Samsung Galaxy S Phones Compared: Spec Showdown

• By: Greg Mombert
• From: http://www.digitaltrends.com/
  

We put all four phones from Samsung’s Galaxy S series side-by-side to see which comes out on top when they’re compared spec by spec.

Samsung launched the Galaxy S series of smartphones as four slightly tweaked models across the four major carriers: Vibrant (T-Mobile); Captivate (AT&T); Fascinate (Verizon); Epic 4g (Sprint). While this makes it very confusing for shoppers, it also offers lots of options, if you’re not locked into any one carrier. Looking at the Galaxy S line, but having trouble pinpointing the differences between the phones? We have you covered. Despite the common bloodline, all four models offer distinct features that set them apart from each other. We’ve laid out our impressions and the specifications side by side, so you can see which phone wins out in this Samsung civil war.

Samsung Captivate

If you’re an active social networker and video watcher, the Captivate probably makes a better choice than the iPhone 4, especially if you’re concerned with iPhone’s antenna issues. If you’re more concerned with speedy Web surfing, image and video capture, and video chatting, the iPhone 4 is the only choice. All other things being as equal as they can be (including the $199 price tag), the iPhone 4 is still the AT&T superphone champion, with performance superior in head-to-head comparisons with similar functions on the Captivate. But the margins are narrow enough not to make Captivate an uncomfortable non-Apple choice.

Samsung Epic 4G

Even if you don’t or won’t have 4G service, the Epic is a flexible, light, fun and easy-to-use superphone. The Epic might be a value match for the EVO, thanks to its super-bright super AMOLED screen, slide-out keyboard and pre-installed 16GB microSD card, and even taking into account its minor operational annoyances and comparative specification failings in camera MP and hotspot connectivity. But given you can buy a 16GB microsSD card for around $25, the Epic isn’t worth an extra $50 unless you absolutely need a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. So far, the Epic is one of the best phones on the market today.

Samsung Vibrant

T-Mobile’s best all-around Android phone has been the Motorola Cliq XT. It has the same 5-megapixel camera as the Vibrant, only with a flash. But it’s slower for surfing and loading apps than the Vibrant, it has just a HVGA video recorder, a smaller QWERTY, less memory, and a screen nearly an inch smaller. But it’s also $70 less than the Vibrant. If you can afford it (and don’t take many indoor pictures), the Vibrant is definitely worth the extra dough.

The Samsung Fascinate is set to be released in early fall, check back for impressions.

Spec comparison

	Samsung Captivate	Samsung Epic 4G	Samsung Fascinate	Samsung Vibrant
Carrier	AT&T	Sprint	Verizon	T-Mobile
Price (with 2 year contract)	$199.99	$249.99	TBA	$199.99
Display Size	4-inch AMOLED Display	4-inch AMOLED Display	4-inch AMOLED Display	4-inch AMOLED Display
Display Resolution	480 x 800	480×800	480 x 800	480 x 800
Processor	1 GHz Samsung Hummingbird Application Processor	1 GHz Samsung Hummingbird Application Processor	1 GHz Samsung Hummingbird Application Processor	1 GHz Samsung Hummingbird Application Processor
Operating System	Android 2.1	Android 2.1	Android 2.1	Android 2.1
Keyboard	Virtual	QWERTY	Virtual	Virtual
Camera	5 megapixels	5 megapixels	5 megapixels	5 megapixels
Included Storage	16 GB	16 GB	16 GB	16 GB
Expandable (Max) Storage	32 GB	32 GB	32 GB	32 GB
Battery (Talk Time)	350 minutes	360 minutes	TBA	390 minutes
Battery (Standby)	340 hours	216 hours	TBA	450 hours
Weight	128 grams	155 grams	TBA	117 grams
Height	106.2 mm	124.4 mm	TBA	122.4 mm
Width	63.5 mm	63.5 mm	TBA	64.5 mm
Depth	9.9 mm	15.2 mm	TBA	9.9 mm

Samsung shows unbreakable AMOLED display

From: http://www.electronista.com/

Samsung Mobile Display (SMD) is developing an AMOLED display that is crush-proof and can be bent while showing video without ill effects. The prototype display is sized at 2.8 inches and has a resolution of 166ppi. It weighs just 0.29g and is 20 micrometers thin. Samsung believes it can bring the AMOLED display on a universal board to market by 2012.

