Samsung Galaxy S

 Samsung clearly had the Apple iPhone in its sights when designing the Galaxy S. The sleek candybar handset is nearly identical in size to the iPhone 3GS and mimics its chrome-trimmed black exterior. In fact, the Galaxy S is both lighter, at 119g, and has a brighter AmoLED touchscreen than Apple's alternative.

The 4in display makes colours appear vivid and bright, and it's also very responsive. Swiping to unlock the phone or answer calls soon becomes second nature, while the multi-touch support allows you to pinch to zoom in and out of
web pages, maps and images. Answering a call involves a very definite swipe -again, much like the iPhone.

There's an on-screen qwerty keyboard for use when emailing or texting. It's easier to use this in landscape mode - invoked by turning the device on its side. An alphanumeric keypad can also be selected.

SOCIAL MEDIA

As an Android 2.1 (Eclair) handset the Samsung Galaxy S automatically syncs with social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter, plus webmail   services including Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail. Depending on the settings you specify, background data will automatically deliver updates for each of these. Such auto-syncing, however, tends to impact on the battery life.

Samsung preinstalls an eBook reader and ThinkFree Office, allowing you to view and edit documents. Also of note is the ability to play media files stored on the phone through other devices. The 8GB internal memory can be expanded with a microSD card of up to 32GB capacity. We loved the simple-to-navigate, customisable interface. A touch-sensitive button on the bottom left offers access to the Settings menu for any app you have running, while the central control button is used to exit them.

The Galaxy S has a 5Mp camera that allows you to tap the screen to define the focal point. A range of scene modes, blink-detection and anti-shake technology, plus options to add effects and adjust the exposure and white balance are all included. The resulting photos are shown off to full effect on the Galaxy S's amazing screen. The video camera, media player and FM radio are decent, but overshadowed by the camera.
The GPS location feature was quick to pinpoint our location and to accurately update as we moved from place to place. Google Maps and Google Navigation (the free Android satnav app) make use of this. We were impressed by the lack of signal problems when using 3G web access, but we wouldn't recommend overdoing it: this noticcably drains the battery. We got just over 24 hours of use between charges.

VERDICT

The Samsung Galaxy S is a great smartphone that offers a number of different features that certainly come close to rivalling Apple's iPhone. Just bear in mind that the battery may not last as long as you'd expect.

Details

Price (SIM-free) £439 inc VAT 
Further information bit.ly/samsunggalaxy-s 
Specifications Google Android 2.1 (Eclair); 4in, 480x800-pixel screen; 1GHz processor; 5Mp camera; 8GB memory; HSDPA Bluetooth + EDR; 117g; 64x13x119mm