive multimedia skills. It’s also slim, so despite the screen size can drop into a front pocket without causing problems. The strengths outweigh the drawbacks overall, though you may find yourself explaining more then once that no, this isn’t an iPhone, it’s something arguably just as good.