Rise of the Samsung Galaxy S – Giveaway

Posted by Doug Muir

Since launching the Galaxy S line of Android smartphones in June 2009, Samsung has catapulted both its revenue numbers and its brand equity leaps and bounds within the super-competitive smartphone landscape. With sales of over 10 million Galaxy S devices by the end of Q4-2010, Samsung went from being almost dead last in smartphone penetration (4% of Android marketshare in 2009) to a super close second in overall android phones (27% in 2010) behind HTC.

I’ve been using a Samsung Galaxy S Captivate on Rogers since November 2010 as my daily driver, and it is easily hands down the best phone I have ever owned. It is as close to the all-in-one dream device I’ve been contemplating since laptop alternatives like PDAs and netbooks began to appear on the market in the early 2000’s. Web browsing is amazing. Multi-tasking is amazing. Recording crisp, clear highly saturated 720p HD video on my freaking phone is amazing! And that Super AMOLED screen (which to me is better than the iPhone 4 “retina” display) never fails to impress friends who are Blackberry or iPhone owners.

I have no problem opening and editing Word and Excel files on it. Viewing PDFs is no problem. Flash in the browser is decent about 70% of the time, with super heavy sites slowing down, but it’s acceptable to me given that this is a PHONE after all, and not my desktop quad-core processor PC. The Galaxy S literally feels like a laptop in my pocket, and I am thoroughly conflicted about the idea of ever carrying a tablet device around with me daily. It just feels like I don’t need a tablet with a phone like this in my pocket at all times. I do most of my non-work-related computing and communicating on the Galaxy S, with push email, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, What’s App Messenger, Palringo (MSN and AOL messaging) all instantly accessible and multitasked (SwipePad is your friend!). It’s  an exciting time for communication and mobile computing in general. I’m coming from a long history with Windows Mobile (6.5 then going back to 6.1 and Pocket PC 2003), so I thoroughly appreciate the instant gratification Android provides on a 1 GHz device.

Of course it does have some flaws… battery life on the Captivate when I had 2.1 Eclair installed was HORRIBLE. I’d start my day with a 100% battery charge and by 2pm the phone was almost dead, and that’s with moderate use! Then I applied the official 2.2 Froyo update from Rogers and it became a different phone altogether. Battery life feels like it’s at least 40-50% improved, as I can go 12+ hours without needing a charge with moderate use. The caveat is that the amazingly beautiful Super AMOLED screen is a big battery hog so brightness should be set to automatic or low to get that kind of battery life. If you crank brightness to max, the screen looks better than most people’s HD TVs at home, but it will suck your battery dry.

All in all, Samsung has proven to be a force to be reckoned with in both the Android and smartphone industry. With the Samsung Galaxy S 4G, the Google Nexus S, and the dual core Samsung Galaxy S 2 all successors to the hit 2010 Galaxy S product line, the future looks bright for Android Smartphones and Samsung as an innovator in mobile electronics.

Ok here we go..this is our first giveaway of the month with MANY more coming!

Galaxy S Captivate
Galaxy S Captivate (Rogers)

We are giving away a Samsung Galaxy S (Rogers) to one lucky person. You must follow the below steps to be eligble.

1) Follow @tektokca on twitter.

twitter logo
Follow Tek Tek Canada on Twitter

2) Tweet this caption to your followers:

@tektokca March Madness Giveaway- http://bit.ly/ePEFeV – | Tek Tok Canada #tektok #giveaway

3) And the last step, comment on this post to qualify. Quality comments only please. Would appreciate your thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone.

We will be selecting a random comment on April 20, 2011 and the winner must have completed steps 1 and 2 to be eligble.  Good luck and forward to as many of your friends as possible. Stay tuned for more great giveaways!

Open to all Canadian residents over the age of 18 (Excluding Quebec).

About Doug Muir

Doug Muir is an Associate Editor for Tek Tok Canada and avid enthusiast for all things involving technology. He is also a UX/UI Designer, Art Director, Mobile App Creator, Omelet Maker, Father, Husband, Car Nut, and Level 30 Ice Hero in DC Universe Online. He is proudest of that last title (don't tell his wife).

Check Also

Apple Has Just Made Their Biggest Mistake Ever with new iPhone Xs Lineup

Earlier today Apple unveiled the updated lineup for the iPhone product during their Apple Event …

37 comments

  1. So we are supposed to advertise a contest for entry into said contest? That kind of sounds a little counter productive no?

    Either way the Galaxy S line are all great phones. Software issues can always be resolved. Hardware is def’ sound.

  2. “I’ve been using a Samsung Galaxy S Captivate on Rogers since November 2010 as my daily driver, and it is easily hands down the best phone I have ever owned.”

    I’d like to know what other phones/devices you’ve used so I can see the full picture of what pile the Captivate sits at the top of.

  3. I am on my second iPhone now, and my previous phone was a HipTop II that I managed to stretch out for three years, waiting for a better phone to come along. I haven’t had a chance to play with a Galaxy yet, but I am curious to check it out. Your review is intreguing, especially the battery life, as I find that I drain my battery quickly and the iPhone (at least in my experience) isn’t much of a multitasker.

    Thanks for your review.

    Oh, and http://twitter.com/#!/30Minutes4Me/status/50599074147205120

  4. I have been using the iPhone 4 since it came out but once I saw this phone I fell in love with it. I wanna get it so bad. My friend has the Samsung Galaxy S but with Bell, but I think this is a better phone. I want to try out Android and Im hearing it is better than iOS. Great article!

