Review: Samsung Vibrant
Bluetooth
The Vibrant is one of the first phones to ship with Bluetooth 3.0. Bluetooth 3.0+HS is supposed to allow devices to pair and connected via Bluetooth, and then establish a Wi-Fi link between them for faster file sharing. It took some time, but eventually I got it working. Using just regular Bluetooth, I sent a 6MB MP3 file from the Captivate to the Vibrant. It took just over one minute. I then turned on the Wi-Fi for both devices and sent a different 6MB file. This time, the transfer took 5 seconds. I think I am going to like Bluetooth 3.0+HS very much.
It also supports regular pairing with mono and stereo Bluetooth headsets. This feature functions perfectly well. Call quality was good through mono headsets and stereo music playback was OK, but not stellar. I was able to pair it with several PCs, and pass image files back and forth without too much trouble.
Clock
As with many Android phones, the time is displayed in a large digital read-out when the screen is woken up. Pressing any button wakes the screen, and you can easily read the time from an arm's length away. The clock application also offers an alarm, world clock, stopwatch and timer.
Navigation
The Vibrant comes with both Google Maps and T-Mobile's TeleNav software. Google Maps is free, and at this point is a known entity. It offers simple-to-use features, free turn-by-turn navigation, and generally works well. The TeleNav software commands a monthly fee, and does the same things. Since to me there's no major advantage to TeleNav, you may as well stick with the free Google Maps. If you find it isn't enough, you can always try T-Mobile's software.
MediaHub
The Galaxy S line of phones will all come with Samsung's MediaHub software on board. This piece of software is a place for users to buy and download content, such as music and movies. The service isn't up and running yet, so I couldn't test it. Samsung couldn't say if/when it would go live for U.S. customers.
Swype
Out of the box, the Vibrant runs Swype's predictive text entry software. After many trials and tribulations, I've decided it's just not for me. Thankfully, you can go with either the stock Android keyboard or the Samsung keyboard. Both are decent alternatives. Swype, though, might work well for many users.
Video
The Vibrant comes with MobiTV on board. MobiTV requires a subscription. In the trial that I ran, quality was better than T-Mobile Mobile Video, but it was still garbage. The Vibrant is also packaged with an optimized version of Avatar. Avatar looks stunning on the AMOLED display. High-def movies that I loaded myself looked equally good. The AMOLED display makes the Vibrant a killer video playback machine.
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Samsung Vibrant (Galaxy S)
