PC World
09/02/12
Android phones continually exceed our expectations when it comes to bang for your buck and the Samsung Galaxy Y is a perfect example. Retailing for just $129 through Telstra, the Galaxy Y is a compact, functional and easy to use smartphone. The small screen and low resolution do hinder the overall user experience, but at the end of the day this is all about value for money.
Provided you don't expect it to effectively compete with more expensive phones, the Samsung Galaxy Y is great value for money. A tiny screen and average battery life do dampen its appeal, but the Galaxy Y remains a good budget smartphone.
• Telstra now selling Galaxy Y for just $129
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There isn't anything new or remarkable about the Galaxy Y, but it at least manages a reasonably attractive look and feel. We love the etched silver plastic of the rear battery cover, which not only looks good but makes the phone easy to grip, too. The Galaxy Y may be a cheap phone but Samsung deserves credit for its good build quality. It's lightweight without feeling like a cheap toy and it does feel solid despite the largely plastic construction.
A glossy chrome edge attempts to give the Galaxy Y a touch of class while the bezel surrounding the display is gloss black. The phone is surprisingly easy to keep clean: fingerprints on the screen are visible, but less prominent than many other touch screen devices we've reviewed.
We love the physical home button below the Galaxy Y's screen. It's much more responsive than any capacitive button and it wakes the screen when it is locked. The home button is flanked by touch sensitive menu and back buttons, while physical volume controls are on the left side of the handset. A standard 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro-USB port are located on the bottom of the phone.
The biggest issue of the Samsung Galaxy Y is its small 3in screen. It's fine for general use, like swiping through home screens and dialing phone numbers, but its too small and cramped for Web browsing, typing a message and viewing photos. Adding to the small size is a very low resolution of 240x320 which makes text choppy and hard to read.
Next page: Software, performance and battery life
1
wish i knew where to go to find information about loading pictures to my pc like my telecom R101 phone
2
Having had my HTC desire run over by a car, I decided bigger was not better and got the sumsung galaxy Y instead. I find the battery life more than ok as I am happy to charge once a day, and it lasts fine even with regular gmail and Facebook access during the day. The screen is too small to hold the keyboard and what ever you are typing into.. So I switch to my iPad for long emails, but it's ok just for txt or quick one liners..
Not like a full fledged top of the range phone, but great for what it is.
3
I understood the adverts for the phone showed 600 hours standbye battery life, I get 50 if I am lucky. What a disappointment as I am a very low user and thought I was buying a phone which I could charge once per week. I consider the phone a disaster for that reason, otherwise it is OK.Another thing, my VW car dealer spent 1.5 hours loading the phonebook into bluetooth in the car--tough ask and there is no easy way to resolve this.
Charlie
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Kaleb
1
Can u buy cases,covers for this exact type of phone we can't find the covers on eBay or anywhere if can u please reply to me and tell me were to get cases for this exact type of phone thanks.
Kaleb
2
So please tell me were to get these cases for the Samsung galaxy y.
Ally
3
Yes you can. You can buy pouches.
priya
4
i need a new body(orignal body) of my samsung y bcoz mah mobile fell down on the road & the color of my mobile is glied ...from where i get it.new bodt plz tell me.
Nonny
5
My phone keeps saying the sim card is full and to delete messages. I have deleted all the messages I can see - how can I access the sim card details to be able to delete the messages.
Diena
6
On my home screen I have 2 icons for FM Radio, 2 icons for the camera and 2 icons for gmail. How can I delete these icons as they have filled up the screen page.