Overview/Intro

The Android market has grown exponentially during the last 12 months, and this onslaught has been attributed to the barrage of devices from hardware providers internationally. Samsung has secured itself as one of the foremost players within the Android device marketplace, battling head-on with phone giants HTC and Motorola. With a slew of superb top-rate cellular merchandise below its belt, including the high-quit Samsung Galaxy S phone and the 7-inch pill Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Korean electronics monolith crashes the low-quit Android birthday party with a brand new access-level touchscreen phone – the Samsung Galaxy 5.

This little Galaxy Five runs Android OS v2.1 (Eclair). It is a shame that it isn’t always the whole lot-expected Froyo, but it is truly a step up from v1.6 (Donut) being provided by using some available in the marketplace. This puts it head-on with the Motorola Citrus, Sony XPERIA X8/X10, LG GT540 Optimus, and HTC Tattoo. For a sub-USD200 (SRP: RM699) tool, it packs quite a buffet of capabilities. This begs the question – Is there such a component as “reasonably priced and joyful”? Read on.

Graet Report

At first glance, the Galaxy Five seems strikingly like Samsung’s own Corby, except for the extra four hardware shortcut buttons at the lowest. It’s tiny enough to match within the palm of your hand and, at a scant 102g, very mild, too. The exterior is sleek plastic and universal, so the smartphone is reasonably priced. That said, it is nice and cozy to hold and convey around. A 3.5mm audio jack is integrated at the pinnacle as general, and the left side contains hardware extension buttons and a mini USB port. At the lower back is a 2MP camera lens sans flash. To get entry to the MicroSD slot, you will want to get rid of the back cover. Be cautious no longer about breaking your fingernails. A 2GB microSD card is preferred (upgradeable to 16GB).

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Display

The display screen is a 2.8″ QVGA TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen with 240 x 320 resolution. Possibly the smallest display on an Android phone, like the Sony XPERIA X10 mini. You’ll be disappointed for Android fans as there may be no guide for multitouch. However, it does include Samsung’s Live wallpapers out of the container. Boo. The quality of the display is not much to shout about, although it is decently sharp and brilliant enough, and for the fee, a step up from resistive touchscreens on some competing products.

A small display screen on a hint tool may be demanding, particularly when typing on a touchscreen keyboard. In portrait mode, the keyboard feels, without a doubt, cramped. Typing the QWERTY in portrait may be mistakes-laden (perhaps because of my fat arms). This may be remedied in landscape mode, fortuitously, where the keys are highly spaced out. Users use Swype for textual content access, which is pretty innovative, or the 3×4 keyboard. I locate the touchscreen responsive if it is blunders-ridden with unintended touches. This is not the fault of the telephone consistent with se, more so due to some UI quirks of the Android OS.

Features

Whether constructing automobiles or electronics, Koreans know how to play the price game. The Galaxy Five is not extraordinary and is absolutely packed with features. Everything you want in a cell phone is at the plate. Zippy 600MHz processor powers the tool. You get excessive speed 2.5G (850/900/1800/1900 Mhz) & 3G get admission to with HSDPA (up to 7.2Mbps), Wi-Fi 802. Eleven b/g and Bluetooth v2.1, accelerometer, 2MP constant focus digicam that supports video recording, FM radio, 170MB inner memory with 2GB microSD (as much as 16GB supported) A-GPS.

The phone comes bundled with Samsung’s very own TouchWiz interface and Swype (Samsung’s ultrafast text enter feature), not forgetting Samsung’s Social Hub application first seen on its larger brother, the Galaxy S. It’s additionally armed with an HTML5 browser, an augmented fact app from Layar, a guide for MPEG4, H.263 and H.264 video formats, and Samsung’s AllShare platform which permits for clean sharing of media across a full variety of DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)-certified Samsung devices like notebooks and TVs. You may even use the Galaxy Five on your Samsung TV or computer as a faraway. Nifty.

