Samsung Galaxy 5

Intro; Features

The Samsung Galaxy 5 represents a new epoch in the history of mobile phones. It is the first Android smartphone that falls within the 10K barrier and can be effectively classified as an entry level phone and more importantly, it is the lowest priced proper smartphone with a touchscreen in the market. So, yes, the Galaxy 5 represents a lot of firsts but does it really impress or does it drown under the weight of expectations?

We didn't just brand the Galaxy 5 a smartphone for no reason; it boasts of all the connectivity features that more expensive smartphones have.

Features

We didn’t just brand the Galaxy 5 a smartphone for no reason; it boasts of all the connectivity features that more expensive smartphones have. The Galaxy 5 supports 3G, Wi-Fi and even has a built-in GPS chip. It has 170MB of internal memory and comes with a 2GB microSD card. If you want more memory, the phone supports microSD cards up to 16GB. You can shoot pictures or record videos using the Galaxy’s 2MP fixed focus camera but you will have to make do without a flash. The Galaxy 5 has a 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen locked at a resolution of 240x320 and 256K color output.

The Galaxy 5 runs on Google’s Android 2.1 and things are kept breezy by the phone’s 600MHz processor. The basic Android 2.1 UI has been touched up using Samsung’s very own TouchWIZ. Like in other Android smartphones, the Galaxy 5 is at a great advantage thanks to the Android Market from where you can download a massive number of free (and very useful) apps. Also, you have excellent access to Google’s Mobile Services including a dedicated, one tap Gmail app, easy syncing options with your Google contacts and calendar and another dedicated app for playing YouTube videos on the phone.