Flashback: the original Samsung Galaxy S was a best-seller that spawned an empire

17 January 2021
It launched 11 years ago and there have been many millions of Galaxy S phones sold over the last decade. It is still one of the top Android lines.

Sort by:

  • E
  • Epic 4g King
  • sa%
  • 09 Oct 2023

Epic 4G did have 4G, it was the only Galaxy S to have 4G. Sprint had a decently limited WiMAX 4G and it was fast if you had it. It was cool for the time. LTE eventually won out but for a breif time it was different.

    • G
    • Galaxy S Owner
    • XyU
    • 19 Jan 2021

    My First Phone Ever, I Bought It Brand New In 2010 (It Was the i9000). I Use It, And It Still Works Untill This Moment With Old Release Apps. The Galaxy S Is A Legend As the Name of Samsung.

      • N
      • Nick
      • A0n
      • 18 Jan 2021

      I use this device +3 years long because you could swap the battery. It started I believe with android 1.5 but for europe with 2.0 and loved the device. I upgrade it later with android roms till android 4.2 and worked great. When the BlackBerry Z10 came on the market I was invited to test the software als on BES 10 and loved the OS how it works with gesture and swipe . So i moved away from android and get Z10,Z30 , Z3 and twice the BlackBerry Passport and which was a move to a real keyboard and my last one was the keyone with android and now since a few month I use the ONE plus 8 pro and that device is a nice allrounder.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • jZ@
        • 18 Jan 2021

        Awesome phone. I still have my Galaxy S1 and S2 and they STILL work! Samsung's build-quality is freakin amazing. I really loved the removable batteries and wish they would bring that back again.

          Actually it was amazing phone. Not many S-series after it were so amazing.
          Let's see 2021. Depends on what the competition will release next months. If they do not release better phones then s21ultra until april 2021, s21ultra could be one of the greats S-es again.

            • K
            • KOKing
            • 4IL
            • 18 Jan 2021

            My first Android was a T959. No front cam, no rear flash, bad GPS that had to get replaced under warranty, only got one minor OS update. 10yrs later, still haven't gotten another Samsung.

              This phone was the beginning of Android's dominance in the world.

                Siddhant Pandey, 18 Jan 2021The camera seems quite great for such an old phone. I mean ... moreYes you are right that it was a decent camera at the time. But I don't think that good WB or color accuracy is bonus, these attributes in photography are like saying "the car has 4 working wheels". Its the noise, low light sensitivity and sharpness that differentiate good from bad.

                  • M
                  • Mister X
                  • nBH
                  • 18 Jan 2021

                  Ah, my first ever touch based smartphone!
                  Served me from '14 to '15 even to '16 in some regards, battery was really empty and i had no idea it was supposed to be charging for hours straight.
                  I figured that out when i had a lumia 630 in a "half bricked state with some early build of Windows 10".
                  I'm sure that phone could still do calling and texting, it probably still has an app store but not a whole lot of apps. Whatsapp is supported from 4.0.3 i think nowadays, but if you have a rom it probably works. (Gingerbread still remains my favorite version)

                  Thanks Bro,

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • TLP
                    • 18 Jan 2021

                    Mytes, 18 Jan 2021My first ever big budget phone. Now that price is meant for... moreduh. this was actually more expensive if you think about it

                      • E
                      • Ehawn810
                      • 49F
                      • 18 Jan 2021

                      DRHYPERSONIC, 18 Jan 2021I still have it intact with new battery and it runs like a ... moreLmao. What so ever, using three words. Thanks for the laugh.

                        • M
                        • Mytes
                        • mEu
                        • 18 Jan 2021

                        My first ever big budget phone. Now that price is meant for entry level mid rangers. Not just the phones have evolved, the prices have evolved exponentially too!

                          I have one and it is still operational! A user's review: I bought it to replace a really bad Samsung Jet, that had an amoled screen but everything else was dreadful. It was as if it was made by another company. Everything was better. For one, you could use the touchscreen without force (resistive vs capacitive display!). I disagree with the article about the camera. It was among the very best back then, actually only competing with Nokia. I have been using the S for three and a half years. The first year was almost awesome, just a bit laggy. The second year was really laggy. The third year was appalling. The phone could only make phone calls, play music and shoot pictures. It required some patience though. Gaming and browsing stopped as if they suddenly became too heavy for the phone. I installed a custom rom that helped for a while. Then a new company produced a flagship phone that was 60% cheaper than the slightly worse in specs Galaxy S5 and so I replaced the S with the 1+1. 1st but! That was not the end of my S. I've been using it for a few more years as an mp3 (it also had FM radio, good old days...). I uninstalled almost everything so the rom was light enough and had almost no issues. I really didn't like the way this phone lagged since day one and was unbearable to use almost a year after buying it. 2nd but! When the S9+ was on a 60% sale by a carrier, only a few months after its release, I decided to replace my 3 year old 1+1 (which, btw, was ultrafast and buttery smooth up to that point and, keeping in mind my previous experience with the S, I thought that was epic) with the S9+. And boy Samsung has come a long way. I am now two and a half years with the phone and it is slightly smoothier, faster and better in every way (including the camera quality) than when I bought it. It's such a shame that the new S series phones are completely, utterly, totally useless devices with midrange specs and ultra-flagship pricing. I would consider one only if it was gifted to me, so that I could sell it and hold my S9+ with its charger, its perfect size, the headphone jack and the notification led.

                            I still have it intact with new battery and it runs like a champ ... ofcourse it has no updates whats so ever ...

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • kky
                              • 18 Jan 2021

                              Siddhant Pandey, 18 Jan 2021The camera seems quite great for such an old phone. I mean ... moreYeah the article was written kind of funny. At that point Samsung was in an elite lead for camera quality along with the like of Sony and Nokia.
                              Though lacking a few things like flash on most versions it was better than most others cameras on phones then.

                                The camera seems quite great for such an old phone. I mean there is softness and noise but other than that, the colours and white balance is spot on

                                  • J
                                  • Johnny
                                  • pVM
                                  • 18 Jan 2021

                                  NAND-roid, 17 Jan 2021My first android device. What a phone for this time!!!! This phone gave me the best feeling from any other phone that I bought till today

                                    Interesting article.
                                    I suspect Samsung took over Nokia during this period.
                                    Phones for the masses is the way to go and not foldable big phones that are way too much money and only for the rich and stupid.

                                      • A
                                      • Alan
                                      • IV8
                                      • 18 Jan 2021

                                      It is so sad that only the S2 and S3 is the only phone using proper RGB matrix and the rest of it changed to the original Pentile matrix.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • kky
                                        • 17 Jan 2021

                                        ryd3r, 17 Jan 2021The iphone came way ahead of the note 2 what early samsung... moreCan you read? I said plus iPhone. The plus models.
                                        And nice job side tracking away from all the points.

                                          1 of 4