T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant Review

Smokexz

Well-known member
Aug 30, 2010
851
34
0
Visit site
You can read it or not, you can leave your opinion about the device down below :p



Aside from the GPS(like what EVERYONE did with the iPhone 4 at launch) what else is bad about the Vibrant?

Let's start with the main thing everyone is thinking about, the screen and form factor of the device resembles a thinner brighter iPhone 4(no front facing camera though). The device has a 4 inch SUPER AMOLED screen, and Samsung makes this the selling point of the device, however I wouldn't go as far as to say you will ditch your Evo or X for a nicer screen... However the screen is nice, and supposedly sports Samsung's take on the Gorilla Screen. Now down to the hardware, it has that 1ghz hummingbird(of course all of these high end phones need a special processor name, because when they make a big deal about it, then they know it must be BIG) and this actually doesn't make the device "BLAZING" fast, but definitely FAST, TouchWiz might be the cause of this though, and then again we are still looking at a 2.1(at the time of launch) device. The browser is just like you would expect on any other Eclair browser*although Samsung has skinned it SLIGHTLY*. Now this device is expected to get Froyo by the end of next month(supposedly with the GPS fix). Now onto the device itself, the left and right edges of the device both have physical keys(left the volume rockers, not that bad but they feel rather cheap, and right lock/power, takes a lot of time to get used to), on the back you have a 5MP camera with autofocus(sadly, no flash) and some pretty funky speakers(the quality is great but the position just so happens to be where your hands are placed during landscape mode... not a big issue if you are listening or watching a movie by yourself. Onto the screen and software, it is nice but you do notice the "crapware"(this is becoming increasingly common with smartphones, the Droid X for example) however you barely lose any of that 16gigs of flash memory. Preinstalled you have Avatar the movie(exclusively on the Vibrant) and this to me is like a "test" or an "example", if you get the quality that good, then you will enjoy it, but I doubt your home videos will look any better(it actually might look worse xD). The 4 inch touch screen has 4 buttons on the bottom(standard Android keys) these are touch sensitive in a sense. Now when I got the phone I noticed how hard it was to get used to the lock button, but when you use it, you will accept it and wish the Evo would have gotten it (that 4.3 inch screen is nice, but impossible for a lot of people to use it with one hand).

Now onto the main "turn off" of the phone(at least that's what everyone else states). The TouchWiz UI seems like it is definitely slowing the phone down, but hopefully Froyo will fix this, it is similar to the iOS UI, with he icons and the same dock etc. Which brings me to the dock, you have 2 locked icons (dialer and applications) you can add any icon you want to the dock to access it from any widget page or application page. I personally like how it is set up, so I left it alone, but you might like your GMail or Facebook app on there. Is there a social feeds app, does it suck? Surprisingly, NO! It is a very nice app, I get my updates and when it refreshes I got my friends avatars and the links were clickable to launch to the browser. The Social Feeds app is very nice to go Facebook to comment or check updates. It supports Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter(very useful for twitter).



The great thing about the Samsung Vibrant is that it is the most affordable phone on the market, and it is actually one of the best, if not THE best(of course considering if you want front facing cameras, flash, etc.). It all depends what you want. The Vibrant is almost identical to the Verizon Fascinate and AT&T Captivate(at least with the specs, the form factors are totally different). T-Mobile has a lot of affordable data plans and I know AT&T has a cheap data package, for Verizon it might be a different case, they are costly, but since these phones are available for EVERY MAJOR CARRIER, you really don't have to settle.
Here is how I see it though, the top smart phone dogs as of right now are Evo, X, and Droid 2

Spec wise the Vibrant beats the X and Droid 2 and Evo(processor wise at least) if you want a high quality camera that is a different story, in this case we are looking for speed, and cameras do not effect the speed of the phone.
Feature wise the Vibrant does not have much that will make you go insane, the Evo has a much nicer camera, a front facing camera and a much bigger resolution. The Vibrant does have that 4inch SUPER AMOLED screen, but as I stated above, no one will drop their current phones for a screen(it's not a television). The Droid X also has that 4.3inch screen, and the Droid 2 boasts an "intuitive" physical keyboard(very rare to find in high speed Android phones)


In the end it is all about what you want but when I see it in my eyes

Vibrant > Droid X (they both have Crapware, but the Vibrant is much smaller and has a much nicer screen)
Vibrant > Droid 2 (the Vibrant screen is just big enough to not really whine about not having a physical keyboard, I type about 40 words on it per minute. the Vibrant screen is bigger, nicer, and the processor is faster)
Evo > Vibrant(the Evo has a much bigger screen, it has 2.2, front facing camera, a nicer UI and less crapware than the Vibrant, Evo still holds it own.... for now)


I hope I didn't bore you with my wall of text, if you don't really want to read just leave your thoughts bellow on what you thought of the Vibrant and as a serious Android competitor.
 