Performance

Before I was given the phone, I subsidized my contacts/calendars from my preceding cell phone and Mac, then synced to Google. I installed the free Double Twist laptop app to handle all media syncing on my Mac. DoubleTwist may be to iTunes or even connect to the Android Market. Pay $1.Ninety-nine top class, and you also get wireless syncing via AirSync. You’ll now be capable of downloading unfastened and paid apps and podcasts (restrained, but nonetheless) and buying tracks from AmazonMP3. Syncing is surprisingly hassle-unfastened with the double twist, and it even acknowledges iTunes playlists. One of the first matters I did after I got the smartphone was install many of my favorite apps – Twitter, Tweetdeck, Facebook, Opera Mini, WhatsApp, Foursquare, and Angry Birds bundled Android Market app. I also manually installed Advanced Task Killer to lose memory, as I expected the 170MB base reminiscence inadequacies. Downloading and installation are seamless and hassle-unfastened.

Having used it as my primary phone for the past four days, I’ve discovered the telephone is generally satisfactory and intuitive to apply, if a bit sluggish. The 600Mhz processor copes pretty well in preferred. It’s no Sprint Queen and may occasionally choke and lag when switching and strolling multiple apps. Typing has a significant lag; scrolling through a long-touch listing can take some time. There were times when the display was pitch black for 15-20 seconds, even as the processor attempted to address the weight of switching between apps. Without a committed GPU, it also struggles with some games, which include Angry Birds.

One important rant could be battery existence. While scouring Android forums, I examine customers getting two to 2-three days of battery life. Very bold, bold claims. No such luck with mine. With 3G on and the entirety else pretty an awful lot off, the Galaxy’s excellent for six hours tops before I need to plugin. I constantly have a cable with me, just in case. I’m not sure if this is limited to my review unit, but I’m far from impressed. Turning off 3G and walking only on EDGE gave me barely greater mileage. I’ve saved strolling apps to a minimum or even tweaked display brightness, heritage records (syncing), and notifications. Tasks include minimum voice calls, tweeting, SMS-ing and messaging through WhatsApp, and occasional tests on Facebook. A penalty for multitasking? Something to reflect on consideration.

Apps-smart, the whole thing you need to get began is already pre-hooked up – Messaging, Calendar, Write and Go (textual content editor), Maps, Browser, Clock, Email, Music, Gmail, YouTube, Talk (IM), Calculator, Camera, and Market. Setting up domain email and Gmail debts was quite painless. Being a completely ‘social’ phone, contacts lists are unified along with your Facebook,

Twitter, Gmail, and something you legally cannot sync to. I respect the unified-sync-to-the-cloud-kind-aspect, and tyou cannot legallyot establish contacts based totally on your desire. The 2MP camera is not whatever to shout approximately. No autofocus, no flash. Teleports me again to old function phone days. It’s a respectable digicam, even though just do not assume award-prevailing images. Forget about capturing in low light conditions, as with most, if not all, cameras with comparable specs, at risk of predominant noise and distortion.

Audio excellent is above average and reassuringly loud—no complaints about call quality and reception.

Summary

All in all, the Galaxy 5 is a small, lightweight, and reasonably-priced access-level Android telephone. Suppose you may skip the small, restrictive display screen and slightly gradual overall performance. In that case, it is quite an awesome introduction to Android, in particular in case you’re upgrading from a feature smartphone. It’s one of the most inexpensive Android telephones obtainable, characteristic-packed, and gives extraordinary bang-for-greenback. Telcos ought to effortlessly provide this phone away without spending a dime, bundled with an agreement.

Does “cheap and cheerful” exist? I’d spend a little greater (good enough, a lot extra) for a better spec-ed Android tool because I tend to equate cheap to crap, which I sense, in the end, dilutes the Android enjoyment and emblem. I am still not completely satisfied that reasonably priced is the manner to head, and I’ll go away that discussion for another day. The Galaxy 5 may be the nearest to “reasonably-priced and joyful” as you can get.