Thursday 22 November 2012

TECH FOCUS: SAMSUNG


TECH FOCUS: SAMSUNG

GALAXY S

I thought that was a masterstroke... I mean, there’s Steve Jobs in the background waxing on about not letting Adobe Flash on his beloved baby and how it was the best handset in the world... Along comes the Galaxy S with a 4” screen, compatibility with Flash and I think it was even thinner than the iPhone. The Galaxy S put Samsung firmly on the map! I felt that it was better than the iPhone not just because of the screen but because of Android. It made me wonder what would have happened if Android was installed on the Omnia HD I8910! Android was back in 2010 and still is at present the better operating system.

Apple was making a big deal of Face Time, but it only worked over WiFi! Whereas the Galaxy S supported applications including Skype that could facilitate video chats over 3G! I do feel that the Galaxy S won the contest hands down! But unfortunately what passes for the media just gave it to the iPhone.

GALAXY SII
I knew that I had to get the Galaxy SII having reviewed it! It came with a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and featured Android Gingerbread. At the time I felt that there was nothing else on the market that was close save for a couple of HTC models including the Desire HD which produced jerky HD video recordings. Once again Samsung produced another winner with the SII! The media were still putting the iPhone ahead of the game, but the public voted for the Galaxy SII as the phone of the year, 2011! It is hardly surprising... It has great multimedia capabilities and has a great camera that takes beautiful pictures and full HD video! The SII was greatly improved when it got the Android Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade. However, it has to be noted that it wasn’t the full real deal in the first instance; but when the proper Ice Cream Sandwich was finally updated it improved the SII even more!

The SII managed to be even thinner, the screen was bigger – 4.3” and the battery life had improved!

Did you know that the Galaxy SII still retains its value? Yes, when you got to some mobile phone stores the Galaxy SII is quite expensive still on a monthly contract basis!

I do mystery shopping from time to time; posing has an ordinary Joe who bugs the sales assistants with a barrage of questions! The one thing that is unanimous: “The Galaxy SII is by far the best selling phone and it beats anything the iPhone 4S can do...” Now that’s not me talking; this is the sales assistants in various stores.

GALAXY NEXUS
If you want to experience Android in its purist form then this is the handset that will do it for you! Just in case you didn’t realize, the Galaxy S range of handsets uses the Samsung TouchWhiz interface overlay. To be honest I have mixed feelings about the overlay.

Going back to the Galaxy S, the TouchWhiz overlay on it was ok, but I felt it made the overall experience a little sluggish. Things improved with the SII, but I noticed that the battery would deplete faster with Ice Cream Sandwich and TouchWhiz. What I have done lately is to “root” both my SI and SII and replace the ROM with the Cyanogenmod 9 Ice Cream Sandwich (I told you about that last issue). Rooting my Galaxy handsets has improved it so much it’s unbelievable! I have done away with TouchWhiz and running Android as is! As a result the phones are faster and the battery lasts even longer!

I loved the minimalist design of the Galaxy Nexus, the screen size was even larger – 4.65”! I didn’t miss the TouchWhiz overlay at all! The Galaxy Nexus Android is fast! Oddly, I didn’t understand why it was given a 5MP camera; the Google Nexus is supposed to be their flagship and it really needed a better camera in my opinion – especially when it is competing against not only the iPhone, but HTC, LG and Sony, etc. Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4 was a major milestone; it showed that it was ready as an operating system that no longer needed an overlay!

Things got even better – no exaggeration – when the Nexus received the latest Android, Jelly Bean 4.1! It is superb! It’s leaner and faster! The Nexus was the first to get this update! As a result it has made the Nexus desirable again!

THIS IS A PREVIEW! YOU CAN READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE IN FULL AND FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING @ www.SYNAPSECIRCUIT.com

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