Review of Samsung's slightly flawed gem for T-Mobile USA, the Vibrant Galaxy S smartphone

The Samsung Vibrant for T-Mobile is part of Samsung's Android-powered Galaxy S family of smartphones. All the versions sold in the U.S. (AT&T's Captivate, Verizon's Fascinate, Sprint's Epic 4G) feature 4-inch Super AMOLED displays, 16GB of internal storage, and a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird CPU. Only the Sprint model features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, though.

The Vibrant features impressive specs overall, and its 5 megapixel 720p HD capable camera ranks high among them, though the lack of a flash earns it a ding on the report card. Also troublesome is the Vibrant's relatively weak reception on T-Mobile's network. The biggest issue with the Vibrant, however, is the frequency and severity of pauses, or hiccups, in the use of what is otherwise a very speedy phone. These seem to exist is all versions of the Galaxy S - even those in Europe. In spite of these problems, the Vibrant is still a desirable handset. It does many things right, and presents it all on that magnificent touchscreen display.

Goodies like the full version of the Avatar movie pre-loaded on its 2GB microSD card, and a pre-installed The Sims3 game will help it compete at its $199.99 price point.

Hardware

As a Samsung Galaxy S based smartphone, the Vibrant for T-Mobile features a simple touchscreen slab design. What makes that design special is not its style, of which it has some, but rather the brilliant properties of its 4-inch, 800 x 480 pixel Super AMOLED^(INFO) display. Samsung's Super AMOLED technology puts the capacitive touchscreen^(INFO) layer directly on the display layer, which makes the complete assembly thinner, better performing in direct light, and somewhat more frugal with power.

That big display ensures that the Vibrant is not a particularly petite phone, though: 123 x 64.5 x 10.0mm (4.8 x 2.5 x .4in). That makes it narrower, shorter, and thinner than a Motorola DROID X, but not much so.

Apart from the display, the design is simple. There are 4 touch sensitive buttons at the base of the phone, and a volume rocker on the left edge that is balanced by a power/lock button on the right edge. The 3.5mm headphone jack is at the top, next to a micro-USB port for power and data that features a sliding cover.

The rear of the phone has a nice pattern on it, and feels slightly warm to the touch - in spite of being made of plastic. The 5 megapixel camera sits on the back, sans flash, and there is little else to the rear cover except for the speaker grille and a slight bulge (an additional 1.5mm) at the bottom of the phone. The rear cover can be easily removed to reveal the microSD memory card slot (2GB card included, 16GB already built-in), but the battery need not be removed to swap cards.

The build quality of the device is good, but the plastic rear cover and relative light weight of the device don't make it feel particularly rugged. The rear cover also seems a bit too easily scratched.

Usability

In spite of what you have heard about Samsung's TouchWiz in the past (including what we've said on this site), the user interface work that Samsung is doing is good. TouchWiz 3.0, as it appears on Samsung's most recent smartphones, is user friendly, attractive, and sensible. It still lacks the spit and polish of HTC's Sense, but it is desirable none the less.

The new main menu, with its ability to be arranged into panels of the user's choosing, is a great example. The shortcut buttons for WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and Silent mode that appear in the notification area are another. Even Samsung's new homescreen is nice: there are plenty of widgets, and users can add, remove, and rearrange home screen panels as they like. Great stuff.

The Android 2.1 OS still has some issues of its own, though. The back button doesn't always perform as a user might intend, and there still is no proper task manager on the phone. But overall Android is easy enough to use for people to settle in quickly enough.

The Vibrant's contact system is very nice. It is easy to find a contact, thanks to the list's index letters and easy searching, and shortcuts to frequently accessed contacts can be placed on the home screen. The phone imports contacts from Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter and will make use of their contact photos, as well. Status updates can be viewed from a tab in the Contacts app, where users can do things like reply and retweet. The ring profile support on the phone is minimal, but text input options are well rounded, and include the very nice Swype keyboard system.

While there is much on the phone that can be customized, such as home screen layout and (live) wallpapers, there is no real theme support. I really do appreciate being able to reorganize the main menu, though, and the ability to swap out the Contacts and Messaging icons at the bottom of the screen for those of other functions. My only real issue is that the Vibrant occasionally hangs, or pauses, for a second or two. These pauses are most frequent with 3rd party apps (all of which work fine on other devices), but happen with the built-in apps, too, and are often entirely repeatable. They can make the phone annoying to use, at times. That's not something I'd expect from a phone with a 1GHz processor.

This lag issue is what drops the Vibrant's Usability score from a 4 to a 3. It is a real problem.

Calling / Data

While it seemed to be an issue in my initial encouters with the Vibrant, the phone's internal antenna seems to work quite well, finding a signal where many other devices can't. Voice quality overall seemed good, when there was signal enough, and even the speakerphone performed well - though it was obvious to remote callers that it had been activated.

Data is well covered on the Vibrant. In addition to the typical GPRS, EDGE, and 3G HSPA^(INFO) support one can enjoy on the T-Mobile network, the phone also supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. I managed to get 3G data speeds that ranged from 1200kbps in weak signal areas to those well over 2500kbps in better coverage areas. The Wi-Fi system supports DLNA^(INFO) (through the AllShare application) for streaming media to or from other compatible devices, though, truth be told, I had limited success with it, just as was the case with the Motorola DROID X.