  5. Great Article.. My husband and I have been looking at phones for awhile now. We have been given a lot of good feedback on the Samsung Galaxy S. I like that the phone is user friendly and I find the onscreen keyboard to be easy to use. Especially for those of us who text often. One thing I noticed you did not mention in the article was about the phone freezing or needing to be reset often? I am assuming this has never been an issue or it would have been brought up in the article. One experience I have had with my current phone is the freezing while multi-tasking. My husband has an older model HTC touch and this is a constant problem for him. So it is great news to learn that this phone handles multiple programs running at once without freezing or delays.

  6. Past phones: Like I alluded to in the post, I’ve been using PDAs and smart phones for years now. I had a Dell Axim X30 which ran Microsoft Pocket PC 2003, then my first smartphone was an HTC Tytn running Windows Mobile 6.1, Then instead of the Tytn II or HTC Kaiser I imported an HTC Herald running WM 6.1, then I changed the OS to WM 6.5… then my last HTC phone was the Tilt 2 (or Touch Pro 2) running WM 6.5.3, the last version before Windows Phone 7 came out… then I made the leap to Android. I have never owned an iPhone, as I could not get past the lack of customization in iOS. Even if you jailbreak you still don’t have notifications or widgets or text-to-speech or true multitasking, or the ability to play divX videos or flash, etc, etc…

    Galaxy S Freezing? Almost never… and I say “almost” because the only time the phone ever performed badly for me was when I installed the Visual Task Switcher app (http://bit.ly/gHP1df) which mimics the Palm Pre’s “card” style method of multi-tasking. Looks cool but slows the phone down to a grinding halt, so I uninstalled it and the phone is as smooth as silk everyday. One reason is that unlike HTC or Motorola, Samsung Android phones come with a great task killer app that allows you to kill running apps you aren’t using. This phone is silky smooth all day long.

  7. Thanks for the review. I’ve just started looking at Android phones and Samsung seems to have a great lineup. I’ve only ever had Nokia (Symbian-based) phones, so I’m looking forward to seeing what Android can do.

  8. Thanks for the review.

  9. Love the looks of the Galaxy S, would love to have one. Sounds pretty impressive.

  10. Curious to hear how the Galaxy S compares to the ATRIX

  11. Thanks for the great review. I have heard great thing about the Galaxy S and your insights again confirmed them. Like others here, I too am looking for an iOS alternative and this smartphone from Samsung seems as good an option as any out there!

  12. The Atrix should blow away the Galaxy S as the Atrix has a Dual Core processor, however I will reserve final judgement once we here at TekTok do our official review. But for now, even though I love HTC and have had 3 different HTC phones in the past, I feel like Samsung is on a roll right now with regards to putting out high quality product. The use of Gorilla Glass and SuperAMOLED display technology separates their handsets from other mobile competitors.

  13. I can’t think of any other brand that builds in DivX/XviD hardware acceleration. Everyone seems obsessed with h.264 these days. My current phone is an HTC and the quality is great, but between codec support and super amoled, Samsung has a pretty nice product.

    http://twitter.com/fortunzfavor/status/51491913454465025

  14. Antuaneth Rodriguez

    Thanks for the thorough review! I’m undecided between which type to get (there are so many around), so it’s nice to have such a well expressed perspective 🙂

  15. The reviews are great — but I am still looking for more information and comparisons as I can’t decide just yet.
    Thanks!

  16. I was looking at getting this phone but I ended up getting the Xperia X10… I’ve always wondered how it compares to the Galaxy S. Winning this contest would give me the chance to compare the two.. hint hint… nudge nudge…

  17. Thanks for all the info. Currently in the market and love the samsung I have now. This would definately be a step up!

  18. Has Samsung built their own custom UI on top of Android, or is this just stock Android 2.2?

  19. Samsung does have its Touchwiz UI installed but it is easily removed. Install Launcher Pro or ADW and touchwiz disappears.

  20. Battery life in phones (both in their lifetime and during the course of a business day) has to become more of an issue for consumers. At least they are offering ways to cut down on the battery usage on this phone. Looks promising!

  21. nice phone.

  22. Can’t wait for the draw. Sure hope I win !:P Good luck everyone.

  23. Interesting read. I wonder if one day Android will be the Windows of cellphones.

  24. This is the android phone I would like to get, the reviews on it look fantastic! Now that our local cell provider finally has a HSPA network up, I will likely be purchasing one online so I can activate it with them (the current selections has 2 older CDMA android type of phones and an underpowered HSPA/GSM verions).

    I’ve played with the Galaxy at a local cell store and I would definately agree that this is an iPhone killer! Can’t wait to own one of these!

    follow me on twitter @timmaywpg

  25. Great review. Love to testdrive one. Very slick!

  26. Thanks for the detailed review. This looks like a nice to have device.

  27. I have to say it it better than iphone.

  28. I use a Samsung omnia2 phone. I’d love to try the Galaxy S.

  29. Thanks for the review. I think you just convinced me to go with the Captivate over the iPhone 4. After playing around with both phones, I agree – the screen on the Captivate looks better imo.

  30. and the winner is?

  31. Sorry Teverek. You did not win this one. The winner has been contacted for shipping information. We still have many other giveaways ongoing.

    Thanks

  32. Most internet contest’s announce the winners on the site so that everyone knows there was “actually” a winner and that the prizes are actually given out.

Leave a Reply