Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 Review: Right on the mini - GSMArena.com

Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 Review: Right on the mini - GSMArena.com: "Minis are supposed to be the cheaper, stripped down version of the bigger and superior gadgets. There’s a long list of bigger and superior siblings for the Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 to choose from but it has its own two feet to stand on.

So, the Galaxy Mini is the last shake of the bag. It will never get to rub shoulders with the big and scary smartphones. But it’s not all bad you know. Not bad at all actually for what basically is an entry level smartphone with complete connectivity, social networking, internet, Android apps and music. It’s the right kind of device for smartphone newbies. A good option if you just don’t want to spend a truck-load of money on a smartphone.

Key Features:

1. Quad-Band GSM and dual-band 3G support
2. 7.2 Mbps HSDPA
3. 3.14” 256K-color QVGA TFT touchscreen
4. ARMv6 600MHz processor, 384MB RAM
5. Android OS v2.2 (Froyo) with TouchWiz v3.0 UI
6. 160MB internal storage, hot-swappable MicroSD slot, 2GB card included
7. 3.15 MP fixed-focus camera with geotagging
8. GPS receiver with A-GPS
9. Stereo FM radio with RDS
10. 3.5mm audio jack
11. Document editor
12. Accelerometer and proximity sensor
13. Swype text input
14. MicroUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth 2.1
15. Social network integration
16. Good build, youthful styling

Main disadvantages:

1. Low screen resolution limits choice of apps
2. Fixed focus camera
3. No secondary video-call camera
4. No flash, no dedicated camera key
5. Poor video recording QVGA @ 15fps

The Galaxy Mini was not made to impress. It was made to serve and be simple to use. It’s a solid little smartphone that has all the important ingredients. It can do most of the things your Galaxy S can, just without the stuff that pushes the price up."

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Samsung S3850 Corby II preview: First look - GSMArena.com

Samsung S3850 Corby II preview: First look - GSMArena.com: "Feature phones have been busy adding more features to their arsenal in a bid to survive the onslaught of cheap smartphones. The Samsung S3850 Corby II is one such phone. Corby put a bargain price on touchscreen – the Corby II moves up a notch but stays within budget.

Touchscreen, Wi-Fi, multitasking, app store – those things used to be associated with smartphones, but the Corby II has them all on its list of features.

The latest TouchWiz, fresh from recent stints with both Bada and Android, blurs the line with smartphones. In fact, the major difference between the Corby II and a low-end Bada phone is that you install Java apps on it, instead of Bada apps.

The J2ME platform has been around longer and many useful apps have been developed for it, while Bada OS is relatively new.

Anyway, the Samsung S3850 Corby II can’t run away from its name. The bigger screen and better specs aside, the Corby II is for beginners. So, no high-end features, thank you very much."

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FCC gives the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 the ole' once over - Phone Arena

FCC gives the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 the ole' once over - Phone Arena: "Visiting the FCC the other day was the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The tablet, powered by Android 3.0, was designed to challenge fellow Honeycomb flavored Motorola XOOM and the Apple iPod 2. Designated model 7100, the tablet visited the FCC with a radio that supported the 850 and 1900MHz bands. Those are two U.S. frequencies which hints of an imminent launch soon in the U.S.

One thing that might hold back the release of the tablet is last week's announcement of the Apple iPad 2. As we reported yesterday, Samsung's executive VP of mobile, Lee Don-joo, called the Galaxy Tab 10.1 inadequate after seeing how thin the Apple iPad 2 is. Besides the issue about the thickness of the Samsung tablet, the executive also said that after seeing the Apple iPod 2, the Korean based firm would have to reconsider its pricing of the device. The problem is that with the Apple iPad 2 listed as the same price as the older, original iPad, it puts pricing pressure on all newer tablets even if they have many improvements over older models."

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Samsung S5260 Star II review

You must remember this one – maybe not by face but certainly by name. The Samsung S5260 Star II has some big shoes to fill: over 10 million units sold propelled the predecessor to Stardom. The original Samsung Star was one of the most popular handsets in the early days of affordable touch phones. For the sequel, the count-up to 10 million has begun but this time around customers are harder to please.

