This is my current mobile phone, a Samsung Galaxy i7500. It was a Christmas present in 2009 and so to date I’ve owned it for just short of six months. The phone runs the Android OS1 from Google and that was the main factor for choosing the phone. The Galaxy has the OS of my choice from a well established company. It’s got to be a win situation right?
Wrong, oh so very wrong.
Rubbish Battery
Firstly, the battery life in this smart phone is nothing short of pathetic. The most time before a recharge I’ve ever achieved is about 30 hours. That was with nothing whatsoever running, the screen blackened and actually not using it, at all. Moderate use can make it curl up and die after something like 5 or 6 hour’s. Seriously.
There has been one update to the firmware that’s supposed to improve the battery life but I’ve found it impossible to update the phone. Android is a Linux based operating system yet the Samsung update-software can only update the firmware on Windows. I don’t use Windows. So I’m stuffed. Having said that, even if the battery life doubled, I’d still only be getting 10 hours.
Old Version of Android
OK. Another problem that Samsung seemingly aren’t going to do anything about is the Android system itself. The Galaxy runs version 1.5 which is now pretty much obsolete. Later versions are quicker and have had bugs ironed out. The current version is 2.1 with 2.2 just around the corner. The whole point of an OS like Android is that it’s upgradeable. As far as I am aware Samsung have no plans to upgrade the Galaxy to a later Android version and would rather people shell out on another of their models. Seriously. The Galaxy has been out in the wild for less than a year and they’ve abandoned it and their customers who bought it.
Signal Strength
This is by far the worst phone I’ve ever owned for signal strength. I spend my working day in my cellar office and other phones can just about cope. If I walk upstairs to street level, no problem, lots of bars on the display. With the Galaxy, not a chance. The only way I can reliably get a signal is to go outside and walk up a hill. Yet I live less than 2.5 miles from the centre of the UK’s 4th largest city. I’m missing text messages and phone calls all the time. I don’t even consider the Galaxy to actually be a phone any more, that’s how bad it is. I’ve simply been using its WiFi to connect to my home lan enabling me to use internet applications. Since we have several computers in the house, it’s a bit of a pointless exercise really.
Re-boots and the most annoying button in the World
So the Galaxy seems to randomly reboot itself regularly. It’ll just be sat there and all of a sudden, it reboots. I have no idea why. Then there’s that button on the side. The one you have to press to activate the screen from sleep mode. It has a mind of its own. The number of times I’ve pressed and held it, quick pressed it, pressed and then repressed and then pressed again because it was too slow to react to the first press. Arrrrrgghhhh! It drives me nuts.
So long Samsung
I’ve made a decision. I’m going to stop using the Galaxy until I can afford to get a replacement. I would go back to my previous phone, ironically another Samsung, but since getting the Galaxy, the older model has itself died. I think the Gods of mobiles hate me. It’ll mean not having a mobile phone for a while but that’s better than the stress the bloody Galaxy causes me.
The other thing is, I will NEVER again buy a Samsung product. The way this company has treated its own customers with the Galaxy i7500 is disgusting, absolutely terrible.
I hope this post gets found by people searching for reviews or reports about Samsung products. If that refers to you, please, think very long and hard about Samsung. Will they abandon you much in the same way that they’ve abandoned every Galaxy i7500 owner?
Hi Dave,
I'm sorry you bought a Galaxy, i know how frustrating it is because I also have one and have experienced the same problems. However you can reflash the firmware on your phone to a newer version and get rid of the rebooting problem at the very least. You won't be able to use Samsung PC Studio for this but you surely can use Odin. There are even unofficial firmwares running Android 1.6 (which doesn't bring many new features though). I know Samsung really disappointed everyone with the lack of support but you shouldn't judge them too harsh. I went through that phase too but I realized they don't know how to write software and there's no shame in that. It is very shameful however of Google to release an unfinished crappy OS and mark it as version 1.5. You know it doesn't even support bluetooth? I was completely disgusted when I found out that only version 2.0 or 2.1 of Android implemented bluetooth functionality. Samsung really did its part of putting the best hardware (at the time) on this Android phone but sadly the OS was in a very crude stage. All battery life, dropped calls and the like are pretty much Android's fault because it hogs the CPU and launches activities randomly to deplete the battery in a short time. You can save some battery by using only 2G mobile networks and using a task manager to close all activities in the background. In conclusion be very careful when you choose your next smartphone especially if it'll be an Android one because there are a lot of bugs lurking inside (be careful with contacts sync because it's known to erase contacts from your account) and Google does nothing to correct them or to inform the users about it (they didn't even bother to write a user manual or at the very least release notes for each new version). I'm very disinclined to ever buy something with Android on it, especially since I got a job developing a navigation app for this OS.
Thanks for your lengthy comment. The phone I'm looking at is the HTC Desire, which by all accounts has its own battery life issues. In truth the battery thing would probably be bearable if the Galaxy worked as good as my older Samsung phone but like I've said, it doesn't. I really can't rely on it at all. It's a bit worrying to hear about your Android concerns but I think I'll still go the Android route
Hi Chris,
I have to disagree.
Many other OEM's have successfully rolled out Android based phones.
HTC will have a 2.x rom rolled out to almost all phones except the original G1/HTC Dream (and this is really just down to limited RAM on the device).
Samsung just treat the customers with scorn. I have written a number of times to them about this issue.
Samsung's issues are hardware. They do not follow the prescribed button layout for the Android platform. Some buttons have had their functions remapped. And the lock button does not usually exist as a sperate button on Android. The platform is open however, but if Samsung are going to introduce different functionality, they should get it working correctly! Don't blame Google for this.
An official 1.6 Rom would have gone a long way to bridge my issues: 1.6 is currently a minimum to enjoy apps along with some minor performance improvements.
Smart-phones are like computers. Their software is going to have fast-moving targets. Android is a rapidly evolving and Samsung (and other manufacturers) have to realise this and move with the times. Sony to me is another high-risk player. The Xperia took such a long time to come out, and to be released with 1.5 LONG AFTER 2.X is available is a joke.
In fact, I am very wary of any platform that does not allow Android to be updated regularly. At the moment, all I can consider is Nexus One. Its the only phone I KNOW will be refreshed regularly as Android moves forward.
The OEM's are going to have to prove they can be trusted to pass on the updates Google makes to Android.
I am about to purchase a Nexus One. The Samsung running 1.5 will be fine for my mum just to make phone calls. She will do little else with it. So at least I dont have to throw it away. But it has been a disappointing phone to say the least.
Are you UK based John? Your comments about the Nexus One and your reasons for impending purchase are interesting. I'm hoping to pick up a new handset within the next month or so. I'll have to check the Nexus One availability.