I am a lazy bugger, hence I write my initial impressions about the Spica here. In points!
Don't mind if the order of points is random and haphazard. I type as I recall, so if it looks like I am rambling, sorry :cool2:
--Vibrant screen. Colours are well saturated, with no 'exaggeration' seen in AMOLEDs. Thus, the TFT on this phone produces blacks in a very convincing manner, and does other colours just fine. Screen beats that of the iPhone 3GS by a long margin in this. Standby screen (lock screen) shows time, date, signal strength, 3G strength, wi fi strength, bluetooth status, gps status, operator name and charging status (charging/connect charger/fully charged) CRAZY information in one button press!!!
--Touch Response: If the iPhone was 10/10, then the Spica can get 8/10, since it's highly responsive, but sometimes it fails to register a touch, maybe one out of 20 times. Which can be annoying when you are showing the phone to someone who thinks the iPhone is the holy grail, and the screen response is just perfect till you take it out from the pocket and show it to them.
-- Proximity Sensor: Samsung forgot this one. HOW, I can't believe!! My chin dials numbers of people I don't want to, while I talk to someone else. HIGHLY undesirable. The hardware lock button comes to the rescue, but one wouldn't want to lock his screen every time he picks up a call.
--Typing: There are 3 typing options. One is the standard no-frills Android keyboard (which i prefer), the Samsung keyboard (which has added features, but the touch response and the auto correct just do not cut it) and the Hindi Keyboard (which i frankly don't care much about).
A point to note is that the emoticon button on the standard keyboard is a good added feature and is missed dearly on traditional QWERTY phones. Another good feature is how there is a '.com' button on the keyboard when you are in the browser. There is also a good touch response, and the auto correct works very well in the Android Keyboard. You can also store a list of words you use regularly, but are not there in the dictionary, like Indian cuss words
which appear just fine when typed, if stored.
One thing they haven't addressed is the LAG one sees when in landscape mode with the Android keyboard. Sad waste of such large buttons. It would have been perfect to have that. ALSO, I would have also preferred the T9 way of input (ABC on 1, DEF on 2... so on and so forth) seen on Candy bar phones, as I somehow (personally) can type faster with that kind of keyboard.
--Calls: The earpiece on the phone is loud. Reception is one thing I would like to complement. Generally, a phone with so many features would be excused for slightly average (or below, sometimes) call quality/reception/signal strength, but Samsung (and Google) has worked SO hard on this aspect that it has to be complemented. I always have network where my E Series phones gave up. ALSO, of note is the ultra song wi fi antenna. I never got more then one bar of Wi Fi in my E Series and my Ipod Touch in the loo, but now I get 3 out of 4 bars with this phone, which is highly convenient. The phone switches to 3G/EDGE when the screen is turned off, and the Wi Fi comes on when the screen is turned on. This is a battery saving feature and is appreciated.
--The Switcher application with the phone is also a boon, since GPS, Wi Fi, Bluetooth and Auto Sync are embedded into it. Of note is the Wi fi and Auto sync part. You can turn wi fi on and off with the switcher, and the Auto sync part keeps your phone 'quiet' at night and doesn't get push mails.
--BOON: The Push mail feature on the Spica is absolutely UNPARALLELED. I get push mail from my Gmail account as fast as it comes, and blackberries are left behind in the speed with which the email comes. The Gmail client on the phone is also very convenient and helps sort mail easily. Very convenient, very fast and kicks a BB's ass real bad.
--GTalk: who needs BBM, when there is GTalk. The background data feature must be turned on for this (yes, android allows you to choose that too) Once Gtalk is on, you have all your friends always connected to you. IM away to glory. YES, it works very very well. And fast.
--Multitasking: BOON time again. The Android OS alongwith the STARTLINGLY fast 800 mhz processor, alongwith the 128 mb of RAM (who said that's less????) has NEVER, I repeat, NEVER shown a lag. ANY number of applications running, and this beefy processor and lean mean OS shines. Like crazy! Google Maps, Google Talk, Messaging, Google mail, Gallery and Browser are open on it as we speak. Fantastic!! Works well. In the middle of anything you are doing, if there is a push email or an sms, you just need to pull down a window on top. Finish off that, click the back button and VOILA, you are multi tasking heavily. Stellar function, that!!
--Gallery: Needs slight upgrade. I have 1250+ photos on my card, hence it takes a while to load thumbnails. That shouldn't happen! Photo changing is not iphone 'sweep' style which is sad, and zooming is via buttons on the screen. Zoom and pan is really fast and shows no lags.
--Accelerometer: Generally iffy in 'non-iphones' but Samsung has got it's sensitivity and animation just right. WORKS. With everything. Finally, we have someone who can showcase your mobile screen in BOTH ways (landscape and portrait) with equal authority. Great.
