Samsung Galaxy R: Stripped Down Galaxy S II

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AppId is over the quota

 The Samsung Galaxy R is as feature stocked as they come. Connectivity is lacking only in the 4G/WIMAX department, since this is an international GSM phone, putting 4G in was probably going to be overkill. So you have HSDPA 900/1200 for high speed connectivity, while the 2G frequencies of 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 deal with calls. Local connectivity is handled via Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, microUSB 2.0 and GPS.

Now for the show stopper, unlike most phones, including the Galaxy S II, the Galaxy R runs on a dual-core 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, with ULP GeForce GPU for graphics and its main claim to fame, of course, is the Tegra 2 chipset. So in short this is a very fine phone for HD gaming, very fine indeed. Internal memory is capped at a generous 8 GB, with 1 GB of RAM and a very generous 2 GB of ROM.

As for the auto-focus enabled 5 MP camera, it falls a bit short. Pictures turn out looking very washed out, especially with green objects on a white background. Distant shots turn out grainy with very sharp edges, and foliage shots always turn out oily looking. But somehow pictures turn out in a light fluorescent blue when taken in low light, courtesy of the flash. If you're looking for shooting modes in the Galaxy R, you won't be disappointed. Smile shot, Panorama, Sports, Sunset, Landscape, Portrait, Indoors and many more are available.

The 720p HD videos are suitable for home viewing, there's a little bit of pixelation on moving objects, but otherwise sound quality and color fidelity combined with the capture rates make for decent 720p videos.

The music player is the standard remix of TOUCHWIZ 4.0 and the native Android player, somewhat of a mixed bag in terms of design, and if you're looking for a cover flow like design, you'll be disappointed. But otherwise you get stellar sound quality, a fantastic radio, preset equalizers and full album cover support. Audio file support is a bit limited at MP3, WAV, OGG and eAAC+ being the only playable formats.

Of course the awesome video player more than makes up for it, you can easily and flawlessly play 720p HD movies in the MP4, DIVX/XVID and WMV, formats. Colors are bright, but focused, and there is never any skip in sound or picture movement. If you enjoy watching movies on your smartphone, the Galaxy R is a pretty good choice.

The Samsung Galaxy R comes with the standard arrays of features, such as -- GPS, JAVA, SNS integration, a digital compass, an organizer, image/video editor, document editor (works with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF), Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, GTalk, Picasa integration, Adobe Flash support and voice memos, dials and commands.

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Samsung Galaxy S Takes on Motorola Droid X

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AppId is over the quota

With the smartphone wars heating up, users now have a lot of options when they set out to buy a new smartphone. Android has taken over as the OS of choice for most independent phone manufacturers like Motorola, HTC and Samsung, and all of them are continually rolling out new devices. All of them have released excellent phones in the past and are now competing for the title of the ultimate Android smartphone. Both the Galaxy S and the Droid X feature prominently in our list of the Best Android Smartphones, but how to they stack up against each other?

Let's compare Samsung Galaxy S vs. Motorola Droid X: the two favorites in the race for Android dominance.

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Samsung Galaxy Note: Smartphone, Tablet, Notepad

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AppId is over the quota

 The Note has a dual-core 1.4 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM and it comes in 16 GB or 32 GB internal storage varieties. There’s also a microSD card slot so you can expand that by up to 32 GB.

It supports HSPA+, LTE, EDGE and GPRS networks so you are well-placed to get the best speeds possible wherever you happen to be. You’ve also got A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b,g,n.

The main camera is an 8 megapixel shooter and it is capable of recording 1080p video at 30 FPS. There’s also a front facing 2 megapixel camera for video calls. There’s a LED flash, but the camera app is pretty basic in terms of features and the autofocus can take a while to find the right level. Shots mostly turn out well but, as is so often the case, the camera doesn’t perform so well in low light conditions. The video recording is good quality, but the audio doesn’t match up.

If you’re buying a phone like this then chances are you want to enjoy some entertainment on it and take advantage of that display. For video it supports the MP4, M4V, Xvid, DivX, AVI, and 3GP formats. For best results you can stream the audio to a Bluetooth headset. This is a great device for watching movies. It is also good for listening to music on, although everything sounds better through a headset. You’ve got DLNA support for streaming content.

The Note is also fantastic for web addicts and browsing is an absolute pleasure. Speeds depend on your connection but it generally loads pages fast and you can enjoy full version websites with Flash.

The S Pen is another special feature on the Note and there are a few dedicated Samsung apps to help you get the best from it. S Memo allows you to sketch or write with ease and you can share your notes. The S Pen also offers some gesture shortcuts. You have the ability to hold the stylus button and double tap the screen to bring up a notepad – this ties into the S Memo app. You can also tap and hold the screen to capture a screenshot and it immediately opens in an image editor so you can add notes or diagrams if you want to. It does work really well as a notepad for capturing thoughts on the go and everything you create is easy to share through the usual social networking and messaging options.

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The Battle Against the Galaxy S2

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AppId is over the quota

The Google Nexus series was a new concept for the U.S. carriers, a smartphone that was directly available to the consumer, unlocked, with stock Android. The original Nexus One was a silent hit among the high tech smartphone lovers, offering a speedy operating system and immediate upgrades to Android. The Nexus S was the second Nexus smartphone to be released, and was offered on three of the major U.S. carriers, unlike the original Nexus One, which was only available through T-Mobile. The Nexus Prime or the Nexus 3, is the rumored successor to the Nexus throne.

There aren't any solid leads on the Nexus Prime/Nexus 3 and even the name is still up in the air. There haven't been any rumored specs released, but the rumored manufacturer is ironically Samsung. In effect, the Nexus Prime/Nexus 3 is shaping up to be a Galaxy S2-like smartphone with one major difference, no manufacturer overlay, which means it will be extremely fast. Overlays have been known to cause lag on even the most powerful of smartphones. In addition, the Nexus Prime/Nexus 3 will be fully supported by Google, and therefore will receive Android updates sooner than other smartphones. Like the Nexus S was a competitor to the Galaxy S 4G, the newest Nexus will no doubt be a competitor to the Galaxy S2.

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What You Should Know About the Samsung Galaxy S

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AppId is over the quota

As with most smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S was introduced as a potential competitor to Apple’s iPhone. Samsung is one of the few companies with the ability to challenge Apple in the smartphone arena, which is why this device features such a great hardware specification.

A big name phone like this is bound to attract comparisons from many other devices and there are plenty available; how does the Galaxy S compare with the Nexus S or the Motorola Droid X, for instance, or its successor, the Galaxy S II?

If you’re in the position of looking for a good quality smartphone and have the Samsung Galaxy S as one of your choices, don’t forget that this piece of mobile technology comes in various alternative guises. It is worth checking out just how these variant releases compare with each other to get the best idea of which model you should choose.

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