Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 Android media player I reviewed Samsung’s first Android media player just over a year ago and frankly thought it was awful. I'm sure I wasn't alone. Undaunted, Samsung tried again with a new device packing a larger screen, faster CPU and bigger battery but only costing £40 more. Samsung YP-G70CW Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 Second listen: Samsung's Galaxy …
80 fricking percent, for a media player that's 'mediocre' (reviewer's words, not mine) in so many respects?
Let me recap;
"noticeably thicker and heavier (than the Galaxy SII)…" , "Make do with LCD rather than AMOLED"… , "makes do with Android 2.2, which is a bit long in the tooth…", "CPU is hardly state of the art"…, "main camera is a mediocre 3.2Mp autofocus affair with a rather puny LED lamp…", "Bundled apps are a bit thin on the ground…"
And that's only before we get to the specs, the likes of which I'm sure I saw at CES... in 2009. If this thing didn't have Samsung written on it it'd get 65% and no messing.
Seriously Reg, what's with the % ratings these days? It's getting to the point where I can guess the rating before even opening the article.
* If it's Apple, we give it 90% because it's shiny.
* If it's Samsung, we give it 85% otherwise we feel guilty for giving Apple such high ratings.
* If it's HTC we give them 80% for being plucky little underlings.
* If it's Archos we give them 65% for being French.
* If it's (insert No Name brand here) we give them 65% because they're not Apple or Samsung.
Jeez.
On the other hand, 5in screen, 2GB for apps, another 6GB for media, micro SD expansion, long battery life, good sound, very good bundled earphones, under-the-hood tinkering opportunities aplenty and only £190.
have to plead a special case because I own one but I'd say the review and rating is about right.
There have been three major iterations since (depending on how one is counting - phones and/or tab operating systems) and they are still releasing kit with 2.2 on it, the leading Android OEM? That's the sort of thing you except on a bottom feeder slate from Generic KrapTek Inc.operating out of a backstreet garage in Shanghai , not Samsung. What the hell are they playing at?
Who cares? Ice Cream Sandwich a steaming pile of old, slow, buggy, insecure crap. Or, rather , in six months it will be.
In the mean time people who don't base thngs on version numbers being higer will buy devices which do what they want, use them and enjoy them. Some may not even notice that Amdroid 2.2 is a slow, old, buggy, insecure pile of shit.
These are excellent android devices.
I bought a pair of these for 99 quid each for my kids when Comet had a special offer. I wish I'd bought three so one extra for me!
With FM radio, GPS, compass, stereo speakers, twin cameras, microphone, big display etc they make a fine toy, and cheaper for games than Nintendo DS's.
I've upgraded them to gingerbread and they run v well.
Anyone who tells me I should have bought SGS2 or Note is invited to give me the 400 quid each for the difference.
BTW, to upgade to Gingerbread, it's very easy:
http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/android-tablet-hacking/25778-upgrade-your-samsung-galaxy-wifi-5-0-gingerbread.html
although I backed up the memory, all I had to do was wipe the cache and didn't have to restore movies, photos or music.
Seems AC doesn't like this device.
However, it seems like a reasonable device for those of us who don't want a massive and expensive phone at all times.
A smaller phone could supply this PMP with a WiFi connection for when you want to do some light internet browsing, and you can leave it home if you are in a situation that can damage a fancy device (in the pub, on a building site, etc).
The review might have used the the word 'mediocre', but that was comparing to it a device (the Galaxy S2) that costs twice as much.
Well, absolutely great news, if it was not for the fact that my daughter already has a iPod Touch October 2011 revision I may have jumped for joy.
Really, you lot go on about Smartphones, tablets, iPads and iPhones and ignore the elephant in the room, the iTouch - its got good storage too at 64G and if jailbroken allows you do do all the Samsung does and more - obviously, its got cheap cameras, but apart from that its a good media player, games console and music player.
This device is said to support DAB and DAB+ as well.
Samsung announces mobile device with DAB
"Samsung are to release a new device which has a built-in DAB+ receiver. The Galaxy S Wifi 5.0 also has a TV receiver and will use the Android platform when it’s released in April."
http://radiotoday.co.uk/2012/02/samsung-announces-mobile-phone-with-dab/
> Yup, works a treat with Google Navigation as long as you remember to pre-cache the map tiles.
Or even a 'proper' navigation app like Copilot. 8 gig is enough for both the euro and US version and all the maps, and you can shove a 32Gb micro-SD in for some tunes in the car.
Android 2.2 puts me off, but now I know it has GPS it's a little bit tempting...
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Slight bias from me I'm afraid, as I bought one of these just (i.e. a week) before Christmas and I think it's a cracking bit of kit (paid £132 via Amazon and a definite upgrade over my previous PMP), weight isn't really an issue as I've used far heavier kit with a shorter battery life. It's certainly a good trade off against it's ability of extended use (heck my phone is heavier, though it is a bit of an antique, a 2003 V620, battery still lasts a week though).
I rather like the screen size as it's big enough for it's use and good for the banana fingered amongst us. The 5 inches of real estate is a nice compromise between size and portability and after using this fiddling around with my father's iPod Touch was just that, fiddly.
The best bit though is no iTunes (or equivalent) getting media on to it is a nice drag and drop affair (Kies, the software that is used to upgrade the firmware/download pod casts, etc... is a right pain in the backside though and avoided at all costs).
Just bought one for a work project.
I found the super high dpi kind of hard to work with as everythings so squished on the screen.
I rooted it and then brought the DPI down to 160 using an app called LCD Resolution -so allowing much more to fit on screen.
Warning though - I almost turned mine into a nice paper weight.
If you want to change the DPI then FIRST install a different launcher such as Go Launcher as the stock Samsung Launcher will crash without the default resolution.
It took me 3 hours to code myself out of that one. :-S
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