The 4" Super AMOLED screen of Samsung's Galaxy S Vibrant delivers a visually heightened version of the Web, igniting Web pages, photographs, maps, and movies with all the intense vibrancy of a Las Vegas Casino. This is the Internet if it were made of neon billboards, reflective surfaces, and permanent night.

Super AMOLED
Not only is the new screen technology thinner than a typical LCD; it also uses significantly less energy, despite the large 4" size,thus resulting in a battery that lasts longer. The screen delivers greater brightness and performs noticeably better in direct sunlight than other models with standard LCD screens. Super AMOLED is Samsung's technology and theirs alone until they decide to license it out, something the companysays might happen in a year or so. Image quality is among the best on the market.

The only competition is Apple's retina display technology, which delivers better defined text and screen detail through higher resolution, but is also supported by apps and content made specifically for it. The Galaxy S Vibrant can only try to improve the existing content available in Google's Android 2.1 operating system, meaning there's little benefit with home screen widgets, Twitter feeds, and basic apps. It struggles desperately with the YouTube app for Android, delivering a muddy stream even in High Quality mode.

Where you will find the vibrancy of the Super AMOLED technology benefit the most is in high resolution imagery such as movies, video games, and maps. Here, Super AMOLED allows the images to really come to life.

Design
Thin, slippery, and bottom-heavy, the Galaxy S feels like a fish in the hand. I'm constantly battling the sensation and anxiety that it's going to slip out of my fingers and fall clattering to the floor. It's the first phone I've handled with a sculpted butt, and I'm not quite sure if that's supposed to rest above or below the palm. In either case, it doesn't feel natural.
The Galaxy S is a complete touch phone. No physical keyboard, no trackball or trackpad; even the search and selection buttons are missing. The power button, found at the top of most phones, is instead on the right-hand side, hidden under the bevel. The idea is to make it easy for your thumb to access. But I find it awkward.

Android 2.1
A 4" screen and 1 GHz processor combine to take full advantage of the new features in Google's Android 2.1 software. Multi-touch controls make it easy topinch-and-zoom in Web pages; even those that are Flash-enabled;and quickly organize all seven home screens.Animated wallpapers, from swirling galaxies and rippling ponds, are hypnotic when rendered by the Super AMOLED screen.

Both Bell, the carrier which offers the Vibrant, and Samsung have added their own selection of custom widgets and apps. Bell's are geared towards pushing the company's additional services, from remote PVR for owners of Bell TV satellite TV systems, to a streaming music and TV catalog. Samsung's apps aim to be more innovative.

A program manager delivers some much-needed multitasking assistance, allowing you to conserve battery life by closing down running apps that are no longer in use. AllShare, Samsung's brand name for DLNA technology, lets you easily connect to any DLNA-enabled device, like a TV or Blu-ray player, to share or stream your phone's media content.

Samsung's Social Hub is an app intended to synchronize your contacts with your social networks and organize those feeds into one simple Widget interface. Although a little cluttered with controls, the Widget half of that partnership does make it easier to stay on top of social updates.

Speed-Text with Swype
Perhaps the cleverest piece of software Samsung has ever included in a mobile phone, Swype typing, is a new keyboard system designed to make virtual keyboards easier to use. Instead of tapping letters, you simply draw a line through them to create each word. It sounds silly, but the system is so well thought-out and adept at compensating for you hitting the wrong virtual keys.

Most people are very particular about their typing preferences, and while others have reported loving Swype, I find that I can't use use it,even if it works. I'm simply more satisfied with hitting each letter at a time, and prefer to see all the keys with each selection. When you're drawing on the keyboard, your hand is always blocking a number of keys from view.

Nevertheless, results are admittedly very accurate and, with a lot of practice, can be faster than normal typing. (See a video demonstration of Swype typing here.) http://www.marketnews.ca/MarketnewsTV/CTIAWireless2010:DemonstratingSwipeTexting.html
Multimedia Playback

The Galaxy S Vibrant is very strong as a digital media player. With the Samsung Kies application for your PC (not Mac), you can easily drag-and-drop files from a computer over to the phone. This includes Xvid and DivX video files, which transfer quickly and without need for conversion. Movies play in full aspect ratio, no black bars or cropping, and music tracks can support 5.1 surround sound. With 16 GB of memory (expandable to 32 GB with a microSD card) you can store a sizeable number of video clips. And considering watching video is one of the most attractive features of the Vibrant's Super AMOLED screen, chances are users will be storing plenty of clips

Camera
There are two cameras included. A front-facing 5 MP camera with built-in flash offers both still photography and 720p HD video recording. The lens has a smaller angle than most, producing pictures that are bit soft in quality and poor in low-light conditions.

Video Calling
The second, front-facing VGA camera is for video calling, an additional subscription service offered by Bell. When you call someone who has both a phone that supports video calling and is a subscriber, you can select the video call option and view both your video feeds in small viewing boxes on the phone. The image and sound quality is quite good, although it may be hard to find someone who also has the feature (unless you all buy Vibrants!) To broaden the options, Bell allows video calling to connect to a home computer enabled with both a Webcam and a Facebook application. I tried to test this out, but couldn't get the Facebook application to install.

Feature Set
The Galaxy S Vibrant matches the popular features of today's premium smartphones. It has both 3G and WiFiInternet connections, built-in GPS and a digital compass, plus full Web browsing and multiple e-mail support with Microsoft ActiveSync. Additional features include a speakerphone, Bluetooth, support for apps, removable battery, accelerometer, light and proximity sensors. It even has an FM radio.

Battery Life
Its battery life is impressive, in large part thanks to the Super AMOLED screen. It can last a full day before charging, often continuing on right through to the morning.

Vibrant In A Permanent Night
Samsung's Super AMOLED screen technology delivers a clear advantage over the competition and results in a smartphone that's ideal for those seeking a more enhanced relationship with the Web, digital media, and applications like Google Maps that deliver rich, visual experiences. But the relatively weak phone design, coupled with an underwhelming camera and poor selection of exclusive apps mean that Samsung still has work to do if the company wants the Vibrant to be the best Android in the galaxy.

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