Will the Samsung Infuse 4G knock out its competitors in AT&T's smartphone portfolio? Read our full review to find out.
Samsung Infuse 4G Report
The Samsung Infuse 4G is billed as AT&T's thinnest smartphone, and it also offers the largest screen in the smartphone market, next to the dual-screen Kyocera Echo. With 4.5-inches of Super AMOLED+ goodness, the Infuse meant business when it came to gaming and multimedia. However, the phone also flaunts a 1.2GHz processor for a speedy performance. But wait, there's more! It packs in a 1750mAh battery that proved to give the phone extra juice as well as a solid overall Android browsing experience. To us, the Infuse 4G (specs) was like a Galaxy S on steroids. Let's take a closer look at what AT&T's latest and greatest Android smartphone has to offer.
Design
The centerpiece on the table here is the Infuse 4G's big ass screen. This thing is huge, and almost bridges a gap between the phone and tablet worlds. With its 4.5-inch 800x480-pixel Super AMOLED Plus screen, the phone hit a new benchmark in terms of screen size and quality. This is the same screen technology we saw on the recently reviewed Samsung Droid Charge, and it succeeded in one of its primary traits—conserving battery life.
Aside from the obscenely large display, the Samsung Infuse 4G was also one of the thinnest smartphones we've ever tested. Although it's a millimeter or two thicker than an iPhone 4 when lying on a table, 90% of the phone's body is actually thinner than Apple's jewel of the Nile by a hair. But its overall size will take some getting used to and will not appeal to those looking to conserve pocket space. It's a beast, falling well within EVO 4G and Droid X territory.
Aside from its 8-megapixel main camera with flash stylishly embedded in back, the phone has a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat. We also love the textured gunmetal gray plastic backpanel and dark chromed edges, which set the Infuse apart from the monotonous Congo line of uninspired Android designs. Also, with one of the largest screens on a phone, you'd think that Samsung would have thrown a kickstand on the back. But, that would sacrifice the device's thickness, and Samsung's got a reputation to uphold. Regardless, this is a killer phone to travel with.
Software and Interface
We're beginning to sound like a broken record here, but this is the state of the Android nation—the Infuse 4G gave us TouchWIZ 3.0 atop Android 2.2. This is what we saw on the Droid Charge, though the Infuse 4G has a more powerful 1.2GHz processor. They're only going to climb in power, so keep in mind that a single-core 1.2GHz CPU will be outdated on high-end smartphones sooner rather than later. Regardless, the phone was blazingly quick and did not exhibit any lag that we discovered on other similarly designed phones. It also gave us Bluetooth 3.0, 6-axis motion tracking, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, and connectivity to AT&T's HSPA+ network.
Read any of our Samsung Galaxy S reviews, and you'll already know how the Samsung Infuse 4G operates. We have the classic Menu, Home, Back, and Search haptic feedback buttons along the bottom, drop-down menu, and 7 customizable Home screens with the ability to add Widgets, Shortcuts, Folders, or toggle wallpaper. The phone also employs an HTC Sense-like Leap maneuver that minimized all home screens onto one screen by pinching and zooming. Though the Infuse did not tickle our fancy the way that the HTC Inspire 4G did, it was still highly functional and easy to navigate, despite its lack of flashy graphics.
The Android browser on the Infuse 4G was polished and speedy. We never experienced a hiccup while pinching and zooming, double-tapping to zoom, or watching YouTube videos on our favorite pages. Usually, most phones we test will stutter a bit before synching audio, but the videos we played started right up and began playing with no problems, like a trusty Honda four stroke engine in the dead of winter. The phone's Super AMOLED Plus also made reading text all the more enjoyable, and copying and highlighting text was a snap, thanks to the magnification window. The phone offers one of the better browsing experiences on the market today.
Obviously, the Infuse 4G had an advantage with its giant 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen when it came to gaming or watching videos. Speedx 3D and other 3D games were flawless, and the phone even came preloaded with Angry Birds with special Golden Egg level that enables users to register to win exclusive Samsung prizes. Also, the first 500,000 Infuse 4G buyers receive a $25 voucher for Samsung's Media Hub, which was also available on the phone. Although AT&T's U-Verse and Lite TV were found on the Infuse 4G, it's worth noting that the amount of multimedia apps found through the Android Market is expanding.
The smartphone came equipped with Quickoffice for working on Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files, which were much easier to handle with the ample screen real estate. It was much easier to type on the keyboard as well, which offered two different trace pads that let us trace the letters, numbers, or punctuation as an alternative to the QWERTY keyboard. This took some practice, and we still preferred the QWERTY, but there will be some users who prefer the Handwriting Boxes.
Call Quality/Battery Life
While our calling test yielded a fairly typical result with adequate voice quality and clarity, the Infuse 4G's shining star was its battery performance. This is the third phone we've seen crank out such a stellar stamina, next to the Atrix 4G and Nexus S 4G, our Samsung Infuse 4G review unit proceeded to last on days in Standby and still kept ticking with photography, web browsing, and gaming. That 1750mAh pack, coupled with the battery-conserving Super AMOLED Plus screen and better application management proved to be a recipe for success, and we were very happy.
Camera
Samsung needs to evolve within the realm of digital imaging when it comes to their phones. We're not knocking the Infuse 4G's 8-megpixel camera by any means. It captured fantastically crisp images in bright light and offered a great auto focus system. The phone gave us a slew of Scene modes, a disturbingly accurate Panorama shot mode, and a fun Cartoon filter. The camera was capable of 720p HD video, and like our still image experience, proceeded to crank out great bright light quality mainly with static subject matter. Motion was improved with 30fps, and low light overall seemed to have an edge over the average smartphone (check out photo and video samples).
However, we couldn't use the touch focus or toggle the video light while recording videos, and that was a big one. We need that functionality in order for the Infuse 4G to compete with phones like the T-Mobile G2X and iPhone 4. Also, we need a spruced up camera interface, as the TouchWIZ platform makes the camera mode look quite antiquated next to the HTC Sense camera interface.
Samsung Infuse 4G – infoSync Diagnosis
Our InfoSync Diagnosis with the Samsung Infuse 4G is a good one. The phone managed to hit several core requirements that solidified it as a worthy device in our book. First off, the phone's massive 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display not only gave us the graphics goods, but it managed to aid in the conservation of battery life. Speaking of battery life, the Infuse 4G performed exceedingly well, proving itself as one of the best devices when it came to stamina. The phone was also faster than most of its peers, courtesy of the 1.2GHz processor, and it was about as thin as an iPhone 4. The Infuse 4G is definitely a quality device that deserves a chance as much as any of the better Android phones out there.
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