Such displays would be useful in smartphones, bringing new levels of thinnes and ruggedness and allow for new form factors. SMD plans to introduce a TFT on the plastic panel and to replace the existing vinyl protection sheet with polyimide film to prevent residue when light is emitted. [via OLED-Display]

DuPont's Prints 50-Inch OLED Panel In Under 2 Minutes

DuPont has excelled where no man has before—demonstrating the first OLED panels to be printed, and in under two minutes no less. Using a Dainippon Screen multi-nozzle printer, they successfully created a 50-inch display.

This is something they've been talking about for years now, so it's pleasing to see DuPont has finally managed to achieve their (rather lofty) goals. The OLED panels have a purported lifetime of 15 years, and will help bring the cost right down if they're able to be created in the time it takes to boil the kettle.

DuPont teamed up with Dainippon Screen, whose printers can squeeze out active molecules within the ink, layering them up between 12 to 15 layers—taking just a second to drop 4 - 5m of ink down. Pretty amazing stuff, and great news for anyone who's ever fallen in love with Sony or LG's OLED panels. [Technology-Review via OLED-Display]

Send an email to Kat Hannaford, the author of this post, at khannaford@gizmodo.com.

Super-thin flexible OLED from Sony

by Lin Edwards

Enlarge

Vaio with flexible OLED screen. Image: Scott Ard/CNET

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sony is showing off prototypes incorporating its super-thin, flexible OLED technology at the CREATEC JAPAN 2009 IT and electronics trade show in Makuhari Messe (Chiba) in Japan.

Sony's new "bendable" and transparent organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology is being shown in prototypes featuring an OLED a mere 0.2 mm thick. The prototype devices are a Vaio notebook, a flexible e-book, and a Walkman bracelet.

The OLED screen is transparent and flexible, and the viewing angle range is almost unlimited. OLED technology has a number of advantages over LEDs, including higher efficiency, faster response times, and no requirement for backlighting. The devices also have very low energy needs.

Enlarge

Sony's flexible OLED-based Vaio notebook--not coming to a store near you. Image: Scott Ard/CNET

Enlarge

The Sony Reader and Walkman redone with flexible OLED technology. Image: Scott Ard/CNET

Early efforts to manufacture transparent and flexible OLEDs met with resolution problems and distortions of the image when the device was bent or folded.

Sony demonstrated an OLED television in 2008 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, and a flexible 0.2 mm thick OLED audio player at this year's show. Several other companies, such as Samsung and LG, are also working on flexible OLED displays.

The devices on show at CEATEC JAPAN are all at the concept stage and there is no indication of when, or even if, they will ever be marketed.

The CEATEC (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies ) JAPAN event showcases IT and electronic innovations. The theme for 2009 is "Digital Convergence ? Defining the Shape of Our Future". The exhibition opened on October 6 and runs until October 10.

via CNet News

© 2009 PhysOrg.com

Future Designer laptop - ROLLTOP

www.orkin-design.de
The device of the flexible display allows a new concept in notebook design growing out of the traditional bookformed laptop into unfurling and convolving portable computer.
By virtue of the OLED-Display technology and a multi touch screen the utility of a laptop computer with its weight of a mini-notebook and screen size of 13 inch easily transforms into the graphics tablet, which with its 17-inch flat screen can be also used as a primary monitor.
On top of everything else all computer utilities from power supply through the holding belt to an interactive pen are integrated in Rolltop. This is really an all-in-one gadget.

Samsung's e-passport turns your head into a rotating government specimen

by Thomas Ricker,

Samsung (and your local government) hasn't been shy with its plans for electrifying passports. Yet we still haven't seen video of its e-passport with flexible OLED display in action, 'till now. The 2-inch, 240x320 AMOLED displays a disembodied, rotating head in 260k colors and 10k:1 contrast when activated by an RF source reader. No details were provided as to when these might enter production but we have the icky feeling it'll be sooner than we want.

