Samsung Galaxy mini

Editor's Review of the Galaxy mini

It seems Samsung is following in Sony Ericsson's footsteps, offering a miniature version of its popular Galaxy handsets. It claims the Galaxy mini is "as fun as it is functional and affordable" and "an ideal first smartphone for trendy and sociable youngsters", but how did it fare under DialToSave's tests?

Design & Build

It may be branded as the "Galaxy mini", but Samsung's latest mobile isn't quite as small as we were expecting. The handset measures in at 110.4 x 60.8 x 12.1, which although it is pocket friendly, it's a bit too bulky for our liking.

Still, the Samsung Galaxy mini is not your average-looking smartphone. It may be crafted from plastic, but somehow, its materials both look and feel of a high-end quality. Samsung has added a touch of pizzazz to the smartphone too, decorating its textured casing with a playful green trim, which is sure to appeal to "trendy and socialble youngsters", right?

Within its youthful casing sits a 3.1 inch 320 x 430 screen, which when coupled with the handset's 600MHz processor, may struggle to fire up certain apps from the Android Market. Although not idea for Angry Birds addicts, it keeps its cost down, and still manages to offer fairly impressive viewing angles.

OS & Interface

The Samsung Galaxy mini S5570 may not arrive with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but to be honest, it doesn't really need it. One of the best thing's about this budget blower is its Android Froyo (2.2) OS, packing it with a host of goodies including Facebook integration, solid email support and GPS powered by Google Maps.

Samsung has added its TouchWiz skin on top of Google's UI, making the handset feel a little more special. The homegrown interface offers 7 customizable homescreens, which can be filled with Samsung's host of pre-loaded apps, including Swype for super-speedy messaging.

Multimedia & Storage

The Samsung Galaxy mini certainly isn't going to appeal to budding photographers, but it's 3 megapixel fixed focus camera is perfect for taking the occasional shots. We were disappointed to see a lack of flash however, with its video capture suffering in low light conditions.

Along with its 3.5 mm headphone jack, the Galaxy Mini S5570's music functionality is complemented by its integrated media player, offering options sort by artist, albums or playlists. The Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 also features an FM radio with RDS, enabling users to save up to 4 stations as favourites.

The handset may be small, but its tiny 160MB of internal storage can be expanded up to 32GB, with a 2GB card thrown in for good measure.

Everything Else

Samsung may have cut the corners in terms of the handset's processor and display, but it definitely doesn't skimp when it comes to connectivity. The Galaxy mini arrives packing HSDPA and WiFi, which when coupled with its Android brrowser, offers quick, and smooth browsing.

Conclusion

Asides from its low-res screen and measly camera, it's hard to criticize the super-cheap Samsung Galaxy mini. It's a great looking handset, and if green is your colour, it's right up your street. We have to agree with Samsung on this one, as the mini is definitely a fun and functional handset, ideal for trendy and sociable youngsters.