--Battery life: I am an ultra heavy user. I browse, I sms, I chat, I fiddle and I also download a lot of applications. Still, one and a half days is highly respectable. Considering the fact that my E71 and E72 ran out of steam in the same amount of time WITHOUT the large screen, so many apps, so much chat and so much browsing, with the SAME battery size, it's highly commendable.
--Browser: Great. Does it's job very well. Zooming and panning again is effortless. There is a mini view a la opera, where you can move the bar around and zoom into one particular area. No lag in browsing. Fast, well formatted. And handles every page you throw at it with elan. Copy paste and select all options can be easily called into action and it's a boon again. Data consumption is a little high though.
--Hardware buttons are nice and chunky, but there is no backlighting. Sad. very sad. I need backlighting sometimes.
--Contacts Management: MY GOD. is the reaction. I love the way Google contacts updates and auto syncs your phone with the online database on your account. It's just so convenient. No need to back up and no stress about losing contacts. The ability to have over 2000 email addresses and telephone nos. in the same phone book is so convenient. no doubt it's stellar. Mail away, call away, sms away. It's all under one roof. Search function is present here and you can also scroll down, one letter a time.
--Search: A dedicated hardware search button does a lot of things. Helps search mail, calls for the address window while browsing, searches contacts, searches files, acts like a speed dial. The works. Nice!!
--The 'Back' button: Is perfect. Makes it a breeze to multitask and go back to what you are doing, very conveniently.
--Speaker: Speaker for tones is high enough, but speaker phone while calling is a little muted. The alarm rings VERY loud though, and it's bound to wake you up and annoy you!!:no:
--Customization: People complain about lack of customization on the Spica, but I feel it's perfect. 3 home windows, widgets, wallpapers, contact folders, facebook statuses, music player, calendar and a million other things from the application market. Great! Aur kuch nahi chahiye :tongue:
--Application Market: Appstore becomes application market. Fast to use, breezy downloads, great descriptions and reliable to install. Installs in the background while you hunt for other applications. (apple, learn something from here!) The search button works here too, so does the background download and install of apps. I have had 6 apps download and install simultaneously and STILL the phone didn't feel a wee bit slow while browsing for more apps. As of now, only free apps show (in India) and this should be addressed soon.
--The audio quality/music player have not been tested by me. Since I have an iPod Touch 32 Gb.
--The Video playback is FANTASAWESOMESUPREME. Throw WHATEVER you want at it. It plays it. Only, forwarding and rewinding lag a little bit, but it's annoying if you watch an entire movie. The high res screen shows colours with a lot of elan and I daresay the Spica is as good/better than the iphone in this aspect as you need not convert anything. Just drag and drop. WAAAH!
-- The attached cover (leather) is of good quality and highly convenient with holes for speaker and easy charger access.
--SMS: Threaded. Supreme. Cut copy paste. Foward. EVERYTHING the iPhone wanted to be (and in some aspects, still isn't) A good feature is that an email address open the email application on the jiffy and everything looks interconnected. Also, telephone nos. in SMS can be saved directly. Pressing and holding on the screen shows up a lot of stuff. Very nice! SIngle SMS CAN be deleted!
--Google Maps: A-GPS. SUPERIOR again! Exactly 20 seconds to lock with satellites (cold lock) WHILE MOVING! Highly appreciated. Google maps is very convenient, and directions etc are highly accurate. My location feature is convenient as it is amalgamated with Satellite, map or traffic view. Traffic view is not available in India, so is street view. Street view is SWEEEEEEEET. I can actually pan and zoom on the house I stayed in, when I went abroad. The house no. on the door can be seen!! FANTASTICCCCC!!!
--Camera: Sad. Just for the heck of it :bleh:
Video recording, I haven't even dared to try!
Features I miss:
--Settings for the camera
--Flash
--Torch function since there is no LED light
--Backlight in buttons
--SMS/Call/Email reminder through some kind of LED notification when in standby (come on, it doesn't cost much)
--SMS/EMail tones cannot be customized.
--Hotmail is slightly buggy with the email application.
--Data counter and call counter. HOW can one miss this out on a phone!? Especially on a phone that is meant for Data. HIGH volumes of it. I would want to see how much I am using! There are apps for this, but I found they have a negative effect on battery life.
--Battery percentage is not displayed
--Smart dialing, and speed dialing. REQUIRED!
--Samsung PC Studio DOES NOT work with this. Samsung, you piece of s**t!
--Firmware support is slightly iffy. Hope we get an upgrade soon!
--While on a call, switching to speaker phone requires a lot of button presses.
--I would love to install APPS on my MMC. I don't want to 'root' my phone just for that!
I LOVE THIS PHONE. 12.5 k for it is OFFICIALLY a joke. Please ask me if I have forgotten some essential stuff. Cheers!
