Samsung I5500 Galaxy 5 review: Corby with brains

Introduction

Don’t know what Android is? Don’t sweat it. Prepare to want one. The Samsung I5500 Galaxy 5 looks like a Corby, but walks and talks like a smartphone. More importantly though, it’s got no problem finding an audience to talk to. With so many Corby phones around, there must be enough users mustering up their courage to take that extra step – and upgrade to something more advanced and more exciting.
We’ve seen plenty of Corby variations – QWERTY keyboards, 3G, Wi-Fi.


With the Galaxy 5, Samsung are encouraging young users to give smartphones a thought. A Corby smartphone makes it all so much easier. The name says it all: we’re looking at a cheap and friendly touch phone with premium connectivity and a smart OS. In a way, this is some good news and some bad news. No one would say no to high-speed network data and Wi-Fi. But smartphone just sounds too scary for some. Well, not any more.
Key features

• Quad-band GSM/EDGE, UMTS 900/2100, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• 2.8" capacitive TFT touchscreen of QVGA resolution, 256K colors
• Android OS v2.1 Eclair
• 600 MHz processor
• 170 MB onboard storage, microSD card slot (up to 16GB), 1GB card included
• 2 megapixel camera with geotagging, QVGA video @ 15fps
• Wi-Fi connectivity
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
• microUSB slot
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Excellent audio
• FM radio with RDS
• TouchWiz UI v3.0
• Accelerometer for UI auto-rotate
• Social networking integration with direct file uploads
• SWYPE text input method

General
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100

Size
Dimensions 108 x 56 x 12.3 mm
Weight 102 g

Display
Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.8 inches

Memory
Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Internal 170 MB
Card slot microSD (TransFlash) up to 16GB, 1GB included,

Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
3G HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB

Camera
2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels

Features
Android OS, v2.1 (Eclair)
600 MHz processor
Java
- Social networking integration
- MP4/H.264/H.263 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
- Organizer
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube
- Voice memo
- T9