When we first clapped eyes on the Samsung Galaxy handset (or i7500 as it is known to those with a numeric fetish), we had a bit of déjà vu.

Unboxing the Android-based handset felt much like greeting an old friend you haven’t seen for years who’s changed in appearance but you can’t quite put your finger on why. The Galaxy has all the familiarity of other recent Samsung handsets, but in reality it’s actually quite different.

So it’s the same, but different. But is it better?

If we’d only spent limited time with the Galaxy, we’d probably say no to this question, based purely on the fact that it took us a while to get to grips with this new-in-town Android handset. Quite literally.

Whoops!

The handset’s casing feels solid but plasticky at the same time and is, much like its peers, prone to sticky fingers. If you’re not careful, it can behave not unlike a large bar of soap, slipping through your fingers and onto the floor. However, with a bit of practice, you do get used to holding the phone in a way that makes this less of an issue.

Our review unit was the standard black version, but we’ve also spotted pictures of a white handset online with rumours suggesting this hue may be making its way to the UK. From the videos and images we’ve seen the white one actually looks that little bit nicer as the silver finishing and detail shows up more and looks a little classier.

How else does the Galaxy shape up aesthetically? There’s a hidden proximity sensor at the top next to the earpiece, a volume rocker sits on the top left of the handset all on its lonesome, while the right-hand side is reserved for the lock on/off key and the camera hard-key.

Round the back, you’ve got a multifunction jack for charging and the like, a 3.5mm headphone jack (which you’ll want to make use of as while not ugly the bundled headphones are big and beefy), a microphone for boosting audio quality during video recording, a five megapixel camera with LED flash and auto focus and a speaker.

Mega memory

The battery case is very easy to get off/put back on, but it was disappointing to find that this is the only way of accessing the microSD card slot. Just as well the phone boasts 8GB of inbuilt memory.

We were impressed further by the knowledge that the handset supports up to 32GB in additional storage through microSD, so all was soon forgiven.

Saving the crown jewels for last, the front of the Galaxy plays home to a 3.2in AMOLED (320x480 pixels) screen that supports 16 million colours. It’s crisp, clear and vibrant, with light sensing capabilities that make it a bit easier to use in different conditions.

The only hard keys present on the front live underneath the screen. The centre piece is a D-pad navigation (shaped like the pot you’d put a Christmas tree in/mixing bowl) with a small OK button in the middle. To the right, there’s a back key, home key and power button. To the left, there’s a menu key and dial key.

It did take us a while to get our heads around which button did what and the trackball featured on HTC’s Android models certainly wins out here, but it’s not a disaster and Samsung has to be commended for not just following and copying the leader. However, we’re not to keen on the faux wooden effect and experienced phone users who like to control their handsets with one hand while multi-tasking will have their work cut out here due to the ergonomics of the nav’s design.

Good looking

All in all, Samsung hasn’t done too badly on the looks front, especially when you compare it to the other Androids out there. Its vital statistics are even more pleasing with the handset showing off a svelte 11.9mm thin figure that’s 56mm wide and 115mm long. It weighs in at a very lightweight 116g.

The handset also comes with a protective cover (a bit like a leather sock), which serves to protect it from damage. However, it does render the phone quite unusable with it on, with only a gap for the speaker rather than any of the other controls. This means you have to take it out of the sock each time you want to use it, which means the slippery casing/finger marks situation presents itself again in all its glory.

Onto the interface, Samsung hasn’t added any bells or whistles, or widgets for that matter, onto the Android 1.5 (AKA Cupcake) skin, meaning it doesn’t really offer anything new to users. It’s times like these that the Android Market really comes into its own as business and consumer users alike can download the apps that really matter to them on the base interface.

Vanilla interface

As an Android handset, the usual suspects are on offer, such as a web kit-based browser, Google Talk, Google Maps, and contacts behave in the same way you’d expect them to.

We had a few issues setting up Gmail on our handset, but it handled the set-up of Hotmail perfectly speedily and also supports other POP3 and IMAP-based email accounts.

We also couldn’t get the calendar to launch either, which was a massive shame, particularly as it’s said to be capable of supporting more than one.

However, on a more positive note, we found the Switchers button on the home page quite useful for turning on/off connectivity such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth at a glance. It’s certainly much more preferable than digging around in a settings menu.

Messaging was a bit bland though, making us not want to really spend any time creating and sending texts or emails, which is not like this particular reviewer at all.

And, while the virtual QWERTY keyboard was very responsive and pleasant to use (we were speed typing after a while), the fact you had to open up a sub menu to get to numbers was a bit of a pain. But, again, one that you could live with if you had to.

Locked out

Our screen also kept locking if the phone was inactive for seconds, and the lock/unlock key wasn’t as responsive as we’d have liked every time we wanted to kick start our phone back into action. That said, these niggles don’t make the phone completely unbearable or unusable. A quick glance at the settings menu showed us this was set to 30 seconds, so we quickly changed that and moved on.

In the main, the 3.2in capacitive screen was very responsive to our requests, only behaving like a stubborn teenager who doesn’t want to go shopping with its parents once or twice during the review process.

Wonderful worldwide web

Browsing the web was a delight, with a speedy response and easy navigation. IT PRO rendered beautifully on the large display, with our only complaint being having to resist pinching our thumbs together and out again on the screen. Nope, no multi-touch here, just the plus and minus zoom buttons. It’s a shame, but we can live with it.

The handset handles the transition from portrait to landscape speedily both in the browser and when it comes to images, which aids the user experience.

The five megapixel snapper is where this handset really excels and from the maker of the Pixon we’d expect nothing less. The camera tries its best to handle different conditions and worked well both inside and outside, our only gripe being it didn’t handle light sources near subjects too well, resulting in a bright blur set apart from the clarity of the main subject.

Once snapped, you have the option of sharing your picture (via email, SMS or Picasa), editing it, or setting it as a wallpaper or contact icon. Of course, you can also just delete it too.

Camera killed the video star

Alas, video isn’t as impressive. While Samsung has bundled an extra microphone to make video recording easier, we couldn’t find a way of zooming in and out, making the camera’s results, at best, average - if you’re feeling generous. Audio and imagery was a bit grainy, but still watchable. What actually enhanced our video joy was the fact that the phone played us a little pan pipe-esque ditty every time we put our headphones into the jack or took them out. Although it did anger our colleagues, so be warned.

Watching videos on YouTube was a much more pleasant experience, showing that the video capabilities of the Galaxy aren’t all bad.

Smartphone battery eater?

Call quality was average with some echo present on occasions and we didn’t get to use the phone for long enough to really judge whether the battery lives up to its claims.

That said, it wouldn’t be surprising if this smartphone sucked up juice like an ant eater due to all the functions and settings you’re likely to be using in the background all the time.

If you travel a lot or object to charging your phone too frequently for cost or environmental reasons, it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on some of those settings and powering down the ones you don’t need constantly.

After using the Samsung Galaxy for a few days, we soon realised that we’ve been somewhat spoilt by the interface tweaks HTC has adorned us with and that, quite honestly, this handset isn’t all bad. Far from it, in fact.

Author: Maggie Holland

Samsung Galaxy (i7500) review