Samsung Focus S User Reviews

TheJudge posted on 20 Jan 2012, 14:11

10

Amazing phone

TheJudge has owned it for less than year before publishing this review

If you like black levels, a snappy response, great call quality, and ease of use, this phone is your best bet. It is also very light weight, has great battery life, and a better than average screen size.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 10/10

Call quality 10/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 10/10

Display 10/10

Battery 10/10

snowgator posted on 04 Dec 2011, 17:56

10

Outstanding Windows Phone Option

snowgator has owned it for less than 3 months before publishing this review

I became a fan of Windows Phones over time. I have given myself a year to try all OS's and different manufacturers. I like several OS's, but I just love the live tiles and Metro UI of WP. The Samsung Focus S is my favorite device going right now. This operation is seamless. From scrolling, to loading up of web pages, to launching of games and media, the "S" just performs. That AMOLED Plus screen is just alive and vivid, as you would expect a Samsung screen to be. The 4.3" screen just bursts with color, and I love the way the live tiles just explode off the screen. I am not a big fan of the auto adjust on the screen brightness, though. Often it over adjusts. I just set it to medium. There have been complaints of a "blue-ish tint" to Samsung screens. I have seen none of that, making me believe it may happen under bright settings. There is very little delay between switching between portrait and landscape, The onscreen keyboards are okay. I find myself using the portrait layout much more often due to the WP still unable to figure out how to get several screens to work in landscape mode.

The call quality is very good, although I am not a huge fan of the speaker phone. I have found it to be a little distorted even at lower volume. No such problem with it's normal speaker. It sounds very strong and clear. Reception is great, and holds the "fake 4G" AT&T network just fine.

Build quality is fine. Unlike some reviewers, I find the textured back great for grip. I...  

I became a fan of Windows Phones over time. I have given myself a year to try all OS's and different manufacturers. I like several OS's, but I just love the live tiles and Metro UI of WP. The Samsung Focus S is my favorite device going right now. This operation is seamless. From scrolling, to loading up of web pages, to launching of games and media, the "S" just performs. That AMOLED Plus screen is just alive and vivid, as you would expect a Samsung screen to be. The 4.3" screen just bursts with color, and I love the way the live tiles just explode off the screen. I am not a big fan of the auto adjust on the screen brightness, though. Often it over adjusts. I just set it to medium. There have been complaints of a "blue-ish tint" to Samsung screens. I have seen none of that, making me believe it may happen under bright settings. There is very little delay between switching between portrait and landscape, The onscreen keyboards are okay. I find myself using the portrait layout much more often due to the WP still unable to figure out how to get several screens to work in landscape mode.

The call quality is very good, although I am not a huge fan of the speaker phone. I have found it to be a little distorted even at lower volume. No such problem with it's normal speaker. It sounds very strong and clear. Reception is great, and holds the "fake 4G" AT&T network just fine.

Build quality is fine. Unlike some reviewers, I find the textured back great for grip. I love the button layout. I am a little tired of the pictures of my floors and inside of my pockets that happen from accidental pushes of the camera button. But it is a nice option, and I would miss it now that I am used to it.

The camera itself is fine for casual pictures. But it is much stronger outdoors than indoors. It's edit options are just a basic set of functions. It's macro (close in) details are fair. The single flash is fine, but seems to wash out details in really dark settings. Shutter speed is not great. Overall, I would say if photos are a kill point for you with a device, you may want to consider the HTC Titan which has a much better camera.

Multimedia plays fine. Audio is okay for music. The Zune player is outstanding. But keep in mind two major drawbacks: The first is Microsoft's completely baffling decisions to not allow expandable storage or not to encourage manufacturers to build devices with 32 GBs of storage. With everything loaded on the device, you have about 13 GBs of usable memory. That is not horrid, but it won't allow for all the goodies a lot of users want. The second is that if you frequent a lot of Flash driven web sites for video, WP is not equipped for that. While the industry is moving away from Flash, only Android supports flash players. The GS2 is a wonderful option if you need flash and is a great device.

Battery life is very, very good. You can get through a good 8 - 10 hours with heavy usage.

Build quality 10/10 Good weight, nice textured back, great design. It is a durable plastic, so just keep in mind it will not have the feel of metal. Common sense button placement. Back is flimsy, so use caution when removing. It is also a kinda plain design.

Reception 10/10 No dropped calls, holds tight to AT&T's network.

Call quality 9/10 I use the phone a lot, so this would have been a deal breaker for me. Would have been a 10, but the speaker phone is not great, although not terrible.

Internet 10/10 No freezing, no crashing, excellent social network system, loads even complex desktop websites (like ESPN's or Phone Arena's) quickly and completely. Wonderful internet experience.

Multimedia 8/10 Only 13 - 14 GB of actual usable storage.

Camera 8/10 Good, solid camera. Fine reproductions. Just not elite. Only basic edit options.

UI speed 10/10 Windows Phones Metro UI is great even on 1st generation phones. It really sings on the Focus S. Just a wonderful experience.

Everyday usage 10/10 It is a pleasure. No regrets. Enjoy it everyday.

Text input 9/10 Great predictive typing, which I need due to my crappy spelling. There is a little wasted space on the landscape keyboard where the timepiece is at the top corner. But overall holds it's own against any onscreen keyboards.

Display 10/10 Samsung continues to shine with it's visuals. Gorgeous screen. I recommend shutting off it's auto-brightness and setting the screen to medium and adjusting from there.

Battery 9/10 Will easily get you through a workday and into most evenings.

Pros

• Seamless experience
• Outstanding screen
• Wonderful Web experience
• Good battery life
• Joy to use day in and day out
• Good, usable mobile versions of Word, Excel, and Power Point.
• You can delete preloaded apps and any other content without rooting or jail breaking, like it was really your phone or something.

Cons

• On board storage may be deal breaker for some heavy music/movie users.
• There are missing features compared to Android and Apple. Just be sure to research what you need.
• Good camera, just not an elite camera.
• Not all screens work in landscape yet. (What is up with that?)

snowgator alternatives:

Samsung Galaxy S II AT&T

HTC Titan

rceballos10 posted on 14 Nov 2011, 10:28

9

Samsung Focus S - Best WP Yet...

rceballos10 has owned it for less than month before publishing this review

I've just upgraded to the Focus S and I'm sold. I was going to test it out for a week until the Titan comes out, but now I just may keep it.

Unless the Titan blows me away, the Focus S is definitely the next step from the Focus. I'm glad Samsung is staying around manufacturing WP's.

Warning: Phone is very thin and slick, can slip off hands. Takes a bit of getting use to. =)

Build quality 9/10

Reception 10/10

Call quality 10/10

Internet 9/10

Multimedia 9/10

Camera 9/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 9/10

Display 9/10

Battery 9/10

Pros

• Very Fast & Responsibe UI Speed
• Thin and Very Slick - Doesn't feel plastic. Except for the removable back panel.
• Speaker and Call Quality are Great (Definitely an Improved from Focus, yet Focus wasn' bad either)
• Internet Speed - Great! (See Cons)
• New Headpones/Headset seem high quality.
• AMOLED screen - Awesome! (Again, set Brightness to Medium)

Cons

• Auto-Bright Adjustment (Need to manually set it to Medium)
• Great 8MP Camera - Pics come out a bit dark (Need more time to test)
• Per Mobile Site Test, Running just below the
• Text Input seems a bit odd, not as smooth. Not very significant