Samsung Galaxy Y is the cheapest Android 2.3 gingerbread mobile phone in India. As of now its selling for around 6.5k and I must say, it truly justifies its price. I was getting quite a good number of requests for its full fledge review after I recommended it last month.
Samsung Galaxy Y packs almost everything (except a good camera) you will need in a budget Android. 2 best things we liked in the phone was inclusion of Capacitive touchscreen and a powerful processor at this price range. The affordable price will let the budget Android seekers think above the Indo-China clad brands like Spice, Micromax & Karbonn.
Specification:
- 3-inch, 240×320 px, 256k, TFT LCD Capacitive Touchscreen
- Android 2.3 with touchwiz UI, Multi-touch
- 2 Mega Pixel camera with geotagging and smile detection
- 832 MHz processor
- 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS
- Economical pricing
Avoid for:
- Camera is just for the heck of it, no autofocus or led flash
- Low resolution screen
Other details:
In the box :
- Samsung Galaxy Y handset
- A 1200 mAH Battery
- Charger
- Data Cable
- Earphone
- 2GB Micro SD Card
- User Manual and software CD
Samsung Galaxy Y Review
Display, Build Quality and Hardware
The 3-inch capacitive screen does well in terms of touch sensitivity and multi touch support. It has a low resolution of 320×240 px and a low contrast, however my experience on it was better than earlier launched Galaxy Pop and Fit. Probably because it posses a greater pixel density of 133 ppi.
The build quality won’t disappoint either. You can’t expect a Gorilla glass display at this price, so a screen protector is must. Rest area on the front side is glossy and gathers some quick fingerprints. The only hardware button and two capacitive buttons below the screen work great. The rear panel is textured and feels solid. No complaints.
User interface
Like all other Galaxy series mobile, it has Samsung’s own touchwiz UI which gives you the same feel you get on high end Galaxy mobiles. You can add up to 7 swipable home screens and arrange widgets as per your needs. However a single home screen could not accommodate too many widget due to the lower resolution.
The user interface is snappy and does not lag anywhere. Features like sliding, swiping, pinch and zoom etc work like a charm. A lower resolution screen on a robust processor has its benefits too.
It also posses all the phonebook features of Galaxy series. You can call a person by sliding his name to the right and message with sliding left. This feature is also found in Samsung’s proprietary Bada OS phones.
Typing a message takes a while to get used to. Its more comfortable in the landscape mode.
Overall the user interface is pretty well and it has a lot to explore if its your first Android.
Camera and Multimedia
Seems Samsung expended all its budget on screen and processor and there was nothing left for the camera. Samsung Galaxy Y posses a basic camera which can be used for casual photography. Don’t rely on it for any occasion. The user interface for camera and video recording is standard and features everything an average mobile camera should have.
The pictures and videos clicked with Samsung Galaxy Y are at par with a good quality 2 Mega Pixel snapper. Check out the clicked and recorded samples:
(Click on above pics to see the compressed samples)
Sample of video recorded in Samsung Galaxy Y:
Overall its an average 2 Mega Pixel camera.
The Audio quality of Samsung Galaxy Y is pretty loud and clear. Every other multimedia stuffs like gallery, FM player, MP3 player, Video player etc were working fine and I found nothing as such annoying or mentionable.
The YouTube app worked pretty good. You will need to turn your mobile landscape to play videos in full screen.
Connectivity, Call quality and battery backup
Samsung Galaxy Y has almost all the connectivity options including Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS etc, which all works fine without any issue. The voice clarity during call is fine and there were no call drops.
Samsung Galaxy Y features a 1200 mAH battery, which may seem a little low for 832 Mhz processor. However the battery backup is fine an will give you 6 hrs of talk time in 2G and 4-5 hrs in 3G.
Final words
Samsung Galaxy Y is one of the best vfm Android till date. While most of the Indian handsets in this price bracket e.g. iBall Andi, Karbonn A1, Vodafone 858, Spice MI-310 etc, are still stucked with Android 2.2, the Samsung Galaxy Y lets you feel the goodness of Android 2.3 and capacitive touchscreen.
