PC World - The T-Mobile version of Samsung's killer Galaxy S line of super Android phones, the Samsung Vibrant ($200 with a two-year contract, as of July 12, 2010) stands apart from its siblings due to the high-quality multimedia apps the carrier has preloaded on the phone. Stellar media features aside, however, Samsung's TouchWiz interface isn't for everybody, and in my tests the phone was a bit sluggish at times.
Lightweight Design, Gorgeous Display
The Vibrant looks pretty similar to its AT&T counterpart, the Captivate, but it has a few subtle design tweaks. Like the European Galaxy S, the Vibrant resembles an iPhone 3GS. In contrast to the squared corners on the Captivate, the Vibrant has softer, rounder corners. The backing is smooth plastic, with an attractive (and very Samsung-esque) design. The phone feels durable and solid in the hand.
Measuring 0.39 inch thick, the Vibrant is thinner than the HTC EVO 4G and the Motorola Droid X, but slightly beefier than the ultraslim, 0.37-inch iPhone 4. It is the lightest of the bunch, weighing a scant 4.16 ounces.
The Vibrant's featherlight weight is due in part to its Super AMOLED technology, which Samsung introduced at Mobile World Congress on the Samsung Wave. Super AMOLED technology puts touch sensors on the display itself, as opposed to creating a separate layer (which Samsung's old AMOLED displays had), making it the thinnest display technology on the market. Super AMOLED is fantastic--you really have to see it in person. Colors burst out of the display, and animations appear lively and smooth. Samsung and T-Mobile were wise to preload the movie Avatar on this phone; the Vibrant's display nicely showcases the beautiful animation.
The Vibrant's 4-inch display is larger than that of the iPhone 4 (which is 3.5 inches), but smaller than the screens of the Droid X and EVO 4G (which are each 4.3 inches). Despite that smaller size, the Vibrant outshone both the Droid X and the EVO 4G in my casual side-by-side comparisons. The side-by-side with the iPhone 4 was a closer call: The iPhone 4's display appeared slightly sharper, but I thought the Vibrant's colors looked more natural. It's really hard to declare a winner in this matchup--both displays are stunning.
Finally, the sun came out in San Francisco, so I was able to test how well the Vibrant's display performed outdoors. I turned off Automatic Brightness on both handsets and set the displays to the maximum brightness. I put the two phones side-by-side in direct sunlight and viewed various Websites. Again, it was a hard call to determine which model handled the sunshine better. The Vibrant's display was a lot more reflective than the iPhone's, so it could make reading and viewing photos more difficult depending on my angle. The Vibrant's colors looked brighter, however, and its text was a bit sharper.
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