Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G

“It is hard to call the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G the company's finest effort at the QWERTY theme. Given the relative lack of competition, combined with T-Mobile's traditionally large crowd of hardware keyboard lovers, the handset will likely sell well, with its buyers bound to pick one up with their thumbs, not their hearts.”

“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 can somehow see through the boring design of the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G, you'll find a superb Android smartphone that manages to be a good device in the mid-range category. In this day and age, it seems that the sweet spot for mid-rangers tends to be at $100, and at $150 with a 2-year contract, some might think the Relay 4G to be overpriced. Instead, we find it fitting knowing that it's one of the few Android smartphones being released nowadays with a fantastic keyboard – plus, some of the cool software features found with Sammy's flagship. Therefore, if you desperately desire something with a great keyboard, you should keep this in contention at the moment.”

“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.”