Official "I got the Samsung Vibrant," Thread.

[Danny4G]

How is the reception compared to other phones in its class?

Call quality?

Build?

Screen responsiveness?

Call and Speakerphone volume?

Camera quality in low light areas?

Touchwiz 3.0?

[Kies]

Reception is average, an improvement over past Samsung phones I've had. I've yet to lose service in places where they and other phones did (iPhone didn't work in one place where the Vibrant did at zero bars) and the bar meter/signal reporter is completely bonkers. -0dBm (no service) has no problems transferring data or holding a clear call.

I think people are associating it's lightness with how good or bad it's built and to be honest, it doesn't apply here. It feels extremely solid but also light. I did take note that the search capacitive button is slightly brighter than the capacitive buttons.

Screen responsiveness is off the charts for an Android phone as is Multitouch. VERY accurate on both accounts.

Calls seemed to be a bit bassy but that could've been the other callers because the last two I made had good clarity with a slight hint of tinny sound. Speakerphone quality is good, not as loud as the CLIQ for calls but sounds better overall. Not nearly as much distortion as you get with the iPhone or CLIQ when playing music.

I'll check tonight for myself. My friend is due for an early upgrade on Verizon in Oct. She should be getting the Fascinate (with flash) so I'll compare them.

TouchWiz 3.0 adds so many enhancements and completely beautifies Android in my opinion. The Music player is awesome, customizable EQ, some staging effects and SRS 5.1 Surround which admittedly, works better in other products. Definitely not SRS' or Samsung's best work. I use their plug in with iTunes, have it with my TV and car and they all sound much better. Samsung's Music Player still doesn't play Apple Lossless which is a bummer for me.

Putting the music player widget and a call widget in the notifications drop down is super convenient.

The phone is just snappy. The color depth when playing videos is super rich. Samsung (I think, not sure if this is a 2.1 thing) has added support for iTunes purchased video, and YouTube ripped videos. I'm forgetting the name of the codec used here but it's nice nonetheless

The Daily Briefing widget blows for Weather and News over the stock Android 2.0+ News & Weather widget.

The dialer is nice, improves the feel and look over stock.

TouchWiz 3.0 is just right for me, it doesn't feel as heavy as Sense and I like that.

Sound quality when playing music is awesome, way better than the 3G I just sold in my car. Not as loud (not too quiet either but this can vary with the playback source) but the SQ is much much better. The custom EQ and Wide setting has a bit to do with that though.

Overall, I'm impressed with TouchWiz 3.0 and what Samsung has done with Android.

I was going to do a video review of this but then I felt like people would be better off trying it out in the store to really get a good idea of the screen and other awesomeness Samsung brings to the table.

[hommer]

hows the battery life if one uses Google Voice/facebook app a lot?

[hommer]

Does anyone know if the $5 Grand Father T-zone will allow 3g connection on this phone? I'm sick and tired of Edge connection on my iphone 3G and its sluggish performance with GV.

[ManticorePgh]

I agree with iFone3G's assessments, here are my quick thoughts:

2 things I dislike so far:
no LED for notifications.
the USB connection on the top is kind of awkward if you need to talk and charge/sync at the same time.
power button isn't the best location, wish it were on the top instead.


2-ish things I like so far:
Swype. I thought I'd hate it, but I'm loving it and adapting very quickly.
Voice/Speech: Voice input for SMS is great, "Driving Mode" which reads your txts/incoming CallerID outloud, Talking Alarm ("Hey idiot, you're gonna be late, it's 7:30am!").
And of course it's SO much faster than my G1.

[raskas]

I love this phone!!

Its the best display i've seen on any smart phone thus far. even with the iphone 4's higher res it doesn't come close to the vibran's colors and the black level is unreal, The photos are amazing even in low light with night mode on its very very good and its very fast in general. None of the lagg i was warned about.

I need help though. Please, does anyone know how i can unlock it ???????????

[hommer]

I love this phone!!

Its the best display i've seen on any smart phone thus far. even with the iphone 4's higher res it doesn't come close to the vibran's colors and the black level is unreal, The photos are amazing even in low light with night mode on its very very good and its very fast in general. None of the lagg i was warned about.

I need help though. Please, does anyone know how i can unlock it ???????????

call tmo say u are going oversea for vacation. They will most likely give you the unlock key depending on how long you have been with them.

What phone did you have before? How is the battery life?

I'm very tempted to get this phone. I really want to know if $5 t-zone will work on this phone. Could someone confirm?

Thanks,

[raskas]

thanks hommer, i'll try that.

I was using iPhone 3G before (my first and last apple product btw) i have no idea how well the battery is going to hold up. havent had it long enough. but I will test and report, i've just got it not more than 2 hours ago..still on the charger.

I dont see why it wouldn't work on $5 t-zones, but i cant confirm that for sure.

[Kies]

I use Google Voice as my primary source for calls and texts. Took it off of the charger around 2AM, did some texting and left it off of the charger with some apps open and the CPU locked at 1000MHz. Woke up at 8:AM or so to 88% battery life. 71% now after messing with GPS, watching a few videos, downloading some stuff..

