Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Reviews

With Skype text input and Navigon's turn-by-turn GPS application, the Samsung Galaxy Y appears to offer plenty of bang for your buck.

Even though our review handset was an ex-test unit, and there may well be some upgrades to the final firmware, we have trouble recommending the Samsung Galaxy Y. We'd suggest holding your horses till the new Orange San Francisco II comes along before making a final decision.

Y stands for entry-level phones in the company's recent naming system. Phones for youths and emerging markets. The Galaxy Y is at the bottom of the Android food chain. It joins the likes of the Galaxy Mini, the Gio and the Fit at the wide base of a pyramid that eventually peaks in the next flagship. There's a long way from the Galaxy Y to the company's top earners. It will appeal mostly to people who are new to the smartphone market and should rack up strong support for Samsung. Android with TouchWiz and the package of preinstalled apps and services offer a more complete mobile experience to people coming from a feature phone. And that's available at a rock-bottom price. No, the Galaxy Y has nothing to offer to experienced smartphone users. It's the experience builder for the next generation of Samsung customers. The company is taking the entry-level smartphone market seriously. The Galaxy Y joins a lineup of similar handsets. The Galaxy Mini offers a marginally better camera and slightly larger display. The Galaxy Fit boasts a 5 MP camera and bigger screen. However the Galaxy Y does offer the most recent release of Android Gingerbread and a higher-clocked 830Mhz CPU.

There isn’t much that piqued our interest while handling the Samsung Galaxy Y, but it is a decent low-end Android handset from a brand name manufacturer. With the patterned silvery back cover and mirrored front we can even say it’s a looker, which usually evades handsets at this price point. The specs are suspiciously close to phones like the Galaxy Mini that was outed back in February, though, with the only advantages being a slightly faster processor and newer Android version. Still, the Galaxy Y does its job fine, with about average call quality, while the interface moves well under your finger. For about $150 unlocked you can’t really expect much more from this one, but we can’t call it a great value for the money either. A phone like the LG Optimus Net is direct competitor of the Galaxy Y with a slightly larger 3.2”screen, A smart thing would be to dig a retailer that offers phones like the Acer Liquid Metal ($170 at Expansys now) or the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini, which can be found sub-$200 unlocked now, too, but you get way better cameras and screens with them.