Maybe this is part of the reason why it took Samsung over two years to release the Star II. An upgrade is certainly in order and it’d better be worth it. Here’s what the Star II is bringing to the table in short:

Key features:

1. GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, GPRS/EDGE class 12
2. Dimensions: 107.5 x 54 x 12.4 mm, 94 g
3. 3" capacitive TFT touchscreen, WQVGA resolution (240 x 400 pixels)
4. TouchWiz 3.0 UI
5. 30MB onboard storage
6. Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
7. 3.5mm audio jack
8. 3 megapixel fixed focus camera with smile detection
9. Wi-Fi
10. Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
11. microUSB v2.0
12. Document viewer
13. Smart unlock
14. Smart dialing
15. Accelerometer sensor
16. FM radio with RDS
17. DNSe
18. SNS integration
19. Find Music recognition service
20. Great battery life
21. SMS spam filtering
22. Decent audio quality

Main disadvantages:

1. No 3G
2. Low-res display
3. Basic fixed-focus camera with no flash
4. Poor video recording – QVGA@15fps
5. Poor web browser
6. Laggy user interface
7. The changes aren’t too many but they should be significant enough for an entry-level handset. Does anyone really expect miracles from a €100 phone – 1080p video recording and big AMOLED screens are reserved for the expensive devices.

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Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 review: Ace in the hole - GSMArena.com

The Samsung Galaxy Ace can get far with a name like this but it isn’t going any further than its comfortable midrange spot. You know, if you want the best seat in the house you need to move the cat. The Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 is a feline droid – the black cat in Samsung’s Android portfolio. And it spells bad luck for the competition – mid-range droids are a force to be reckoned with in the smartphone world.

With the kind of specs, the Samsung Galaxy Ace could have passed for a high-end phone a while back. So, if your processing power and screen estate needs haven’t risen sharply during the past year or so, the Ace will serve you well.

In fact, with Froyo on an 800MHz processor, good connectivity and screen size and resolution that were good enough for the first three iPhones, the Samsung Galaxy Ace is looking good.

The only downside to the package is the QVGA video @ 15fps. That may be acceptable on a low-end dumbphone but certainly disappointing on a mid-range Android.

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Samsung Google Nexus S review: Royal droid

Another year, another heir to the Droid throne – and Google are trying to be democratic about it. Which is a roundabout way of saying they’re not monogamous. For the Nexus One, Google teamed up with HTC. This time around, they trusted Samsung to do the job, using the Galaxy S as a base. It’s only their second try and users are given a second chance to like the Royal Droid. A tall task it is – the very concept is fundamentally incompatible with the free and open source Android system. Royal blood is not a benefit in a free democracy. Google did learn it the hard way with the Nexus One.

Google’s second smartphone child has more than just an image problem to tackle. The Nexus S has to keep pace with the evolution of the platform. The 'S' in the name may stand for many things - from second to superior. But with Android 2.3 Gingerbread inside, speed is not far from the truth either. Here’s what else the Nexus S has to offer in a nutshell.

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Samsung Galaxy 551 review

Samsung Galaxy 551 (I5510)

The Samsung Galaxy 551 is something that should have happened a long time ago. This is not to say that the form factor was out of favor with Samsung. But it took a slew of CDMA messengers to finally see a QWERTY side-slider to land in Europe.

Android debuted on a full QWERTY phone, but messengers were never meant to be the dominant species. The Galaxy 551 is pragmatic enough to accept the fact and live with it. Samsung itself knows better than expect the market to embrace more QWERTY messengers the skill and size of the Motorola Milestone or the HTC Desire Z.

The Samsung Galaxy 551 does not look forward to making a big splash, It’s part of a broader effort of giving the Galaxy lineup some depth in the midrange. With Froyo and all-round connectivity the Samsung Galaxy 551 makes perfect sense in the segment of affordable smart messengers.

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