Samsung Galaxy S 4G

“If you already own a Vibrant, we wouldn't say this is a necessary upgrade, especially since you're probably still on contract. However, if you're in the market for a new smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S 4G is certainly one of our top picks. T-Mobile has two other great 4G devices, the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G and the T-Mobile G2, and it may come down to personal preference, but the Galaxy S 4G has the potential to be faster and also sports a sharper, richer display.”

“The Galaxy S 4G delivers the fastest speeds yet for T-Mobile customers and adds some welcome enhancements, including a front-facing camera and longer-lasting battery. While we wish Samsung had also included a faster processor for $199, this is now the top smart phone available for the carrier. Both the $99 myTouch 4G and T-Mobile G2 are great bargains, but the Galaxy S 4G has a superior Super AMOLED display and does a better job of living up to the 4G part of its name.”

“The S 4G is essentially a mildly tweaked Samsung Vibrant with a couple of extra goodies. For those keeping score, a lot of the Vibrant’s perfectly serviceable features are back. So, what’s new? Android 2.2, for starters. Also, as the phone’s awkward moniker boasts, this handset brings T-Mobile’s particular brand of 4G (HSPA+) to the fold.I honestly wasn’t expecting too much given the piecemeal rollout of this next-gen data network, but the difference was noticeable immediately. Heavy hitting image-rich sites like (ahem) Wired.com loaded with virtually no hesitation, and raining down large file downloads from Dropbox produced nary a stutter.Yet another addition is the S 4G’s front-facing VGA camera. Though it’s perfectly poised for video conferencing, I was a little underwhelmed by the options on the app side. Getting the service up and running is simple enough thanks to a preloaded Qik app, but the occasional stutter and noticeable lag left a lot to be desired.Lack of polish aside, I can’t really fault the VGA camera in terms of functionality. I was able to make and receive video calls just fine. They just resembled fireside chats with Max Headroom.If we’ve learned anything over the past year, it’s that incremental improvements are incredibly easy to flub. Even with our lingering gripes with the S 4G, we can’t give the phone too much guff.Samsung managed to transform an already well-appointed blueprint into an even stronger contender. Sure, it’s not the overwhelmingly overhauled quad-core beast of our dreams. But even incremental progress still counts as progress.”

“It's an exciting time to be a T-Mobile customer. There's never been a better selection of high-end AWS-compatible Android devices before. The Galaxy S 4G, Nexus S, myTouch 4G, and G2 each bring a unique flavor of Android to the table. We think pure Android 2.3 trumps HSPA+, so the Nexus S is our first choice. But if you absolutely require HSPA+, we highly recommend the Galaxy S 4G. It beats the myTouch 4G with a larger, higher quality display, a less pervasive skin, and a lower price (after mail-in rebate). It also improves upon the Vibrant with HSPA+ and a front-facing camera, at the expense of that 16GB of internal flash storage. Cosmetically, we prefer the Vibrant to the Galaxy S 4G, but that's a matter of taste. If you already have a Vibrant, we suggest you wait until something more compelling comes along, unless HSPA+ and the front-facing camera really matter to you. We enjoyed our time with the Galaxy S 4G. It's a feature rich Android phone with a slightly customized UI that packs an impressive camera and delivers solid performance across the board. Battery life could be better, and it could be a little cheaper ($200 with a two-year contract, after $50 mail-in rebate). Let's just hope Samsung drops that Gingerbread update in less than six months this time around.”