Design & Usability

If you already own a Samsung Corby, then be careful while buying the Galaxy 5. The two phones look so identical that getting confused between the two would be a regular occurrence. Design-wise, the only things that set the two phones apart are the number of hardware buttons below the Galaxy 5’s screen and the steel edges that the Galaxy’s body is embellished with. The Galaxy 5’s overall look carries forward the Corby series’ looks that mixed cute design with stylish curves. The Galaxy’s build is plasticky but solid and the device is small enough to comfortably fit in the palm and in the pocket.

(From L-R) The Galaxy 5's hardware buttons & one of its homescreens.

The Galaxy’s 2.8-inch display is small and low-res. Smaller text doesn’t look smooth and sometimes tends to look like static when scrolling quickly through lists. However, the display is quite colorful and held surprisingly well under sunlight especially for a capacitive screen.

Like I mentioned earlier, the Galaxy 5 uses the TouchWIZ interface to spruce up the basic Android UI and it makes the UI look quite good. The interface works at a fair clip and there is a neat fade in/fade out animation when you travel between menus which also adds to the nice experience. The Galaxy 5’s capacitive display also afforded me the best touch experience I’ve had in a phone in this price segment. The hardware buttons below the screen also aid greatly in navigation.