The Samsung Vibrant is slim and very comfortable to hold in your hand.
Samsung 
The Samsung Vibrant sure does make a great first impression. As soon as I pulled the phone out of the packaging, I was impressed with its thin profile, big screen, and how comfortable it was in my hand. And, the more I used the Vibrant, the more impressed I was with its functionality, as well.
Price and Availability
The Samsung Vibrant is available from T-Mobile for $199.99 when you sign a new two-year service contract. That price does factor in a $50 mail-in rebate, but it's the same as what Sprint charges for the HTC EVO 4G, Verizon charges for the Motorola Droid X, and what AT&T charges for a 16GB iPhone 4.Design
The Vibrant is an all-touch-screen phone -- no hardware keyboard here -- which allows for its thin and sleek profile. The phone measures 4.8 inches tall by 2.5 inches wide by .4 inches thick, just slightly bigger than an iPhone 4 on all counts.
Like all of Samsung's Galaxy S phones, the Vibrant features a Super AMOLED touch screen, which is, in fact, vibrant. Colors pop off the screen, and, with its 800 by 480 resolution, everything from images to text looks crisp and clear. The touch screen is nicely responsive, too.
The display measures 4-inches diagonally, noticeably larger than the 3.5-inch screen found on the Apple iPhone , but smaller than the mammoth 4.3-inch displays found on the Droid X and the HTC EVO 4G. The screen felt very roomy when using the phone, though, as I never had any trouble viewing Web pages or typing with the on-screen keyboard.
The overall design of the phone is very appealing; it's one of the best-looking Android phones I've seen. In fact, my only complaint about its design is the plasticky casing on the back of the phone. When compared to sturdier devices like the Droid Incredible or the iPhone 4, the Vibrant's backing looks a bit cheap.
Like all of Samsung's Galaxy S phones, the Vibrant features a Super AMOLED touch screen, which is, in fact, vibrant. Colors pop off the screen, and, with its 800 by 480 resolution, everything from images to text looks crisp and clear. The touch screen is nicely responsive, too.
The display measures 4-inches diagonally, noticeably larger than the 3.5-inch screen found on the Apple iPhone , but smaller than the mammoth 4.3-inch displays found on the Droid X and the HTC EVO 4G. The screen felt very roomy when using the phone, though, as I never had any trouble viewing Web pages or typing with the on-screen keyboard.
The overall design of the phone is very appealing; it's one of the best-looking Android phones I've seen. In fact, my only complaint about its design is the plasticky casing on the back of the phone. When compared to sturdier devices like the Droid Incredible or the iPhone 4, the Vibrant's backing looks a bit cheap.
Making Calls
I live in an area with poor T-Mobile coverage, but I was impressed with the Vibrant's call quality in my tests. Voices sounded loud and clear on both ends of the line, and I heard little distortion or background noise.Software
The Samsung Intercept ships with Android 2.1, which is no longer the latest version of the Android OS. Android has since been updated to version 2.2, though, which is already available on Google's Nexus One and will ship on the forthcoming Droid 2.
Android has come a long way from its earliest versions, and even though version 2.1 is not the latest version, it does offer refinements that previous versions were lacking. Navigating through the OS's many options has gotten easier, and the Vibrant performed well when I was zipping around the phone, checking out its many options. Keep in mind, however, that Android is still a bit geeky enough to overwhelm some newbies. For more details on Android, read my complete review of the mobile OS.
On top of its Android OS, the Vibrant features Samsung's TouchWiz interface, which has been nicely updated. When I tested it on the Samsung Behold II, I found that TouchWiz didn't mesh well with the Android OS; so many of its features were already offered by Android that it just felt superfluous. But the new version of TouchWiz blends into the Android environment nicely, offering new widgets that are more useful. I particularly liked the "Feeds and Updates" widget, which offers easy access to various social networks.
Android has come a long way from its earliest versions, and even though version 2.1 is not the latest version, it does offer refinements that previous versions were lacking. Navigating through the OS's many options has gotten easier, and the Vibrant performed well when I was zipping around the phone, checking out its many options. Keep in mind, however, that Android is still a bit geeky enough to overwhelm some newbies. For more details on Android, read my complete review of the mobile OS.
