I don't know what's normal to you. It's a backup phone, using a PrePay plan on another network (prepays are pretty cheap in my country) and indeed I'm making less calls with it than with my primary. I'm also keeping it off the data-network, unless I need to connect.
So basically I use it as a dumb phone and it's a pretty good dumb phone.
Not having (or using) LTE helps quite a bit, since it's still fairly new technology with a lot of optimization still needed. Also the fact the Galaxy S has a 4" screen. Galaxy S lives on most of all from being nearly identical to the Nexus S, so it can borrow a lot from it.
So basically I use it as a dumb phone and it's a pretty good dumb phone.