Samsung Galaxy S Android Phone (T-Mobile)

This is the first smart phone I've ever owned and had it for about a week now. At first, it's a little intimidating but after you play around with it for an hour, it's easy to use. Loading time is fast so I have not encountered stalling problems yet. The audio and images on here are very crisp and clear. The speakerphone feature is amazing. Not only can I hear the caller but they can hear me clearly (which was a big problem with my last phone). I know some people complain about the lack of a flash for the camera but I personally think that flash on phones aren't that great anyways. The camera on this phone is 5 mp and takes excellent photos in natural lighting. Video chat on the phone is a lot of fun too. I haven't used the qik app on the phone but downloaded the Tango app and it was so easy to use.

Now there have been a few negatives that I have encountered. Sometimes I have a hard time switching over from using the 4G network to wi-fi, since I have horrible service at work and we have a fast wi-fi network. I also have experienced some echoing issues when using this phone at night for some weird reason.

The speed, battery life & screen have been fantastic. The addition of the Swype keyboard was a savvy move on Samsung's part as well. Tracing and voice-dictation work very well. The television package is a nice extra as well. Catch up on a basketball game while running an errand. This phone is probably up there with the iPhone from what I gather. At this point I think consumers will have a bounty of riches as companies like Samsung and Apple keep redefining what a smartphone means. 

Other than, it's a great phone to have especially if you like to multitask between apps. Reason I bought this device is because it is very close to iphone. Here comes my review after a week of its ownership.

Pros :

• Cheaper and faster: Speed difference from iPhone is obvious with 4G and better processor. T-mobile provides with cheaper plans.
• Smooth and beautiful Video: I rarely watch TV/movies on a smartphone. This device made me think again. Quality of the movie screen is amazing - smooth and clear. Watching experience is close to laptop. I will enjoy this on flight.
• Camera : Without considering more resolution, this camera is better than the one in iPhone GS. It is much less sensible for small shaking.
• Wireless tethering : I didn't really care for tethering with 3G because of its terrible speed. But this device's 4G now and supposed to be 21 Mbps. After rooting, I first installed wireless tethering. And it works like a charm. This portable wifi router does not really make 21 Mbps but 8 Mbps but it's still practical. Think about IPad or Kindle with this phone in my pocket. They are always connected without paying a buck for 3G plan/device.
• Unlimited expandability : Since it's android OS, unlike iphone, the device is not much restricted to expand. You can virtually install whatever you want.

Cons

• Lack of internal memory: 500MB internal memory is too small to store apps. So after getting this device, you'd better start moving apps into internal 16G SD card. As I will mention about this below, however, not all apps can be moved to SD.
• Bloated apps : Unnecessary apps occupy in apps screen and some of them also automatically run. And most of these bloated apps can't be deleted nor moved to SD card. - Solution: Root and Titanium Backup. See the last part of this review.
• No flash LED : I rarely use it for taking pictures so it does not matter much to me. But it's one component people may want to have at some point. Besides, you can use it for other purposes with apps. As other devices in this price range have the LED, I am not sure why Samsung is not getting it with this excellent device otherwise.
• Bad battery : I guess this may be the reason SGS4G is so light but its battery life is not close to the one in iPhone 3GS. My daily use is not that heavy but I always get 20-30% battery power remaining at the end of a day. In my test, playing 2-3 hours of a movie will drain the battery out. I am in search of better battery.

Root : Root is like easy jailbreak for Android device but without any downside. Of course Rooted device can be bricked and void of warranty but in reality, most of times, CS will fix the bricked device under warranty. Google "Super One Click" for more details.

Titanium Backup : After root, get the Titanium backup app to delete all unnecessary apps. One thing to remember: don't delete telenav app because it will mess GPS up otherwise.

In summary, root is almost required for this smart phone - root will take less than 30 mins. Other than that, with its amazing speed and powerful customizing ability from Android OS, I still have to figure out what it can do. This device is truly a personal computer + more in my hand. I like it a lot more than iPhone.