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Samsung Galaxy S LCD GT-I9003 Review
Samir Makwana, Mar 14, 2011 1803 hrs ISTPacks revised interface and promises value-for-money performance
Slim, plays HD video as well as DivX and XviD videos out of the box, lossless FLAC files playback support, smart improvements, pleasing screen for web browsing, Android 2.3 Gingerbread ready hardware
Lacks LED Flash, no dedicated camera button, no HDMI port, slightly stuttering video playback, less on-board storage
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Operating System and Interface
The Galaxy S LCD GT-I9003 comes with Android 2.2.1 Froyo by default unlike the Galaxy S GT-I9000 preloaded with Android 2.1 Eclair. But the recent Galaxy S GT-I9000 devices already had the Froyo update running on them. The Android 2.2.1 Froyo richness has Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz 3.0 UI running on it which also brings a few useful features. After unboxing the smartphone, I plugged it to Samsung Kies to get Froyo build update and later connected to Wi-Fi for updating the Google Apps.
Galaxy S GT-I9003 has new lock screen that can be unlocked by swiping on either sides instead of swiping it upwards. The smartphone retains the homescreen like the one on GT-9000 and has seven panes. If you pinch across the touchscreen, you'll get to see all seven panes stacked up in the editing mode. For adding widgets or changing the wallpaper, press and hold anywhere on the active homescreen to get the pop-up menu. Samsung has added a couple of new live wallpapers but do remember that live wallpapers tend to eat up a lot of battery life. The bottom of the screen shows the usual icons wherein the right most is the gateway to the Applications Menu. 
The TouchWiz 3.0 UI over the Android 2.2.1 Froyo brings a built-in Task Manager which is so amazing that you won't need to install other Task Managers from the Android Market. The built-in task manager is slick and very easy to use. It shows details about running apps, downloaded apps, RAM being used and Storage details.
Samsung bada OS had intuitive swipe gestures implemented in the Phonebook. The same feature has been added to the GT-I9003 and so while using the Phonebook, if you swipe left to right on a contact, you can make a call to that contact. Swiping right to left will let you compose a new text message to the respective contact. This swipe implementation is certainly cool. The Phonebook also gets the SNS (Social Network Services) Integration so you'll get to see activities of your contacts on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and your office's Microsoft Exchange supporting accounts as well.
Most important improvement has been made in to the Status Bar - the Toggle switches given in Bada OS have been implemented to the Android 2.2.1 Interface. When you pull down the Notifications bearing Status Bar, you'll find the Toggle Switches for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Silent Mode and Auto Rotation lock. That indeed is very helpful.
Heavy text messaging users can make the best of the built-in SWYPE feature that is a predictive text input technology meant for faster text input. It comes with a very limited library of its own but is programmed to learn from the words that exist on your mobile in your contacts, texts, notes, web browsing history and documents. To activate SWYPE, keep your finger tip pressed in the input area and a pop-up menu option will show up asking you to choose between SWYPE and Samsung Keyboard. Samsung has also added the Nuance developed XT9 predictive text input for those who type out loads of emails and text messages via their phones. Clearly, typing is good fun for those who try and get used with the SWYPE as well as XT9. For the rest like me, we will have to struggle with wrong key presses and use the Backspace key a lot.
ThinkFree documents viewer and editor comes quite handy while editing your documents while you are on the move. You can also sync your documents to the ThinkFree virtual storage if you have an account.
The eBook reader resembles the iBooks App on the Apple iOS. However, if you are not comfortable with the UI then you can certainly get the Adobe Reader from the Android Market. 
Social Hub and Samsung Apps store are pre-installed but it was a bit painful to get it activated. I had to register with two different IDs for Samsung Account and Social Hub. Do note that the Social Hub Premium is a device specific service and the Samsung Social Hub's Facebook Page clarifies:
Social Hub premium service is device-specific for some countries. For instance, Social Hub Premium is available on Wave II (S8530), Galaxy Tab (P1000), and Galaxy Ace (S5830) in India.
This is an Android handset so you can sync your contacts to your Google Account. Alternatively, you can save them on Phone or SIM.
Google Voice Search has been integrated but it hardly worked for me even though I tried to mimic accents. So, the trick is to choose English (India) language from Settings > Voice Input and Output > Google Voice Recognition Settings > Language. After having done that, the Google Voice search will work like a charm BUT only if you've data connection active- GPRS or Wi-Fi. I recommend using Wi-Fi settings for better results.
The only function I found annoying and buggy was the automatic screen rotation which would turn the portrait mode to landscape even when I had held the phone upright. I believe Samsung needs to fix bug with the ASR.
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