This is my first ever review of any kind; probably should call this as my first impression and a very small one as I have just bought the phone a day back.
I am too excited about my new phone
...just fyi, I have been using Nokia N70 for about 5yrs now, it still does look pretty much new...however my wife felt its high time I should be buying a new mobile.
So after few months of searching in google, reading XYZ reviews on the models, OS etc...it was a confusion for quite sometime now between IOS and ANDROID.
Phones I was considering
I almost got convinced for buying Xperia neo, but found one of my colleague getting it as a gift a month back (fortunately I should say); I was really impressed by the phone though atleast by the look of it. Things that went against xperia is the low internal memory which only about 360MB or so available for users.
Iphone 3GS no doubt a good phone; but I believe, its a outdated model with only 8GB of space and no scope to increase the capacity; add to it all the iphones looks the same. But I did like the display and touch screen response.
The GALAXY R package contained:
Samsung GALAXY R is simply one of the most attractive device; feels nice and solid in hands. Its more a downgraded version of the famous S2 model.
But one things that stands out in GALAXY R (I would say better than GALAXY S2) is the nice metallic finish; I feel GALAXY S2 has a plastic feel. GALAXY R is a pleasure to look at and hold as well.
The 4.2 Inch (480X800 pixels) super clear LCD display is much brighter and color looks pretty natural. I really enjoyed watching some you tube videos. It
runs on Andorid 2.3.5 & TouchWis user interface; touch screen is very responsive, considering this is my first real touch screen mobile and I was not a great fan of touch screen mobiles till sometimes back.
There are seven home screens and when the phone is in Idle mode, we can see the idle screen alsong with devices status and access applications.We can also capture an screenshot (image of a screen) by pressing and holding Home key and the Power/Lock key simultaneously. But I wish they could give a single key like in the tablet.
I found in-call sound quality to be very good and have not faced any call drop issues till now. However i think the speaker volume is not sufficient though.
The music player on the Samsung GALAXY R is pretty good; I believe most of the GALAXY models has the same player. It has all the required features like
support for playlists, grouping by albums/artists, and has some equalizer presets as well. I read somewhere that it can even play the FLAC lossless audio format. Earphone provided is pretty good as well, we can listen in 5.1 when earphone is used, I was not very impressed though.
The 5MP camera is pretty decent, but again I use my digital camera for photography, so did'nt have much of expectations from it.
Eventhough the box had out the internal storage as 8GB; I found only about 3.75GB being available for users, just could not find much information on what happened to the remaining part of it; If someone already has it and have some information on the same, please do let me know...btw the storage can be expanded up to 32GB using Micro SD card.
Overall I believe this is a good smartphone and is a good alternative to the Samsung GALAXY S2. I found it to be costing over 27K a couple of months back, infact the box carries a MRP of about 30K. But IMO at 21K I believe this phone is good value for money. Who know it might just come down by another few thousands by february.
I am too excited about my new phone
...just fyi, I have been using Nokia N70 for about 5yrs now, it still does look pretty much new...however my wife felt its high time I should be buying a new mobile.So after few months of searching in google, reading XYZ reviews on the models, OS etc...it was a confusion for quite sometime now between IOS and ANDROID.
Phones I was considering
- IPhone 3GS about 19,900
- Sony Xperia neo V about 17-18K
- Samsung GALAXY R 21-23K (Slightly above my budget though)
I almost got convinced for buying Xperia neo, but found one of my colleague getting it as a gift a month back (fortunately I should say); I was really impressed by the phone though atleast by the look of it. Things that went against xperia is the low internal memory which only about 360MB or so available for users.
Iphone 3GS no doubt a good phone; but I believe, its a outdated model with only 8GB of space and no scope to increase the capacity; add to it all the iphones looks the same. But I did like the display and touch screen response.
The GALAXY R package contained:
- Handset
- Battery (1650 mAh battery)
- Charger
- Headset(earphone)
- microUSB cable (helps in charging and data transfer)
- Pouch
- User guide and warranty card
Samsung GALAXY R is simply one of the most attractive device; feels nice and solid in hands. Its more a downgraded version of the famous S2 model.
- Processor 1 GHz ARM Cortex A9, Dual Core (Processor 1.2 GHz, Dual Core in GALAXY S2)
- 4.2-inch Super Clear LCD screen (4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus in GALAXY S2)
- 5MP camera with LED Flash (8MP in GALAXY S2)
- 1.3MP secondary camera (2MP in GALAXY S2)
But one things that stands out in GALAXY R (I would say better than GALAXY S2) is the nice metallic finish; I feel GALAXY S2 has a plastic feel. GALAXY R is a pleasure to look at and hold as well.
The 4.2 Inch (480X800 pixels) super clear LCD display is much brighter and color looks pretty natural. I really enjoyed watching some you tube videos. It
runs on Andorid 2.3.5 & TouchWis user interface; touch screen is very responsive, considering this is my first real touch screen mobile and I was not a great fan of touch screen mobiles till sometimes back.
There are seven home screens and when the phone is in Idle mode, we can see the idle screen alsong with devices status and access applications.We can also capture an screenshot (image of a screen) by pressing and holding Home key and the Power/Lock key simultaneously. But I wish they could give a single key like in the tablet.
I found in-call sound quality to be very good and have not faced any call drop issues till now. However i think the speaker volume is not sufficient though.
The music player on the Samsung GALAXY R is pretty good; I believe most of the GALAXY models has the same player. It has all the required features like
support for playlists, grouping by albums/artists, and has some equalizer presets as well. I read somewhere that it can even play the FLAC lossless audio format. Earphone provided is pretty good as well, we can listen in 5.1 when earphone is used, I was not very impressed though.
The 5MP camera is pretty decent, but again I use my digital camera for photography, so did'nt have much of expectations from it.
Eventhough the box had out the internal storage as 8GB; I found only about 3.75GB being available for users, just could not find much information on what happened to the remaining part of it; If someone already has it and have some information on the same, please do let me know...btw the storage can be expanded up to 32GB using Micro SD card.
Overall I believe this is a good smartphone and is a good alternative to the Samsung GALAXY S2. I found it to be costing over 27K a couple of months back, infact the box carries a MRP of about 30K. But IMO at 21K I believe this phone is good value for money. Who know it might just come down by another few thousands by february.
