Samsung Galaxy S review

Samsung’s mobile phone range covers every smartphone platform out there and the tech giant has even launched phones on its own Bada OS. That's probably why the company is so good at making smart devices.

The Samsung Galaxy is without doubt the best Samsung smartphone to date. That’s thanks to a speedy OS and that stunning screen that leaves other manufacturers wanting to hide under their TFTs.

The Galaxy S is larger than an iPhone and some may consider this a negative. That said, because it’s so light and slim, we really don’t think this is a problem.

At 9.9mm it feels really skinny and this makes it easy and comfortable to nestle in the hand. It’s only 119g too – extremely light for a smartphone, despite the fact that it is packed to the rafters with functionality.

The screen is quite simply stunning. It’s four inches and every single pixel is bright and clear.

Although not as high resolution as the iPhone 4’s 640x960 pixels, the Galaxy S’ 480x800 pixel, capacitive Super AMOLED display feels more usable than the iPhone 4’s, and this is probably because of the extra space available for live widgets and to make use of the browser.

What makes the Galaxy S’ display so good is that the colours are rich and blacks are really black, rather that the muddy blacks you find on many displays.

It’s also easy to see outside – something that many manufacturers struggle with, and this is thanks to an extra outdoor visibility mode that eradicates issues caused by the sun shining on an OLED screen.

In terms of the hardware design, there’s an iPhone-like home screen button in the centre at the bottom of the Galaxy S and on either side of this, a touch sensitive menu key and back key.