Samsung Galaxy Fit � The new kid on the budget Android smartphone block Review

For a price of Rs 12,860 in the market, the Samsung Galaxy Fit does very well when it comes to the price vs. performance ratio. Latest version of Android preinstalled, solid build quality and a very good camera make this a good deal, if you are looking for a phone in that price bracket.

Look and Feel: Solid plastic!
Straight out of the box, the Fit does look the part, when we talk about classy looking smartphones. The front panel houses the 3.3-inch screen, with the options and return buttons being the touch based type. These are given the glossy black finish, like the area above the display. A strip of chrome runs around the phone, giving it an element of shine. The menu button and the multidirectional keys with it however are hardware buttons. The left panel has the microSD slot and the volume up/down buttons. The microSD card slot on the side panel means that this one is completely hot swappable. The right side panel has the power on/off button, something which is usually found on the top panel. Speaking of which, there is the 3.5mm jack and the micro USB slot there.

What is missing completely is a dedicated camera button. The rear panel has the camera, and the battery cover feels very plasticy. However, it has a nice imprint design on it, making it look chunkier than it actually is.

Features: Almost there
The Fit starts up to 3 home screens, for all your widgets. The strip at the bottom of the screen remains constant across all screens- messages, contacts, phone dialer and menu. This minimalist skin is wrapped around Android 2.2, which comes preinstalled on the phone. No worries about future updates and anything that may go wrong with them. The interface is pretty plain, with a no frills layout. Instead of the traditional scroll up/down app menu in Android phones, this phone has the sideways menu, much like that in the Bada OS in the Samsung Wave-II.

Performance: The perfect Fit!
Powered by the 600MHz processor, the Samsung Galaxy Fit will not win any processor power contests, but definitely does the job in this case. What helps is the minimalist skin (TouchWiz 3.0 UI) which Samsung have wrapped around the Android 2.2 OS, unlike some resource hogging skins some rivals offer. The processor does feel a bit of strain when multiple apps are open, but well within manageable limits.

The 3.3 inch display has a resolution of 240×320 pixels, which is a huge disappointment. The display isn’t very sharp and the colours seem washed out. This is disappointing, because the display is something which is used always when using a phone, unlike the goodies like a camera or Wi-Fi connectivity. The touchscreen response, though, is excellent, which is a huge relief. The touch garners a sure response. This makes typing out SMS and emails a lot of fun. The on screen keypad, both in portrait and landscape modes, are pretty well laid (and spaced) out.

The call quality offered by the Galaxy Fit is very good. The signal reception is quite consistent in Zone1 (full signal strength) and Zone2 (half signal strength), and the call clarity is very good. However, if the signal falls below 50%, the calls tend to drop quite a bit. However, the earpiece and the speaker offer a lot of clarity, which makes conversations easy even if you are in a noisy environment. The handsfree earphones are probably the best we have seen in phones for a long time. Not only are they extremely comfortable, they look like a mid-range Sennheiser earphone! The clarity offered by then is very good, but they lack the bass punch, in case you like listening to that kind of music.

Read on to know more about the performance, our take and the price of the Samsung Galaxy Fit…

The 5MP camera, however, turned out to be the biggest surprise. We expected another standard phone camera, with so-so performance. However, this one put most 5MP snappers and even 8MP snappers in other phones to shame. If the camera is a priority for you, this may be the one to check out.

The battery life of Android phones has improved off late. Two reasons for that actually. First, Android 2.2 is a bit lighter on the phone’s battery. Second, hardware manufacturers are optimizing their phones better. The Fit lasts a day and a half on normal use- calls, messages, a bit of web browsing and apps like Facebook and Google Talk active in the background.

Our take: Fit for action
For a box price of Rs 12,860 and a street price in the region of Rs 10,350, the Samsung Galaxy Fit does seem like a pretty consistent performer. The camera is superb, the build quality is extremely good and the entire package feels more expensive than it actually is. If you can live with the disappointing display, then this phone may very well be the one to buy. For this price, we can find almost nothing wrong with the phone!

Specifications:
Quad band GSM phone, 3G capable; 600MHz processor; Android 2.2 (Froyo) with TouchWiz 3.0 UI; 3.3 inch display (240×320 pixels); capacitive touchscreen type; microSD card slot (32GB expandable); Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; 1350 mAh battery

Ratings:
Features: 7.5
Performance: 6.5
Build: 7
Value: 7.5
Overall: 7

Contact: Samsung India
Phone: 180030008282, 18002668282
Website: http://www.in.samsung.com

Email: –

Price: Rs. 12,860

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Vishal Mathur

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