Samsung Galaxy Express review: Jelly Bean Express

Jelly Bean Express

GSMArena team, 20 February 2013.

Well connected

The Samsung Galaxy Express has a long list of connectivity features. Let's start off with the basics - quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and quad-band 3G calling are onboard. The 3G connectivity is backed by HSPA, and there's a quad-band 4G LTE antenna as well.

The Wi-Fi support covers a/b/g/n, with both 2.4GHz and 5GHz band compatibility, with Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA also part of the package.

There's also Bluetooth 4.0 LE, which builds on Bluetooth 3.0 with the efficient Low Energy mode.

In some regions, the Express has NFC connectivity. It lets you share all sorts of media via NFC by simply touching the devices back-to-back. You'd need two S Beam-enabled devices to get this to work - while not many models support it, there are plenty of later generation Galaxy's around.

You can share with other NFC devices as well, but the functionality is limited to what is provided by Android Beam - Android's stock NFC tool.

And finally, for wired connectivity we have the MHL port. By all appearances it is a normal microUSB port and works as one (a charger port as well). But the MHL port enables video output by using a MHL-to-HDMI dongle. Sadly, there isn't one included in the retail box.

Tweaked Jelly Bean browser

The Samsung Galaxy Express has a tweaked version of the Jelly Bean Android browser, but Chrome also comes pre-installed, if that's what you prefer.

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The Android browser

Anyway, the default browser supports both double tap and pinch zooming along with the two-finger tilt zoom. There are niceties such as multiple tabs, text reflow, find on page and so on. A neat trick is to pinch zoom out beyond the minimum - that opens up the tabs view.

The Web browser comes with Incognito mode, which lets you surf the web without the browser keeping track of your history or storing cookies. You can also switch to a more minimalist UI, which currently is in a Lab stage. It disables most of the browser's user interface and gives you a quick five-button layout to access the basics.

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Tabs view • Incognito mode • Quick controls

Reader comments

  • Anonymous
  • 03 Mar 2015
  • THj

I need to know if I can connect my express to my canon printer. Please advise.

  • AnonD-204104
  • 04 Jan 2014
  • i2c

Actually, the Samsung Galaxy Grand has no LTE, no NFC, a weaker resolution and less battery efficiency in comparison to the Samsung Galaxy Express. However, it has a slightly better camera (8mp instead 5mp) and a slightly larger screen (5' instead of...

  • mae
  • 24 Oct 2013
  • v0q

hi, any one here from US? do you know if i can use LTE network of t mobile in this mobile phone? thanks.. coz i heard at & t carried this phone with lte. how about t mobiles network?