Last edited:

jamesshuford

Member
Aug 29, 2010
9
0
0
Visit site
I recently held one of these at my local mall and I have to say it was surreal! The graphics, user interaction; everything! It took everything I had to resist stealing the damn thing!
 

Smokexz

Well-known member
Aug 30, 2010
851
34
0
Visit site
I recently held one of these at my local mall and I have to say it was surreal! The graphics, user interaction; everything! It took everything I had to resist stealing the damn thing!
The first time I held it, I found that the 4inch screen was perfect, I think most devices ships have what this has, the screen size just made the device feel great to hold
 

voghan

Well-known member
Jan 30, 2010
592
8
0
Visit site
I think the European Galaxy S is probably the best smart phone available because it is a Vibrant with a front facing camera. I think the Vibrant looks more like an iPhone 3g but I've never seen a 4g version in person. I think the lag issue is in the 16gb internal SD data. The lag fix addresses this issue and I'm guessing that is why the Epic and Facinate aren't coming with that much internal memory.
 

terrycanfly

Active member
Jul 28, 2010
28
0
0
Visit site
First off the evo does not have a better camera. You are one of those coplete morons that feed the fire. 8mp and a flash don't make a better camera sensitivity to light does. And the super amoled screen is worth switching for. Not to mention the powerful hummingbird processor that no one can match, not even with a dual core. The camera sensor on the vibrant is the same size die, giving it a larger surface area per pixel hence making it more sensitive to light. So you don't have to worry about low light pictures being grainy or washed out with a flash. And 5mp is more than enough unless you plan on zooming in a rediculous amount and cropping in on a single blade of grass. Thet vibrant has a better screen, better processor and better camera than the droid 2 droid x droid incredible and the evo. The only advantage the evo is the 4g if you live in a 4g area. The front facing camera is just a gimmick. 99% of all people will only use the front facing camera the first and second days just like the webcams built onto laptops. If those aren't the right reasons to switch to a galaxy s phone then what reasons would you switch for. Its funny how people will praise one phone for being end all be all but will blast another phone for being superior in every way. Especially with spreading lies about the better phone being inferior
 

AnAm85

Well-known member
May 14, 2010
110
2
0
Visit site
I love how light this phone is. I love the screen size, and it seems perfect! Not too small but not too large (like the HD2 or DroidX). And TouchWiz is not as stupid as I thought it would be! And I traded my myTouch 3G Slide for this phone! I think I made a pretty good barter!

VERY satisfied with this device!
 

dan54

New member
Aug 31, 2010
3
0
0
Visit site
I love how light this phone is. I love the screen size, and it seems perfect! Not too small but not too large (like the HD2 or DroidX). And TouchWiz is not as stupid as I thought it would be! And I traded my myTouch 3G Slide for this phone! I think I made a pretty good barter!

VERY satisfied with this device!

I am in the same boat as this guy I at first was leaning towards the mytouch slide but my gut feelimg was tellimg me to go with the vibrant. I am completely satisfied with my choice in the vibrant.
 

icebike

Well-known member
Apr 8, 2010
1,726
115
0
Visit site
Instead of apologizing (twice) for your wall of text, why not edit the post and hit a few return keys now and then to create paragraphs.

There is no shortage of paragraphs in the world. Feel free to but a few.
 

Smokexz

Well-known member
Aug 30, 2010
851
34
0
Visit site
First off the evo does not have a better camera. You are one of those coplete morons that feed the fire. 8mp and a flash don't make a better camera sensitivity to light does. And the super amoled screen is worth switching for. Not to mention the powerful hummingbird processor that no one can match, not even with a dual core. The camera sensor on the vibrant is the same size die, giving it a larger surface area per pixel hence making it more sensitive to light. So you don't have to worry about low light pictures being grainy or washed out with a flash. And 5mp is more than enough unless you plan on zooming in a rediculous amount and cropping in on a single blade of grass. Thet vibrant has a better screen, better processor and better camera than the droid 2 droid x droid incredible and the evo. The only advantage the evo is the 4g if you live in a 4g area. The front facing camera is just a gimmick. 99% of all people will only use the front facing camera the first and second days just like the webcams built onto laptops. If those aren't the right reasons to switch to a galaxy s phone then what reasons would you switch for. Its funny how people will praise one ph one for being end all be all but will blast another phone for being superior in every way. Especially with spreading lies about the better phone being inferior

Calm down, I understand that but the Evo has an 8mp camera if I asked a complete noob which is better, they would go with Evo, for people like us( or you) who have additional knowledge, we know the difference, I know Vibrant is better in some ways(actually a lot of ways) but really Evo has that appeal, no regular user knows what we are talking about, side to side they see no difference.