Messaging

Like most Android smartphones, the Samsung Vibrant has great messaging capabilities. Samsung has added some of its own apps for messaging on the Vibrant, though, that make it more colorful and even more useful. The brightly colored threaded SMS/MMS system is very nice, for example. It lacks contact photos, but at least makes it clear as to which messages are from you, and which are from the other person.

The Vibrant has full support for IMAP, POP, and Exchange email through a very pretty application that Samsung has added to the phone. Moving between folders is very easy thanks to the TouchWiz 3.0 sliding tabs at the top of the inbox. Multiple email accounts can be configured, and Contacts and Calendar data can be pulled in from Exchange accounts along with mail. Gmail is handled by a separate Gmail client, and it, too, supports multiple accounts for mail, contacts, and calendar data.

No dedicated social networking apps are pre-installed, but official (and non-official) apps for Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace are readily available (and free) if the built-in support in the Contacts app proves insufficient. Instant Messaging support is limited to a pre-installed Google Talk client, but apps for other systems are also widely available.

Apps / App Store

While the Android Market can't compete on an application count basis with the iPhone App Store, the fact that there are nearly 100,000 apps to choose from should make most anybody happy.

For their part, T-Mobile and Samsung loaded the phone with plenty of good stuff. Slacker Radio, The Sims3, ThinkFree Office, and the full length Avatar movie are pre-loaded. Samsung's cute Memo, Write and Go, and Mini Diary applications back up a very solid Calendar app that pulls in data from multiple Gmail and Exchange data sources.

Google's Maps application, with its free turn by turn navigation system, is pre-installed on the Vibrant. But if you prefer a non-beta navigation system, and who could blame you, then you might enjoy the Telenav GPS system that is also loaded onto the phone.

Browser

The web browser that is built into the Samsung Vibrant is first rate. The large, colorful display and accurate touchscreen provide the perfect foundation for what turns out to be a competent and fast web browsing experience. Pages render the way they are supposed to, and they load up quite quickly.

Zooming can be accomplished multiple ways, including through the use of multi-touch gestures and double tapping on the screen. When the browser zooms in or out, text re-flows to keep everything readable, too. Adobe Flash 9.1 support is built into the browser, though a dedicated client on the Vibrant takes over when you attempt to watch an embedded YouTube video.

Camera

With two glaring exceptions, the lack of a flash and hardware shutter button, the Samsung Vibrant for T-Mobile has a top notch camera. It shoots very sharp 5 megapixel still photos, and is capable of producing equally nice 720p HD video recordings. The fact that the user interface is very easy to use and visually appealing is just icing on the cake.

The missing flash, however, means that the phone really needs a good ambient light source before it can snap a photo. You'll have to hold the phone still to have a chance in darker environs. The missing hardware camera shutter button makes that all the harder, since users are required to tap on the screen to focus and then tap again on an on-screen button to snap the photo. The process makes camera shake an issue. I do like the wide array of features on the camera, though, such as face detection, anti-shake, and blink detection. The stock Android 2.1 gallery application does an acceptable job of presenting the photos to user, too.

Music

The Samsung developed music player on the Vibrant is a step forward from the stock Android player, in my opinion. I like the visual appeal it has, and appreciate the quick access to playlist creation, the many equalizer presets, and even the simulated 5.1 channel surround sound. If also features a nifty cover flow like look when the phone is held horizontally.

When I synchronized it with Windows Media Player from my Windows 7 PC, however, most of the album art failed to copy over. Without some sort of MTP^(INFO) support, even partial album art success wouldn't have been possible, so the Vibrant is still ahead of most Android phones. Perhaps it is just my Windows Media Player that is at fault, it's hard to say. I do know that the music that had its album art copied was purchased from the Amazon MP3 store, though not on this device. The Amazon MP3 store is pre-loaded on the Vibrant, though.

Battery

With a large 1,500mAh battery like that in the Vibrant, some might be inclined to expect stellar battery life. Alas, were that only true. In my situation, at least, the large display, 1GHz processor, and weak reception contributed to a phone that could only last one day with a decent amount of use. That's with the display's brightness turned down, but with WiFi enabled most of the time.

If you live in a stronger signal area, and don't have to rely on Wi-Fi for data, you will get an easy day and a half out of this device.

Samsung rates the phone as being good for almost 6.5 hours of talk time or 18 days of standby time.

Reviewer Spin

Of all the Android smartphones with over sized displays (4.0 inches or greater) to come along, I probably like the Samsung Vibrant (and its Galaxy S brethren) best in terms of hardware. The phone feels more manageable with one hand than devices like the HTC EVO 4G and Motorola DROID X, and you gotta love the Super AMOLED touchscreen technology.

I am, however, disappointed by the performance of the phone's internal antenna on T-Mobile, and am often dogged by random pauses and stumbles in what is otherwise a blazingly fast device. And even with Swype, my personal tastes lean towards devices with hardware keyboards (like Sprint's Epic 4G).

In the end, I like the phone quite a bit. But until Samsung can issue a firmware update to address the lag issues, and maybe the reception, I'm not going to love it.

You'll find a gallery of photos shot with the Samsung Vibrant for T-Mobile USA, along with a sample HD video, on the following page.