Go for it if you are looking for your first Android device on a tight budget.
We are planning to launch 2 tablets
First with resisitive screen and specs as below
7-inch 800×480 resistive touchscreen
Android 2.2 Ginger bread
Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11 b/g/n) , External 3G dongle support
4GB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB
256 MB, DDR2 Ram
CPU: WM8650 800 Mhz + 300 Mhz DSP,
Front facing VGA camera 0.3 Mega Pixel
4 Dimension gravity sensing ,
supports mutliple language
Motion Sensor,
24 Pin USB Interface*1 , headphone*1, MIC*1, DC Jack*1,TF Card reader
1800mAh Li-ion battery
High quality stereo loud speaker . built in mic3,5 mm headphone jack
standby time : above 10 hours , video play : 3 hours
Price : Rs 5,999
The other model is capacitive
7-inch 800×480 Capacitive touchscreen
telechips8803 CPU: Cortex A8 1,2 Ghz , Android 2.3 Ginger bread
Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11 b/g/n) , External 3G dongle support
8GB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB
512 MB, DDR3 Ram
CPU: Three core (CPU+GPU+VPU)
Front facing VGA camera 0.3 Mega Pixel
4 Dimension gravity sensing ,
supports mutliple language
Motion Sensor,
24 Pin USB Interface*1 , headphone*1, MIC*1, DC Jack*1,TF Card reader
4000 mAh Li-ion battery
High quality stereo loud speaker . built in mic3,5 mm headphone jack
standby time : above 10 hours , video play : 4 hours
Price is Rs 10,999
Need your feedback
First with resisitive screen and specs as below
7-inch 800×480 resistive touchscreen
Android 2.2 Ginger bread
Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11 b/g/n) , External 3G dongle support
4GB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB
256 MB, DDR2 Ram
CPU: WM8650 800 Mhz + 300 Mhz DSP,
Front facing VGA camera 0.3 Mega Pixel
4 Dimension gravity sensing ,
supports mutliple language
Motion Sensor,
24 Pin USB Interface*1 , headphone*1, MIC*1, DC Jack*1,TF Card reader
1800mAh Li-ion battery
High quality stereo loud speaker . built in mic3,5 mm headphone jack
standby time : above 10 hours , video play : 3 hours
Price : Rs 5,999
The other model is capacitive
7-inch 800×480 Capacitive touchscreen
telechips8803 CPU: Cortex A8 1,2 Ghz , Android 2.3 Ginger bread
Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11 b/g/n) , External 3G dongle support
8GB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB
512 MB, DDR3 Ram
CPU: Three core (CPU+GPU+VPU)
Front facing VGA camera 0.3 Mega Pixel
4 Dimension gravity sensing ,
supports mutliple language
Motion Sensor,
24 Pin USB Interface*1 , headphone*1, MIC*1, DC Jack*1,TF Card reader
4000 mAh Li-ion battery
High quality stereo loud speaker . built in mic3,5 mm headphone jack
standby time : above 10 hours , video play : 4 hours
Price is Rs 10,999
Need your feedback
Hi Aswini, At last I brought Galaxy Y….But I am facing problem when connecting Wi-Fi….It is displaying the messages as follows
1)Status: Obtaining IP address from UTStar com
2)”remembered”, then after it is displaying as “Scanned’ and then after is is showing a message that “Disabled”..
3)If we continue to attempt to connect wifi , then it is showing info as follows:
Security:Open
Signal Strength excellent/Good
Link speed; XX
But wifi is not working….Can you please suggest me a solution to overcome from this problem…Please……..
Amazon AWS, experience multiple outages,) as well as some other big issues, such as cloud lock-in, cloud security and such. Indeed, there always is a battle between private vs. public
Perfect fit for the Moto Krazr that she has. This is the first case that she actually uses!
Good idea! time zones difference become a problem in big team, such tool really helps. thanks