The Samsung Galaxy S series of Android mobile phones have been a huge success in the U.S. as well as various international markets.

Compare Samsung Galaxy S Phones

The Galaxy S phones are available though all major carriers in the U.S. though with a slightly different set of features and under different names – you get them as Epic 4G on Sprint, Samsung Vibrant on T-Mobile, Samsung Fascinate on Verizon and Captivate on AT&T.

If you are based in the U.S. and are planning to go for a Galaxy S, the following poster from BillShrink should help you narrow down your choices.

The poster compares the common features and technical specifications of the various Galaxy S phones as well as the contract plans. Click here to download a larger version.

Samsung Galaxy S – What’s Common

Samsung Galaxy S – What’s Different

Poster Compares the Samsung Galaxy S Phones

     

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Eureka has been Giz's celebration of inventors of all stripe, from Tesla to Popeil. But some of the most memorable inventors of our time were actually invented themselves. Here are ten fictional innovators near and dear to our hearts. More »

One of the key characteristics that has contributed to Android's popularity among technology enthusiasts is the platform's flexibility. It's possible for third-party developers to build replacements for many different components of the Android user experience, including the home screen. Among the third-party home screen implementations available from the Android Market, the most functional and popular is arguably LauncherPro.

Created by independent developer Federico Carnales, the LauncherPro home screen offers a multitude of useful configuration options and practical features that are not available in Android's standard home screen. Launcher Pro can be installed at no cost from the Android Market, but the developer also recently began offering a "Plus" version for $2.99 that offers some premium functionality, including a sophisticated collection of custom home screen widgets that are inspired by HTC's Sense environment.

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If you've read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (or either of its sequels), you're probably aware of the fact that its characters have a striking and awesome penchant for gadgets. The thing is, those gadgets are from... 2002. While reading through the books, we took the opportunity to jot down all that name dropped gear, and what we've got here is both a list of that gear and a walk down memory lane. Author Stieg Larsson (who was the first writer to sell one million Kindle e-books) often gives out actual lists of specs, which we find to be pretty endearing, but where he's left anything to the imagination we've tried to use context clues to fill in the gaps. Like we said, the action takes place in Sweden in 2002 (the books were published in Sweden in 2005, though Larsson died in late 2004 so they were likely written somewhere between 2002 and 2003), so the options were... a little more limited. There are some mild spoilers below, so if you plan on reading the books and don't want to know what kind of gadgets await you, then beware. Otherwise, join us, won't you?

Continue reading The Girl with the Insanely Long Gear List

The Girl with the Insanely Long Gear List originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This may surprise some BlackBerry users.

Do you know that your BlackBerry has a log file where it keeps a detailed record of every single action that you perform on the device including your incoming and outgoing phone calls?

To view the log file of your own BlackBerry, go to the home screen, hold the ALT key and press LGLG. If you are using a BlackBerry Storm, display the keyboard in portrait view, hold the number key for while to lock the number keyboard and then type ,5,5 to display the phone log.

Your BlackBerry Call History is in the Debug Logs

These debug logs may sometimes help you troubleshoot issues with your BlackBerry but there’s one related issue that you should be aware of.

Even if you remove the SIM card from your BlackBerry and manually clear all the phone call logs, one can easily read your dialed and incoming phone numbers list from the debug log.

This won’t be an issue for most BlackBerry users but if you ever plan to giveaway or sell your old phone, remember to clear the debug logs manually as well. Unfortunately, BlackBerry doesn’t offer a way for you to turn off logging permanently. Thanks @RajivMakhni.

Related: BlackBerry Shortcuts for Reading Lengthy Emails

The Debug Log Stores your BlackBerry Call History

     

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

Ars is reporting that the National Association of Broadcasters and the RIAA are in talks to strike a compromise that could result in a Congressional mandate to include FM radios in phones and other portable electronics. Thanks but no thanks? More »

One interesting characteristic of Star Trek: The Next Generation—one that separated it from the original series and most of the early films—was its widespread use of smooth, flat, touch-based control panels throughout the Enterprise-D. This touch interface was also used for numerous portable devices known as PADDs, or Personal Access Display Devices. These mobile computing terminals bear a striking resemblance to Apple's iPad—a mobile computing device largely defined by its smooth, flat touchscreen interface.

To understand the thinking that led to the design of the Star Trek PADD, we spoke to some of the people involved in production of ST:TNG (as well as other Star Trek TV series and films), including Michael Okuda, Denise Okuda, and Doug Drexler. All three were involved in various aspects of production art for Star Trek properties, including graphic design, set design, prop design, visual effects, art direction, and more. We also discussed their impressions of the iPad and how eerily similar it is to their vision of 24th century technology, how science fiction often influences technology, and what they believe is the future of human-machine interaction.

