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By Rob Garretson
Eschewing an exclusive deal with a U.S. carrier, Samsung is offering versions of its forthcoming Android-based Galaxy S smartphone on all four national wireless carriers starting next month, as well as regional U.S. Cellular.
Samsung, which announced a model for AT&T earlier this month, today added Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile, along with U.S. Cellular, to the carriers that will offer a touchscreen Galaxy S device.
The barrage of announcements came on the heels of a survey that found the missing feature that existing and would-be smartphone users would have most liked to see on Apple’s new and wildly popular iPhone 4 is a choice of wireless carrier.
Though the Galaxy S models all have different names, each has the same basic hardware specs and runs the Android 2.1 operating system. The one variation is the Sprint model, called the Samsung Epic 4G, which features both a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and front-facing camera for video conferencing, which are not found on the others. Otherwise, the specs are the same: a 1 GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor, 4-inch ultra-thin “Super AMOELD” touch-screen, Wi-Fi, microSD card slot and 5-megapixel camera capable of capturing HD video at 720p resolution.
Earlier this month AT&T introduced its version of the Galaxy S, called the Captivate, while Verizon's model is dubbed the Fascinate, and T-Mobile's, which will be available July 21, is called the Vibrant. U.S. Cellular is simply calling its model Galaxy S and is promising availability in the fall. Only T-Mobile has announced a release date and none of the carriers have disclosed pricing.
By virtue of their Android 2.1 operating system, the various Galaxy S models have a range of capabilities in common, including an integrated MP3 player and Samsung’s Social Hub feature, designed to simplify communications by integrating the user's personal and business e-mail, text messaging, calendars, contacts and social networking services. For example, calendar information from portal calendars such as Google Calendar can be displayed together with social networking services on a single calendar with two-way synchronization. Social Hub also provides text messaging enhancements such as group messaging and “reply all” capability for up to 10 contacts, as well as e-mail improvements such as a threaded conversations format, a consolidated inbox, and enhanced multi-media display.
Google’s Android 2.1 OS provides a seven-paned home screen and access to Android Market and its roughly 65,000 applications. The user interface supports a series of touchscreen gestures including multi-touch pinch, long tap and zoom and vertical and horizontal swiping, designed to provide easier and quicker access to many applications, including location-based services, Web browsing and digital photos viewing.
Like the other Galaxy S models, Sprint’s Epic 4G -- the second phone that supports its high-speed 4G network -- will run Android 2.1, but the company said it expects to offer an Android 2.2 upgrade “in the near future.” The subsequent Android version, which Google announced last month, offers updates to the user interface, improved EAS support, improved browser performance including Flash 10x support, voice-dialing over Bluetooth and application storage on external memory.
Android 2.2 also offers enhancements geared toward the enterprise, such as support for Microsoft Exchange, APIs for developers that support cloud-based data backup and a messaging service that allows applications to more easily share information.
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