My first ‘smart phone’ – Samsung Galaxy Y (GT-S5360)

Note: Read updates section below for latest findings/updates on the usage & other things on the phone. 

The most awaited and my long time desire of owning a ‘smart phone’ is finally fulfilled. Though it isn’t a hi-fi, costly gadget – I am fine with this one as it came in the budget. Samsung Galaxy Y, powered by android definitely a value for money product.

Some specification details: (I won’t go into the details. Click here for complete specification.)

• 3” TFT capacitive screen (256K colors) with multi touch support
• 832 MHz processor
•  Powered by Android v 2.3.5 (Gingerbread)
• Supports 2G/3G(HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps)
• 160MB internal storage, comes with 2GB external SD (expandable upto 32GB)
• 2MP camera (1600X1200), supports video recording
• Standard battery, Li-Ion 1200 mAh
• MP3/MP4 player, FM support
•  Default apps - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration, Quickoffice document viewer/editor

The price ranged 7400-8200 Rs (I got it for 7600/- Diwali offer with 200 Rs phone insurance & a free Reebok watch) makes it economical and one of the best in low-budget smart phones. And the brand ‘Samsung’ makes it even more impressive. Though it has been just 3 days now, but I am pretty happy with the phone. (If my perception changes over time, will surely update hereJ). And, with access to those thousands of fantastic free apps in android market, I am kinda addicted now browsing through the applications.

More about the phone: 

•  I love the design, but would have preferred little more lengthy screen. It isn’t heavy and goes into my pocket with ease.
•  Touch screen & touch sensitivity is as smooth as ice. Though bit difficult while typing (as expected), might improve as I get used to it…
•  no LED flash/torch – well, it may not add a great deal but it does come handy at times.
•  High Battery Consumption – I haven’t tested it thoroughly, but it seems like the battery usage is very high. This may be normal with all the smart phones. But I would have preferred long battery life. This would require every day charging.
• One major issue – but I couldn’t reproduce it so far, it happened only once. The apps installed on SD card went missing! For once, I thought I lost everything. But it reappeared on restarting the phone. I did restart the phone several time then, but the issue could not be regenerated. Not sure if this is an issue with the phone or the OS.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Final words: I am loving it J

Updates: Nov 10: 

Battery usage - I wasn't very sure what was wrong till I came to know that the 2G/3G services drain the battery in less than 4-5 hours! There is an option in Settings > Wireless & Network settings > Mobile Network, where we can turn off the data center services by unchecking the 'Use packet data' check box'. The problem is, these network data centers keep using the internet even when the device is timed out. We can use this option to make use of the service only when it is required. There is an excellent application, 'Quick Settings' in android market that can be used for almost any shortcuts. The same setting has option to switch between 2G/3G N/w. And now, the battery life has increased significantly on my phone.

The issue with app shortcuts going missing - Well, this happens sometime when we are charging. When you unplug the charger, something goes wrong and SD card gets unmounted automatically. Because of which, all the apps that are installed in SD card becomes invisible. However, restarting the device solves the problem.

Some useful android applications for your phone: 
1. ZDBox - has features like battery info, mobile traffic (where we can see the data usage and even set the limit plus a reminder when it reaches specific usage), app lock etc.
2. Quick Settings- one place for all the basic short cuts. And also has a feature wherein if you tilt your phone facing the earth, it will basically opens up a white blank screen with full brightness... Very much useful in such phones with no torch.
3. 1 Tap Cleaner - This is for cleaning the cache, history to free up some space of your internal memory.
4. JuiceDefender - Helps optimizing the battery usage of your phone. 

Gmail application and security issue:

Well, this is irrespective of which phone you use, all android phones have this problem. The default Gmail application that comes up with the phone is easy-to-use gmail app. But there is no log-out option, makes a potential threat to information leaking. Say if your friend is using your phone or if its lost, anyone can easily access the mails! While I searched for a possible solution over the net, which only resulted in nothing fruitful. It is understood why do we need to register the phone with a google account as android phone uses all the google provided service like maps, chats, calender - providing a log out option might result in getting disconnected with these services.

Work around - Use an alternative gmail to use your phone and access your gmail from the browser.