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RIM had hardware demo units available at today's Torch product intro, and we got some time to get a first impression of both the hardware and the new OS. There's no doubt that RIM is hoping that the combination of the two will let it expand into the consumer space, where most of the smartphone action is these days. All the speakers from RIM (which included a co-CEO, a VP, and a CTO) repeatedly emphasized that the products are thoroughly touch-based and are multimedia powerhouses. But do those claims hold up to a casual hands-on??

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After Samsung's disappointing Bada-powered Wave, this high-spec Android smartphone pushes all the right buttons

What is it? Samsung Galaxy S GT-19000, running Android 2.1 operating system

Category: Hardware Hardware and software

You'd use it in the... Home and office

First impressions: what is it like to look at, to hold, to use? OK, so it's visually 7mm away from being an Apple iPhone 3GS, but don't let that distract from the Galaxy S's sleek exterior. At 118g, the Galaxy S is slightly lighter than the iPhone 4 but not noticeably so. It's also thinner but slightly taller than the iPhone.

Thankfully Samsung opted for Google's Android (2.1) operating system for the touchscreen Galaxy S, making the phone much more flexible and intuitive than the Wave, Samsung's first Bada-powered device. With a 1GHz processor and a fair bit of memory available (8GB or 16GB, with capacity for an additional 32GB MicroSD card), completing tasks is zippy for the most part.

What does it really do well? Some nice additional features (vintage layers, for example) complement the device's 5MP camera, which also allows quick and easy sharing by MMS, email or social networks. YouTube video playback is sharp, thanks to the Super AMOLED screen, but the app can be sluggish to load, even on a strong Wi-Fi connection.

Most of all, it's a quick-response phone – allowing you to switch between apps and functions relatively painlessly. Web browsing suits the not-insubstantial screen well, despite the lack of Flash support – though the Bada-inspired font used on the Wave is easier on the eye than the Galaxy S choice.

What's the cost? Available for free on a £35 per month 24-month contract or around £400 sim-free. Not hugely expensive for an iPhone-rivalling smartphone.

What's it up against? The price and device specifications put the Galaxy S right among the best smartphones currently on the market. It's less expensive than the iPhone 4; you're getting a fair amount of bang for your buck.

Blind us with the tech specs, then: A Super AMOLED screen (embeds touch sensors into display rather than layering over the top); Weight: 118g; Dimension: 64.2 x 122.4 x 9.9mm; 5MP camera; front-facing VGA camera for video calling; 720p video recording; on-board FM radio; 8GB or 16GB memory, with potential for 32GB MicroSD card upload; 1GHz processor; Android 2.1 operating system.

What's it good for? Very nice for taking and sharing decent-quality photos quickly. With the Android operating system, the Galaxy S has all the potential – as opposed to the Wave which is mostly inhibited by running Bada. Of course, all this depends on how often Google updates the firmware and how quickly (or not, as seems to be the case) the various operators can push them out.

One in 10 contract devices sold in the UK is now reportedly running Android, a software that suits Samsung's well-made hardware.

What are its failings? I'd advise away from the Android Aldiko ebook reader, which was infuriating to use: slow to load, slow to respond to interaction and only able to fit 17 lines on the 4-inch screen. A weird stilted zooming inhibits an otherwise good browsing experience. And the browser address bar is unjustifiably big.

Annoyingly, even when the cursor is blinking in text boxes the touchscreen keyboard requires another (needless) selection before allowing any text input.

How big a pocket will I need (portable devices only)? Only 7mm taller than the iPhone 4, a normal pocket will suffice for the Galaxy S.

How long is the battery life? On paper: talk time stands at 803 minutes (2G), 393 minutes (3G), standby mode at 750 hours (2G), 576 hours (3G).

What's its USP? The big all-encompassing screen and its speed. The feature-rich relatively high quality camera also sets the Galaxy S apart as an excellent device, up there with the best of currently-available smartphones.

Rating out of 10: 8

Finally, is it worth it – yes or no? Yes.

Rating: 4/5

Microsoft has a long and illustrious history of operating system sales. The model has served the company well on the PC, but if it wants to make money in the phone market, it needs to start thinking like a consumer electronics company. That means selling Microsoft phones.

Microsoft revolutionized the operating system market back in the early 1980s. Indeed, Microsoft created the operating system market back in the early 1980s. Back then, when you bought a computer, it normally had its own special operating system that the vendor bundled (or even sold at extra cost).

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