Samsung Galaxy Y Preview

Introduction:

Samsung keeps churning out smartphones as if there's no tomorrow, stuffing the channels with sometimes marginally different handsets six months after it introduced the previous crop.

The Samsung Galaxy Y is not an exception to this strategy – about half a year since the company launched something like the Samsung Galaxy Mini, for instance, it announced the Galaxy Y, which, according to the new naming scheme, should be an affordable handset for teens or emerging markets.

Some of its specs are marginally better than the Galaxy Mini, like a slightly faster processor and less weight, but the camera is 2MP, for example, against the Galaxy Mini's 3MP, while the screen resolution is the same (QVGA). The biggest improvement seems to be the Android OS version – we are running Gingerbread on the Galaxy Y, but this is not a huge advantage, as software can always be updated.

So does Samsung's fresh naming scheme an event enough to merit a new, largely unchanged, low-end Android entry from the manufacturer six months later, considering it's getting somewhat crowded down there? Read on the preview of our non-final unit to find out...

Design:

The outer appearance of the Samsung Galaxy Y is differentiated from the sea of black plastic rectangles  or ovals with... a silvery back cover and chrome-like sides. Alright, one for the design team here, since it found a cheap way to break from the mould. Moreover, the battery cover is dotted like snake skin, which makes the phone easier to hold for our slippery, shaking hands.



You can compare the Samsung Galaxy Y with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The basic 3” LCD display has the pretty appalling 240x320 pixels of resolution, but the colors are fairly bright. We know it's an entry level Android from Samsung, but a slightly larger screen would have made a big difference, or a slightly better resolution than the previous low-ends even.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Y chassis looks and feels like the manufacturer is skimping on many features, including telling design, in order to stay mass market and affordable, but the two-toned shell is somewhat of a compensation.

Interface and Functionality:

Android 2.3 Gingerbread on the Galaxy Y is the one we know and like, but the TouchWiz overlay on top of it is of the simplest variety – no bells, whistles, transparencies or transitional animations like on the more powerful brethren. Granted, we have a preview unit, so anything goes until the final release.

At this resolution both the interface elements and the apps themselves don't look pretty, but that's the price to pay for a small tag. While the UI might not look flashy, Android's functionality is still there, and that's all we can hope for in the marketing niche the Galaxy Y is targeting.



Messaging, Internet and Connectivity:

We'd lie if we say that typing on a virtual keyboard spread out on a 3” screen is easy, regardless of the display's orientation. The keyboard does the job, but unless you are in high school, you won't be spending your time typing on the Galaxy Y for too long, and will most likely keep your texts and emails short and to the point.


Samsung's new ChatON messaging service can be found on the handset, which allows for all of its users to group chat and exchange files.

The updated Dolphin browser of Samsung supports Flash Lite 4.0, like the default one on Symbian handsets, for example, but not full desktop Adobe Flash like the more powerful Android phones out there.

Otherwise the browser handles the basics like text reflow, pinch-to-zoom and double-tap.. The 832MHz should suffice for smooth performance in the final unit.


The Samsung Galaxy Y is well-connected with its support for 7.2Mpbs HSDPA, Bluetooth 3.0 HS,  Wi-Fi, A-GPS and FM radio. Of note is the lack of DLNA support, but something had to give in order to achieve that sub-$200 price sans contract that the “Y” indicates.

Camera and multimedia:

The basic 2MP snapper sits lonely on the back of the Galaxy Y, unaccompanied by LED flash of any sort, and again it's an eyebrow-raiser why Sansung didn't bother slapping at least the 3MP shooter that is on the Galaxy Mini, the difference in cost probably measures in cents..

Video is shot in QVGA with 15fps, and anything below 640x480 is not even worth mentioning, so it will be watched only if you really care about the content, not because of the pretty imagery.

Samsung Galaxy Y Sample Video:



The gallery app for watching said pics and video is of the same Android flavor we are used to since Froyo, while the music player has been slightly TouchWiz-ed and offers the usual rich set of equalizer presets we've come to expect from Samsung's smartphones lately, even the most basic ones.


The Samsung Galaxy Y's 832MHz processor and accompanying silicon ran videos in MPEG-4 format pretty well, and above the screen's 320x240 resolution, but other formats like DivX/Xvid are a no-go with the default player.

Expectations:

We'd be hard pressed to mention something that piqued our interest while handling the Samsung Galaxy Y. It is a decent low-end Android handset from a brand name manufacturer and that's about it.

The silver back cover and the new naming scheme can't hide the fact that its specs are suspiciously close to phones like the Galaxy Mini that was outed back in February, with the only advantages being a slightly faster processor and newer Android version. We would have expected a new model, albeit entry level, to improve on its predecessor in more ways than two marginally better specs, which are offset by one worse, like the crappier camera.

These shouldn't have warranted yet another barely discernible Android phone in this form factor, but probably Samsung felt it needs to start off the first batch of handsets in its freshly-minted naming nomenclature with new faces to cover every letter of its smartphone alphabet. We had a preview unit, so the final piece might alter our impression, but it won't be by much.

Thus, if you are looking into a low-end Android right now, there is no point in waiting for this one to come out. You could easily go and pick the Samsung Galaxy Mini predecessor, if you find it somewhere cheap, and won't be missing out on much at all in comparison. Or you can grab a more sophisticated design with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini, which also runs Android Gingerbread, and get a better camera too.

Samsung Galaxy Y Video Preview: