Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G Pro Reviews

For a mid-tier smartphone running Ice Cream Sandwich, the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G is no slacker. Its Snapdragon S4 allows for smooth and fast performance, and battery life is none too shabby. Sure, the 4-inch WVGA display isn't tops and the camera is underwhelming, but $150 doesn't buy you the stars. What it should buy you is a comfortable, reasonably fast device that fits in well with your texting and photo-taking habits. If there wasn't a five-row QWERTY keyboard under the hood, our review would end on a higher note. But the fact that there is one naturally leads to some expectations about a better typing experience, and this device falls flat in that regard. If you want the extra set of keys, the Photon Q is a much better pick, and if you're open to going touchscreen-only, T-Mobile has plenty of superior devices -- even within the Galaxy S lineup.

The Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G adds a much desired hardware QWERTY keyboard to a package of specifications, which have been long tried and tested though not exactly in this combination. The dual-core Snapdragon S4 chipset is one of the leggiest around, while the TouchWiz-ed Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich has proven to be a great combination in the Galaxy S III flagship. We only wished T-Mobile would go easy on the preinstalled software - the application launcher of the Galaxy S Relay 4G had more magenta colored icons than we would like. The 5MP camera caught us unprepared with its high quality stills. Photos came out with spectacularly low noise levels and were nicely sharp. The phone's build quality is also good, though the looks could have been a lot better. The addition of the hardware home button is a welcome one, though we don't believe it improves the handset's ageing looks. The Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G is priced at $149.99 with a two-year commitment to T-Mobile. This is hardly an affordable price for a smartphone which has some of its main hardware components sourced from 2010's stock.

The Samsung Galaxy S Relay is a fine little phone. It fills a hole in T-Mobile's product line-up in amicable fashion. It's an Android 4.0 smartphone with HSPA+, a good processor, and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. These are key requirements for many a smartphone shopper. From my perspective, the biggest problem faced by the Relay is the mediocre camera performance. Just about every other feature does well enough. The hardware is somewhat boring, but certainly functional. The software is quick and flexible, and the Relay is great for making phone calls. It offers zippy network performance and so many extras that it wouldn't surprise me if the vast majority of Relay owners never use them all. In the end, as long as you're not stuck on the idea of having the best camera-phone in the market, the Relay is a fine choice.

As personal as any phone choice is, I think that that deciding whether the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G is right for you will be equally so. Its keyboard is spacious, but only you can determine if it's the right fit for your hand. I do like everything else that the phone has to offer, and while it isn't top-of-the-line in every way, there were no major drawbacks for a phone of this level. Excellent call quality isn't something you see every day, and believe me, a lot of phones cross my desk. The asking price is fair, too. If you're in the market for a QWERTY smartphone, I'd definitely choose this over the T-Mobile MyTouch Q.

The Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G is T-Mobile's best keyboarded smartphone, but unless you really need that keyboard, you should go for the Galaxy S III.