Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G review: Thumbs wanted

A good Web browser

While the interface of the Android web browser hardly has changed, the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G has the hardware specs to propel it to great heights of user experience. The pretty large, sharp display with great colors makes reading a joy.

Browsing GSMArena.com

The browser supports both double tap and pinch zooming along with the two-finger tilt zoom. There are niceties such as multiple tabs, text reflow, find on page and so on. A neat trick is to pinch zoom out beyond the minimum - that opens up the tabs view.

Page options and settings

The Web browser comes with Incognito mode, which enables you to surf the web without the browser keeping track of your history or storing cookies. You can also switch to a more minimalist UI, which currently is in a Lab stage. It disables most of the browser's user interface and gives you a quick five-button layout to access the basics.

The organizer has almost everything you need

In an unfortunate fashion, the Samsung Galaxy S Relay comes without an office editor preinstalled. You will have to spend your own dime in order to get one. Given the hardware QWERTY on board, we found the lack of productivity suite particularly odd.

The calendar has four different types of view: list, daily, weekly and monthly. Adding a new event is quick and easy, and you can also set an alarm to act as a reminder.

The organizer centerpiece - the calendar

The list view shows a list of all the calendar entries from the recent past to the near future. It's a very handy tool when you need to check your appointments for the next few days.

There is also a calculator aboard. It is nicely touch optimized - the buttons are big enough and easy to hit.

The Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G features a decent alarm clock application which allows a huge number of alarms to be set, each with its own start time and repeat pattern.

The Clock app also comes with a stopwatch and a timer. They are easy to work with and can come in handy.

The clock app

There's a YouTube app, which makes browsing YouTube videos from your subscriptions easier. Unfortunately, it cannot match the resolution the in-browser flash player can give you.

Google Maps

The Galaxy S Relay 4G comes with Google Maps and Navigation. The latest version features vector maps, which are smaller and easier on the data traffic and reroute is an option if you go off course without the need to connect to the Internet. In fact, the only time you need a data connection is when you initially plan the course - Navigation will cache the needed maps.

Google Maps with vector maps does a bit of 3D

Google Play Store

The Google Play Store features several scrollable tabs - categories, featured, top paid, top free, top grossing, top new paid, top new free and trending. Apps usually have several screenshots (some even offer a demo video) so you can get an idea of what the app looks like before installing it.

The Google Play Store keeps getting better

The Google Play Store is full of all sorts of apps. From music / video players, to file managers and various tools, you'll always see something worth a try.