[hommer]

thanks hommer, i'll try that.

I was using iPhone 3G before (my first and last apple product btw)

Im using the 3G now. GV mobile app is horrible on the iphone. Web based GV is too slow on Edge. I'm kinda sick of the iOs so I want to switch to android. How do you find android working for you?

@iFone3g: that is not bad at all. My iphone 3g only lasts for a day with edge connection. Can you do tethering?

[Kies]

Yes with the lame market apps, Android WiFi tether/Wired tether isn't supported yet.

I had the iPhone 3G and I haven't looked back. I may pick up an iPod touch, but I could care less about the iPhone. The Vibrant is much more fun in my opinion.

[mazdaman12]

what is the problem with the market?

[Alakar]

I picked mine up yesterday an am loving it!

Signal quality is good, but the reception display does bounce around. I don't know if it's the phone or if it's the network upgrade going on around here. I've seen some fluctuation on my iPhone and Wing the last couple of days as well. Haven't had any call problems and 3G has been rock solid (5.5Mbps down 550Kps up). Even when the bars show minimal signal, performance hasn't degraded.

Call quality is good; speaker is loud and clear. Speaker phone is loud and clear but sometimes distorts at max volume.

Build quality is good, but the phone is much lighter then my iPhone or Wing. I think I will get a hard case for it once I can find one. Being so light I just worry about getting careless with it.

Screen and app responsiveness is super fast! Blows my 1st Gen iPhone away.

I've only played with the camera a little, but it takes nice pictures, outdoors or indoors.

I've got nothing to compare TouchWiz 3.0 to, but I like the interface. I don't use Facebook, mySpace, etc, so can't say how all the social networking integration works, but the interface itself is easy to use and very customizable.

So far, I love the phone and the speed.

[mrfury84]

so i tried installing Skype on the Vibrant but apparently our phone is not supported
wtf?
am i doing something wrong?

[RotaryKnight]

I just got the phone today, went to radio shack and.....extended my contract for another 2 years to get it *sigh* $280

Aside from that and the missing features from the Original Samsung S like radio, TV-out, and front camera, the phone is an awesome upgrade if you are upgrading from a phone that is a year or two old.
I upgraded from my old tiring G1 and comparing the two, the Vibrant is a whole lot better.
Being able to record in 720p 30 fps is awesome. The camera takes good quality pictures, and video when in good lighting. I will need to compare it to my cousins iphone 4g when I get a chance. having no front face camera is not a deal breaker unless you video chat all the time. What I dont get is why Tmobile would want to remove features when other companies that HAVE the same model didnt. They say cost, but I would gladly pay more for the radio, front face camera and the 3.5mm video out. As for led flash...I dont bother with it, I already have a camera. Another thing I like in the camera program is the ability to pause a video recording, and resume it. I dont like small little clips and I also like the data counter at the bottom left when video recording.

The swype typing feature is excellent. I thought I wouldve hated it, but after using it numerous of times today, I got the hang of it and I can type just as fast as with a qwerty keyboard.

Yes with the lame market apps, Android WiFi tether/Wired tether isn't supported yet.

I had the iPhone 3G and I haven't looked back. I may pick up an iPod touch, but I could care less about the iPhone. The Vibrant is much more fun in my opinion.

There isnt a wifi tether, or atleast I cant find one, but as for the wired tethering, I am tethering with the Samsung Vibrant as I type this. Took a while to find the drivers lol but I got it working, I had to download the Samsung Moment android drivers, and tethered using PDAnet, which I used with my G1.

The best thing I must say that teh Galaxy S has better then other phones from what Ive seen first hand is the screen. Its brighter, and colorful, and vibrant ( lol ).

The battery life, hard to say since I only just bought it today, but, at 1500mah, it should last pretty long. I got a behemoth 2400mah on my G1, even though the specs are pale compared to the Vibrant, 10 hours of continous music play and web browsing here and there at work will take half the battery life.

Some reviews and some people say that the phone gets sluggish at times, ive been playing with it for 9 hours and it hasnt been sluggish yet. One thing I noticed is that the Daily reader, which is a samsung widget for the home screen. That little apps takes 5mb-70mb of ram....


Edit:
One last thing, the reception indicator...
I feel like this is the iphone thing all over again but, when I hold it in my hands the reception drops or atleast thats what it indicates. But when I do speedtest, the speed is the same as a full bar, even when it has ZERO bars :P.
It sometimes fluctuates from full to zero in seconds, makes me wonder if its a software problem...
Also, from looking at the samsung website and the Tmobile Vibrant specs, it says that TVout is built in.
Ive tried it with 2 different 3.5mm to rca cables and it doesnt work, other people online says that it doesnt work also, for now it only seems that the At&t variant works.....that sucks...

another edit...

I also like the AllShare feature samsung has.
I can watch videos and listen to music from my pc on my phone, or, view the same thing from my phone on my PC, or it can stream files on my pc, to another device. Pretty cool.