Oct 11, 2012 10:25 PM
27814 Views
(Updated Nov 01, 2012 05:31 PM)
(This review got first prize in 'Mouthshut best review contest' held in October'12. For details check out https://mouthshut.com/blog/iegetlunmm/Contest-results)
I am back with another review of a gadget I possessed recently. Till now I have used Java, Symbian, iOS, BADA, Windows and thus I was eagerly waiting to acquire an Android phone. I want to solve many purposes with this phone, so I started my quest for a dual-SIM Android phone with QWERTY keypad. There were not many options in reputed brands so I finally zeroed upon Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos.
Basic Specifications
GPRS, Edge, GPS, 3G connectivity
Android 2.3 OS
800 MHz processor, 512 MB RAM; 150 MB internal memory
2.6-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen (320 x 240 pixels)
3.2MP rear camera, VGA front camera
Touch and type, Dual SIM functionality
1350 mAh battery
Features of the phone
The phone is a bar shaped with QWERTY keypad, trackpad and four Android buttons. The rear of the phone looks metallic with smooth finish. The volume key is on the left and power/lock button are on the right. The 3.5mm jack is on top and mini USB port is provided at bottom for charging and connectivity.
The display is a 2.6 inch unit with 320 x 240 pixels. Due to low resolution individual pixels are visible.
Due to small screen and horizontal layout the basic menu, call, contacts and messages are placed vertically in a bar and remains there in all the three home pages.
The keypad is nicely designed and is quite comfortable to work with. The trackpad and the Android buttons are placed just above the keypad. The only drawback is that these buttons are not backlit like the rest of the keypad.
The phone has 3.15 megapixel camera without LED flash and VGA camera at front for video calling. The camera has features like smile shot, panorama mode and all the other basic features.
The images can be shared direct from gallery to all the applications such as Facebook, Bluetooth, messaging, mail etc.
The dual SIM can easily be maintained with a dedicated button.
The music player is very simple and easy to use. Songs can be sorted as per artists, albums and playlist.
The inbuilt browser works well but pinch-to-zoom feature is really missed. Even the volume keys cannot be used for zooming the pages. The screen doesn’t support multi-touch so we have to rely on onscreen zoom to navigate.
Though it is provided with 832 MHz processor but multitasking slows down this phone.
The pull-down notification screen can be used to on/off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Silent mode, auto rotation and can even be used to switch between the two SIMs.
The phone can be used as a modem via USB tethering and even via Wi-Fi that is very useful if you want to use the mobile connection on your computer.
The data on the mobile can be synced with various accounts such as Facebook, Gmail etc.
Pros
Very reasonable pricing considering the features of the phone.
Very responsive touch screen. I am using iPhone in parallel and still very comfortable with the touchscreen of this phone.
Music player is very nice.
QWERTY keypad is very comfortable to type.
Internet browsing speed is good and comparable with high end phones. Works quite well with Wi-Fi.
Optical trackpad is an additional feature and is very sensitive.
SIM card manager works well and there is a dedicated key for switching between the two SIMs.
Cons
Ordinary looks, not at all comparable to mid-range or high end phones.
Very low internal memory and you may face problems if you want to install more and more applications from Google Play.
Sometimes the phone responds very slowly for no known reasons.
Low screen resolution.
No multi touch and hence no pinch to zoom feature.
Battery drains at super quick speed. If you are using GPS or Wi-Fi, the battery will hardly run for half day.
No flash for the camera.
There is no hardware key for the camera or contacts list.
Not good at multitasking.
Problems faced
Memory card scanning would happen on its own whenever I try to switch on the mobile and is very time consuming.
There is no option for delaying the automatic screen lock. The screen locks in a blink and I have to go through cumbersome process of unlocking it again.
There is no separate draft folder in messaging. So if a message is unsent for any reason, it will keep stuck in conversation that is very annoying.
There is no physical button for making or receiving calls. The calls are received using swipe feature that is not very responsive (sometimes).
Loudness is not upto the mark and there are times when I had missed calls due to it. Sound quality is clear but not loud.
There is no backlight in the four Android keys (Menu, Home, Return and Search) so I have to struggle in dark to find out the right key (though icons are embossed on the keys).
There is no direct keypad to dial a number. I have to go to ‘Call’ option and from there I have to select ‘keypad’. If a number is dialled directly from the homepage, it goes to Google search.
The ‘Unlock screen/ Power off’ button is provided at the right side of the phone instead of top as it is used to be placed in all other phones. The button gets pressed whenever the phone is in my trousers pocket and any app may start functioning then. It was very disturbing and finally I find a solution and started using pattern lock.
PC suite for this mobile- Samsung Kies is not very user friendly. It nowhere stands close to Nokia Suite or iTunes.
There is very limited internal memory of 160MB. There are many apps that cannot be moved to SD card so left with no option but be choosy while downloading applications.
Most of the apps don’t work properly because of the horizontal alignment of the screen. It is very irritating to work on this phone holding it horizontally.
The moment I get a call on any of the SIM, the data service stops and will start again once the call is ended on the active SIM.
Recommendations
Recommended for Android lovers who are uncomfortable with full touch features. As it provides keypad, optical trackpad with touchscreen.
Recommended for people who want their first android phone with low budget and moderate performance requirements.
Go for it if you want a dual-SIM phone with QWERTY keypad and Android OS.
Don’t buy if
You have used or using high end smartphones.
You want an Android phone for gaming purpose.
You are fond of taking pictures through your camera phones.
Your fingers are big as you may not be able to use the touch features properly, considering the small touchscreen.
Verdict
This phone is a very basic Android phone running Gingerbread while ICS is running on all the new devices. It seems that Samsung is in no mood to upgrade it to ICS or any other higher version. It has very fixed target buyers like me who want dual-SIM, QWERTY and Android in one phone. If you are searching for all these features, this phone is for you as there is no other phone in market with all these features and in this price range. Despite all the problems mentioned above, I am quite satisfied with this phone.
It is available for Rs.8500 in many online stores and can be bargained for Rs.8000 or less at any store near you.