[Via OLED-Info]

New Zune HD Details Emerge - HDMI, Multitouch, Wireless Sync

Daniel Ionescu

Source: WMPoweruser

After the leaked pictures of the Zune HD appeared on Saturday, more unconfirmed technical specifications of the device have now emerged. Microsoft's new portable media player is set to go neck-to-neck with Apple's iPod Touch, as the specifications of the Zune HD make it a viable contender.

The Zune HD is set to feature a multitouch (capacitive) OLED screen in a 16:9 aspect ratio and will have a TV out port on the side (apparently HDMI). Coming in 16 and 32GB versions, the device will also support wireless syncing to your computer. Some even speculate the PMP will support 3D Xbox games, if the Zune HD will actually use Nvidia's Tegra chipset.

The new details also mention a Web browser on the Zune HD, which in turn supports multitouch. No word on what kind of browser this will be, but let's hope it won't be anything similar to Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile. As previously reported, the Zune HD is set to launch this fall (probably September) with new details of international availability in Canada, the U.K, and France.

What is Microsoft cooking?

The tech blogosphere is also talking today about Zune-themed mobile phones. AdWeek reports that Microsoft is now taking bids for an ad campaign for a Zune mobile application dubbed Pink.

While some speculate that the Zune HD is likely to run on the long-overdue Windows Mobile 6.5 (expected in Q4, same as the Zune HD), it's more likely that WM phones would just share some services and feature with the new Zune.

EDAG's OLED Windshields Shine in the Night

By Jose Fermoso

An auto-engineering company from Germany has built a prototype car that uses OLED displays on its front and back windshields, the better to communicate with surrounding vehicles.

EDAG's 'Light Car – Open Source' car is based on the same principle used by phone manufacturers when replacing the physical buttons of their UI. That is, a display can have easily customizable inputs and can increase the surface area for dynamic media. In the case of the Light Car, the OLED screen can display road conditions and, when you tap on the brake or stop, a giant 'stop' sign will appear in the back windshield and warn the car behind.

In this first design, the glass panel OLED displays in the front of the car outline, or enhance, the area where the LED headlights blast out. In the back, a transparent tailgate is built on top of the OLED screen, as can be seen in the pictures below.

EDAG's big idea is that in the process of buying a car similar to this one, you could configure the shape of your headlights, so that the OLED effects can be created accordingly around it, on a computer. So if you're a big S.F. Giants baseball fan and you're heading to the Park to watch Barry Zito play, for example, you could plug in little digital dollar signs surrounding the headlights. Or not. That might be too cruel and distracting to drivers.

Apparently, EDAG does not intend to make the LC-OS. They want to sell or share the technology to big car manufacturers so they can be put in the streets faster, hopefully within the next two or three years.

It's true that if you're a careful driver, adding OLED displays shouldn't make that much a of a difference. After all, we've adapted to look for two fading red lights in the back of cars for years.

But this could help out people who don't see as well. In other words, people who shouldn't be driving in the first place.

GE Unveils the World’s First OLED Christmas Tree

by Evelyn Lee

Recently the OLED research team over at General Electric unveiled the world’s first OLED Christmas Tree! Forging ahead of the usual end-of-the-year slowdown, GE’s Global Research Center headquarters in Niskayuna, NY rang in the holidays with a 6-inch-by-15-ft. OLED system all rolled-up into the form of a tree. The radiant source of holiday cheer provides a glimpse of how OLEDs can transform the future of the lighting industry.

“We haven’t quite achieved Rockefeller or National Christmas tree lighting status yet, but we’re well on our way,” said Anil Duggal, who leads GE’s OLED program. “We hope GE’s OLED tree lighting will inspire and capture people’s imagination during the holidays on the limitless possibilities of this next generation lighting concept.”

The tree was a follow-up to the breakthrough GE scientists achieved earlier this year with their roll-to-roll manufacturing process for OLED lighting devices. Similar to a newspaper printing process, the roll-to-roll manufacturing will play a key factor in making OLED lighting commercially available to the general public.

“Customers will recognize that while this demonstration was more for holiday spirit and team camaraderie, it does reinforce how far OLED technology has come and how it is poised to revolutionize lighting and interior design,” says John Strainic, global product general manager with GE Consumer & Industry, which will commercialize OLEDs for businesses and consumers in the coming years.

+ General Electric