Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 Android media player
Small tablet or big PMP?
Review 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.
Second listen: Samsung's Galaxy S WiFi 5.0
Physically the Galaxy S 5.0 Wi-Fi looks and feels much like the Galaxy SII phone. With the same rounded corners, chrome vanity band and optical track pad you would be hard pressed to tell the two apart. Thanks to a bigger battery it is noticeably thicker and heavier but the larger screen hasn’t had too much impact on the width or length.
The screen’s 187dpi count can’t match the SII’s 217dpi, let alone the Galaxy Note’s 285dpi because its 800 x 480 pixels are here spread across 5in rather than 4.3in. The S 5.0 also has to make do with an LCD rather than AMOLED panel.
TouchWiz smartens up Froyo – stick one on the music player
Despite those caveats, the Galaxy S 5.0’s screen is colourful, bright and reasonably sharp. More to the point for watching movies, playing games or reading e-books five inches is the perfect compromise between screen acreage and one-handed convenience.
The Galaxy S 5.0 makes do with Android 2.2, which is a bit long in the tooth but when combined with Samsung’s TouchWiz overlay the OS still does a decent job. There is a Gingerbread update available in some parts of the world which you can download using Samsung’s Kies software but it has yet to reach European shores.
Only a 3.2Mp stills camera but it records 720p HD video
If you want an even more modern version of Android, the Galaxy S 5.0 is easily rooted using SuperOneClick and I suspect it will run custom ROMs like the imminent Ice Cream Sandwich-based Cyanogen Mod 9 just as well as the Galaxy S and SII.
Next page: Ever ready
COMMENTS
"The Galaxy S 5.0 makes do with Android 2.2". Pardon? Are they serious?
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?
Is this an iPod wannabe?
Well, it's a media player. The clue is in the title.
Re: Hang on...
yes, it has compass and GPS. use gmaps with pre-cached map squares and it's a winner.
the hires screen makes my tomtom XL seem crap.
Re: Hang on...
> 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...
Re: Hang on...
Yup, works a treat with Google Navigation as long as you remember to pre-cache the map tiles.