On top of its Android OS, the Vibrant features Samsung's TouchWiz interface, which has been nicely updated. When I tested it on the Samsung Behold II, I found that TouchWiz didn't mesh well with the Android OS; so many of its features were already offered by Android that it just felt superfluous. But the new version of TouchWiz blends into the Android environment nicely, offering new widgets that are more useful. I particularly liked the "Feeds and Updates" widget, which offers easy access to various social networks.
Web Browsing
The Vibrant supports T-Mobile's high-speed 3G network, as well as wireless Wi-Fi networks. T-Mobile was the last of the four major nationwide carriers to launch a 3G network, but its reach is growing. In my tests of the Vibrant in and around the Boston area, T-Mobile's network delivered speedy page loads and downloads.I also liked the browser on the Samsung Vibrant. In the past, Android's browser required you to dig through menus to access simple functions (like the address bar or the back button). That doesn't seem to be the cast on the newer batch of Android phones. Like the Droid X and the Droid Incredible, the Vibrant features a browser that just makes sense. The address bar is just where you'd expect to find it, and you can use the handy back button below the display to move back through Web pages. The 4-inch screen felt very roomy when I was browsing the Web, too, and I liked that you can pinch and spread the screen to zoom in and out as needed.
What you won't find on the Vibrant -- yet -- is support for Adobe's Flash technology. You'll get this support, which will allow you to view multimedia Web pages as you would on a desktop computer, when the phone is updated to the next version of Android. version 2.2.
What you won't find on the Vibrant -- yet -- is support for Adobe's Flash technology. You'll get this support, which will allow you to view multimedia Web pages as you would on a desktop computer, when the phone is updated to the next version of Android. version 2.2.
Camera
The Vibrant features a 5-megapixel camera, which is something of a disappointment overall. For starters, it lacks a flash, which should be standard on a high-end smartphone by now. Picture quality was just so-so. Many of my images were blurry, and colors didn't look as bright (or as vibrant) as I expected them to.Multimedia
T-Mobile is hyping the Vibrant as a multimedia smartphone, and they are right: this phone knows how to have fun. It comes with a full-length copy of the movie "Avatar" loaded on the device, and it looked stunning when viewed on the Vibrant's screen. I found the sound to be a bit low over the speakers, but it did improve when I used headphones.The phone also comes with the MobiTV application installed, which allows you to view live mobile TV stations right on the phone. I found MobiTV's performance to be very good, when viewed over both T-Mobile's 3G network and over my own Wi-Fi network at home. Video looked very good, and I experienced no stuttering or pixilated images.
Other multimedia features include Slacker Radio, the Sims 3 game, Amazon Kindle for Android, the standard YouTube app, and access to Amazon's MP3 store.
What the Vibrant S -- like all Android phones -- is missing is the kind of connected eco-system that Apple's iPhone and iTunes offer. iTunes allows you to easily purchase or rent movies for viewing on your phone, offers a simple way to download music, and lets you transfer content easily between your iPhone and your computer. Right now, Android phones offer access to Amazon's MP3 store for purchasing music downloads, but the experience doesn't extend beyond that. That should change later this year when Samsung launches its Media Hub, which will allow users to purchase music and video. The Media Hub will be a definite advantage for Samsung's phone, provided it offers enough content.
Other multimedia features include Slacker Radio, the Sims 3 game, Amazon Kindle for Android, the standard YouTube app, and access to Amazon's MP3 store.
What the Vibrant S -- like all Android phones -- is missing is the kind of connected eco-system that Apple's iPhone and iTunes offer. iTunes allows you to easily purchase or rent movies for viewing on your phone, offers a simple way to download music, and lets you transfer content easily between your iPhone and your computer. Right now, Android phones offer access to Amazon's MP3 store for purchasing music downloads, but the experience doesn't extend beyond that. That should change later this year when Samsung launches its Media Hub, which will allow users to purchase music and video. The Media Hub will be a definite advantage for Samsung's phone, provided it offers enough content.
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