Review: Samsung Vibrant Smartphone From T-Mobile

ZDNet reviewer Matthew Miller says the $200 Android-powered Samsung Vibrant rises to the top of his list of best smartphones available on the T-Mobile.

"The smartphone market moves at an amazing clip today and in May I put together a top 10 list of smartphones at the time that has radically changed over the last couple of months. I also mentioned top smartphone on each carrier in June and would make at least one change to that list. You could buy a Nexus One and use it on T-Mobile, but it was never sold through the T-Mobile retail channels and all the other Android devices were more mid-level quality. The T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant has now changed that and rises to the top of the heap for T-Mobile smartphones. I thought the HTC HD2 would be that top smartphone, but the device let me down too often to take that spot. I have been very happy with my Sprint HTC EVO 4G and wasn’t really thinking I would buy my own Samsung Vibrant on T-Mobile, but I didn’t have a high end smartphone for T-Mobile so I decided to swing by the store and check out the device. After just about 5 minutes of playing with the Vibrant, I went to the counter and found out I was eligible for the $199.99 price (after $50 rebate) so I quickly paid and was on my way. I have now spent several hours with the Vibrant and personally find it better than the Nexus One is several ways and am even enjoying it more than my EVO 4G at the moment. I understand some of this is part of the “new, shiny device” phase and plan to spend a lot more time with it. Check out my image gallery that includes photos and screenshots, my YouTube video, and my first impressions walk around below.

In the box and first impressions T-Mobile and Samsung have some pretty heavy promotions going on with the Samsung Vibrant that include the movie Avatar, Amazon Kindle app, MobiTV service, and The Sims 3 game. Each of these four have icons on each side of the box with the device showing Avatar on the front of the compact, solid box. When you lift off the top of the box you will find the Samsung Vibrant wrapped in plastic with a small black compartment below this and divider under that. The small black compartment stores an extra (red tinted) back cover, Quick Start Guide and some other pamphlets, and a recycle bag. Under the divider you will find a stereo wired headset, A/C wall charger, USB to microUSB cable, and the battery. The included cover has a slight blue tint and that is what I kept on there so far."