Sometimes, it just works

[Rallye James]

So, I've had the Galaxy S for 4 months now. I remember taking it home in November on 2.1 and filling it up with so many apps it barely worked. I upgraded to 2.2 within days and soon enough, curiosity got the better of me and after a weekend of trouble over Christmas time, it ended up rooted and eventually running one of Darky's V7 ROMs.

So, fast forward 3 months, and it's got a fresh V9.5 on it and I decided to put it to a good test today and took it for a drive to Wiltshire (70 miles each way).

Jumped in work's Golf, which has an all singing, all dancing media/TV thing and basically all the toys. It's a bit more high tech than my 13 year old Peugeot . Connected the phone straight up to the built in Bluetooth and fired up Google Nav. I'd already had a look at my route in the office on the PC, so as soon as I typed in the 'S' for the start of my Salisbury postcode, up came the full address as a suggestion! Very impressed. Next up, I get some music on the go. So now I have over 2000 tracks on shuffle playing directly through the car speakers in crystal clear quality with just the press of a button.

And off I went, directions on the screen, music on in the background only interupted when Mrs Google wants to tell me in her strange robotic voice to head to Ye-o-vil (or Yeovil in English ). The GPS is faultless all the way there, maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, but since I went to Darky's I've had no problem whatsoever.

After an hour and half I arrive at my destination and check 3G Watchdog to see just how much data the nav has used on my way... 2MB. A mere 0.4% of my monthly quota, for a 70 mile trip. Very impressed at that.

I do what I need to do (exciting stuff like deliver and set up a printer, woohoo!) and half an hour later I head off on my way home. I'm running a bit late, so call the office to let them know. And this is where the Golf's party piece comes in. A tap of the phone icon on the steering wheel brings up my contacts between the dials. I select work and tap the button again, the music goes quiet and the phone rings. I just love how effortless this technology is The call ends and we get straight back to the Red Hot Chili Peppers before I even have to think about anything.

I get back to the office in good time in the end, well, only 15 minutes later than planned anyway. Another look at the data usage... still 2MB Obviously, the app had cached the route on the way there and just reversed it back to Taunton. Brilliant.

I know it's been a long post, but I've just been so please with how well it all worked today, from both the car and the phone, that I felt I had to share it. My only drawback I found, running so much through the phone, I was actually losing charge with the charger plugged in! Only about 1% every 15 minutes it seemed, so it was OK!

[Professor Yaffle]

You lucky, lucky person...

Had anyone in Yeovil actually seen said wondrous phone in action, we'd be none the wiser and you'd be one of the many poor souls setting their phone alarms at the bottom of the River Yeo with our scaly friends, if you follow me, having enjoyed the thrills of the trusty dunking chair.

Er, anyway, I concur Darky's ROM 9.5 is seemingly rock solid and a great companion to the Galaxy S's hardware. Any open source OS with UNIX roots (pun possibly intended) is a jolly fine basis for success. It gives us customisations such as Darky's which make using the phone almost orgasmic (almost - Jaffa Cakes still have the edge...).

Professor Yaffle

[Cicinho]

I have went to darks rom 9.5. Today in work me and a friend decided to compare gps, he has an iphone 4. He flicks on his gps and it pops up the blue dot in our works car park. Mine pops up 2 miles away with a 25 mile radius blue circle. I wish i had your phone.

[stonkr]

It's a bit more high tech than my 13 year old Peugeot .

You mean your 106 Rallye, which is a light-weight stripped out classic racer along the lines of Lotus and the Ferrari F40? I know which one I'd rather have.

...only interupted when Mrs Google wants to tell me in her strange robotic voice to head to Ye-o-vil...

I can highly recommend SVOX with the Victoria voice. Definitely worth the small outlay.

[Rallye James]

Had anyone in Yeovil actually seen said wondrous phone in action, we'd be none the wiser and you'd be one of the many poor souls setting their phone alarms at the bottom of the River Yeo with our scaly friends, if you follow me, having enjoyed the thrills of the trusty dunking chair.

Don't worry, I stayed well out of Yeovil, LOL!

I have went to darks rom 9.5. Today in work me and a friend decided to compare gps, he has an iphone 4. He flicks on his gps and it pops up the blue dot in our works car park. Mine pops up 2 miles away with a 25 mile radius blue circle. I wish i had your phone.

It seems so odd how they can be so different. Mine was poor before Darky's, but now it seems spot on. GPS test can pinpoint me to within 5m, which is very accurate! It even picks me up indoors sometimes! Have you tried GPS Aids and FasterFix?

You mean your 106 Rallye, which is a light-weight stripped out classic racer along the lines of Lotus and the Ferrari F40? I know which one I'd rather have.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fun little car I've already sold one and had to get another a year later! It just lacks a bit of refinement and technology sometimes! I think in an ideal world I'd like to have something more modern for the daily run and a 106 as a weekend toy. Best start saving...

[stonkr]

Best start saving...

For an RCZ.

[Rallye James]

They're pretty cars. My budget's looking more like an S2000 in 6 month's time though, I reckon

[Goots]

What a great story

I think Darky has got it very right indeed with v9.5, let's hope he does the business with the GingerBread versions. I reckon (like the 9 series) it'll take a few releases before it's perfect.

[arrowangler]

How do you play video recordings from Samsung Galaxy S on a TV. I have copied to DVD and TV does not recognise or play

[Goots]

If I remember correctly, the SGS saves video in the .mp4 format. You would need to run that file through a video conversion process before it would be playable by a standard DVD player. Something like Aimersoft HD Video Converter would do it, if you have the appropriate video codecs installed.