Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G is the latest offering from T-Mobile and its release gives customers a cheaper alternative to Samsung Galaxy S II. The phone has a smaller display as compared to its big brother, but does Galaxy S Blaze 4G deliver the same performance as that of Galaxy S II? Check our Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G review to know what this mid-range Android phone has to offer you.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Looks and DesignWhen we first looked at Galaxy S Blaze 4G, it looked like a mini version of T-Mobile Galaxy S II. At dimensions standing at 4.8×2.5×0.4 inches, Blaze 4G is smaller than Galaxy S II. It is also light as compared to Galaxy S II. The phone looks quite a lot like BlackBerry Torch 9860, thanks to the metal bezel on its top. Build quality of the phone is of top class as there is a mixture of high quality plastic and metal.Just like all other Android smartphones made by Samsung, Blaze 4G can easily take the daily beating. The rear rubber panel of the phone helps us to easily grip the phone. Overall, the device is a solid one and is quite easy to operate. On the top of the phone, there is a headphone jack with microUSB port at the bottom. The power button and microSD port are on the right hand side while the volume rocker button is on the right.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G DisplayGalaxy S Blaze 4G features a 3.97 inches super AMOLED display which displays colors of resolution measuring 800×480 pixels. AMOLED display is featured in quite a few Samsung devices. The contrast ratio and the viewing angles of the display are quite good. The images looked quite crisp and though the resolution is not as high as HTC Sensation 4G, yet the viewing angles are better than Sensation 4G. We enjoyed watching a Youtube HD trailer; though in some cases it appeared to be a bit grainy. Overall the screen provided hassle-free one handed operation whenever it was required.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G KeyboardBlaze 4G is equipped with a stock Samsung keyboard whose keys are very big. The keyboard has great spacing in both landscape and portrait mode. In order to access special characters, you need to long-press a regular character. The phone also includes a Swype keyboard which allows you to quickly jot down any text or mail. Both the keyboard offer great haptic and tactile feedback.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Interface and OSWithout a doubt Blaze 4G showcases one the most up-to-date TouchWiz UI. The phone runs on Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread but we were quite surprised to find that the static wallpapers were no longer scrollable. We were quite impressed by the 7 customizable home screens. There are several active widgets such as AccuWeather.com, T-Mobile Bonus Apps and T-Mobile MobileLife Organizer. When we swiped down the display, one got access to notifications shades which led to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS settings.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G AppsThe notebook is equipped with a series of entertainment apps such as:-Samsung Media HubOn DemandLive TVThere are several in-built T-Mobile apps such as:-T-Mobile MallMobileLife OrganizerMore for MeSome of the third-party apps includeFacebookYoutubeGoogle TagsYelpQikSamsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Phonebook and MessagingThe phonebook offers an extensive range of features and has unlimited storage capacity. It offers Quick contacts features which allow you to tap the contact photo for a popup menu. The phonebook automatically merges contacts. Messaging is quite good as there is just a message button which lists all the messages. The messages are organized into threads.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G GalleryThe phone uses standard Android gallery which automatically searches for the images and videos wherever they are stored. The gallery even imports online photos from Picasa web album. The gallery displays full resolution of images and it even supports pinch zoom and double tap. One can share the images through Bluetooth, email and even messaging.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Processor and MemoryThe phone is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor along with a 1GB of RAM. The processor ensures that the device carries out operations smoothly. Whether it is scrolling the home screen or opening applications. The phone offers 1.4GB of internal memory and then there is another 1GB of memory for applications.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Camera QualityThe phone is equipped with a 5MP camera equipped with LED flash which captures photos of resolution 2560×1920 pixels. The interface looks very much familiar with a couple of shortcut bars on each side of the viewfinder. On the right side, you get a still camera switch and a shortcut to the gallery. Going by the quality of images, the phone has got lot of potential. The images produced are quite sharp with plenty of details. The colors were quite neutral and overall we were happy with the results of the photos clicked. The phone also has a 1.3MP front camera which captures images in 720p.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Video RecordingThe interface of the video camera is very much the same as that of still camera. The camera is capable of shooting 720p videos at 30fps and the videos appeared to be quite smooth. The audio was crisp too.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G ConnectivityConnectivity with Galaxy S Blaze 4G is of top class with the phone supporting quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and tri-band 3G with HSPA+. Bluetooth 3.0 is quite efficient in fast transferring of file and there is Wi-Fi b/g/n support along with Wi-Fi hotspot option. With the help of AllShare app, you can stream content to and from several devices over DLNA. There is no change in the interface of the Android web browser and the experience is quite good. The browser supports double tap and pinch zooming. The browser also has Flash 11 support which ensures that you can watch YouTube videos directly in the browser.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G MultimediaGalaxy S Blaze 4G is equipped with a touch wiz music player which Samsung has enhanced with DNSe technology. The tracks are sorted in four categories. The video player is quite nice and it offers a simple interface. The video files are stored in the phone and the video player also considers the last viewed position of the video.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G Call Quality and Battery LifeThe calls made to landlines and cell phones delivered sharp, loud and clear audio. But there were some echoes on speakerphone calls. The battery of Galaxy S Blaze 4G gave a great performance lasting for over 7 hours. This is 1 hour more than Android smartphone average category.Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G PriceThe phone is priced at $149. It is a mid-range smartphone which delivers robust performance, great battery life and fast 4G speed. If you are looking for a pocket-friendly Android device with long endurance then Galaxy S Blaze 4G is just the right phone for you.
