Video killed the radio star?

Hmm, maybe it did, but the bigger questions is did Samsung's Galaxy S kill the iPhone? Umm, if it doesn't then police are likely to charge the Galaxy S with Grievous Bodily Harm because it's come pretty close!

I got my Galaxy yesterday after doing a lot of deliberation, checking out YouTube reviews, Cnet, etc... I decided that this looked the best option.

I did consider for a bit the Blackberry Storm II, but what let it down for me was the Maps app didn't seem to load as well as other phones, and for me who enjoys nothing more than a creative shortcut or extra scenic route, I need my maps to get themselves together on that front and display before I've missed my turn - note, rules in my car, no U-turns!

I've already had an iPhone 3G and 3GS (yes both, I'm so greedy) and my biggest issue with them was the bluetooth really sucked. I bought a little Suzuki Sport to get around town (which it does beautifully) and got the bluetooth kit so I could be cool and talk whilst driving, but the iPhone when not in use reconnects to the bluetooth every 30 seconds and drives me crazy!

Out of the box, like other reviewers, the Samsungs noticeably lighter, and I think when others talk about it feeling cheap, I think that's what they mean, it kind of feels a bit toy like because of if.

The other thing worth mentioning straight off is the layout of the "Home Page" - at first I thought Samsung had it backwards and the way the applications section was, well I wanted that as my Home Page and then defer to other if I wanted (which I never would). At this point it's worth noting that I don't read instruction manuals, so for those that do, consider yourselves a cheat and also know that you've lost what would have otherwise been a magical period in your lives when you discover things like deleting apps in the home page doesn't actually delete them for sure - so it's like carrying apps in reserve. So I went through and killed off all the apps that were put on there by my network carrier, and then went off and removed pretty much most of the other apps in there. From using the iPhone I knew which apps I was always going to use first, and with 7 pages to put apps on, plus the ones behind that, I could sit on my home page a handful that I'd use regularity, and then going back from there, less popular apps that I'd use and so on.

The moving wallpaper on the screen does look impressive, but I thought it took away from function, making it hared to locate apps, to I took a closeup pic of my watch in the dark and set that as my wallpaper - looks very cool, and the apps stand out with that background - and whilst there, something else that I really like when you flick across to the other pages, the background moves across the picture, so you're looking at a different part of the pic on page 7 than you would on page 1. It's a nice touch that I like.

The bluetooth - the thing that killed the iPhone fantasy for me, works beautifully. From Melbourne, I talked to Julian in London, no problemo's, and then later Catherine somewhere in France, again no problemo's, so I'm wrapped with that.

It's probably worth pointing out that no I haven't played with an iPhone 4, mainly because I didn't want to - having to put some stupid plastic thing around it so my calls didn't cut out, and knowing that OS4 (which I have on the 3GS) didn't fix the bluetooth issue, I was out - plus I know they've spec'ed it up, but it's only a progression of a revolution, where Samsung has begun something here.

There are other cool features, but I think that's more to do with Andriod than the phone - but to say the phone seems to be able to handle all the apps Android has - I've already had a couple of video calls to play around with it (I got one for Lisa at the same time), works beautifully, Google's voice search is amazingly accurate, and I like Vlingo, which is voice command for the phone - although I need to check it out, as part of me thinks it uses the 3g network to go off to interpret what was said before completing the task it thinks was required - also I'd like to see whether they're able to develop the obvious next step of secondary voice commands - i.e. when you want to call someone who has multiple contacts in the phone, it stops requiring you to hit the phone, so only removing a couple of keystrokes - I want to use this phone if I have no fingers man!

Again something for Android, but I also want a xxxx xx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxx, xx xxxx xxxx x'x xx xx xxx xx xxxx x xxx'x xxxx xx xx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx, x xxx xxxx xxx xxxxx xxxx xxxx xx xx, xxx xxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx xx xx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xx xxxx xx x xxxxx xxxxx x xxx xxx xxxxxxxxx xx xxxxx xxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx?? That's an unbelievable idea, that's a billion dollar idea in productivity and OHS measures! Probably worthy of a Nobel Prize for something? Hmm, let me get rid of that so you buggers can't read my ideas - but know, this is an awesome one, and I'm off to find a small developer firm in a very IT cheap country to get it done!!

Look, so far I've had it less than 24 hours, and for part of that time I was sleeping - but my thoughts are so far so good, whilst initially I did feel a wee bit let down, after playing with it, I perked right up, and I think it's a wonderful phone - does it make me feel special? Well, I pity the fool that just got a new job, and along with that they got an iPhone 3GS only a few weeks before this and the iPhone 4 were due out, not realising it, but for the next 2 years they're on a business plan that doesn't allow them to swap, yeah it makes me feel special - sucker!!

Enjoy,
C