Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 Review: Right on the mini

A mediocre 3MP camera

Equipped with a run-of-the-mill 3 megapixel fixed-focus camera at the back, the Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 can take photos with a maximum resolution of 2048x1536 pixels. Unfortunately there’s neither flash nor a shutter key to help the basic camera.

Despite the camera’s shortcomings, the user interface that comes along with it is touch-friendly and has great built-in features such as smile shot, preset scenes on-screen guidelines and panorama mode.

Galaxy Mini camera interface

For a 3MP snapper, the camera on the Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 is decent. Noise levels are low and there’s a decent amount of detail in the photos (though the work of the noise reduction algorithm is visible in the trees and foliage).

The photos usually turn out with pleasing colors and contrast. Here are several photo samples, so you can judge for yourself.

Photo quality comparison

The Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 enters our Photo Compare Tool to join the other 3MP fixed-focus shooters. The tool’s page will give you enough info on how to use it and what to look for.

Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 in our Photo Compare Tool

QVGA video recording

Naturally, the Samsung Galaxy Mini offers video recording too, and as it’s only QVGA at 15fps, we wouldn’t use it for anything other than MMS. The video recorder’s UI looks similar to the camera’s interface.

Camcorder interface

Here is the video sample from the Samsung Galaxy Mini.

Connectivity

The Galaxy Mini is ready for worldwide roaming with quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band HSPA with download rates of up to 7.2 Mbps.

The connectivity package offers Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Buetooth v2.1 with A2DP support and USB v2.0. The USB interface is standard microUSB, which makes finding a suitable cable a lot easier.

Android 2.2 Froyo enables Bluetooth file transfers, so there’s little else to ask for.

The Samsung Galaxy Mini doesn’t pack much internal memory (158MB is downright low for app installation), but it comes with a microSD slot with supports for cards up to 32GB. Thanks to Android Froyo you can install compatible apps on the SD card.

The 3.5 mm standard audio port completes the connectivity tally. You can keep your favorite headphones and use them with the Galaxy Mini hassle-free.

Good browser, but no Flash

The Android browser is one of the best available on a mobile device. It’s relatively fast, generally bug-free and really easy to use.

The user interface is pretty much nonexistent at first sight. Once the page loads, all you see is the URL bar and the bookmark button on a line at the top of the screen. Once you zoom in and pan around though even that line disappears (scroll to the top or press menu to bring it back).

Browsing GSMArena.com on the Galaxy Mini

The minimalist UI is quite powerful – hit the menu key and six keys pop up. You can open a new tab, switch tabs, refresh the page, go forward, and open bookmarks. The final button reveals even more options (text copying, find on page, etc.).

The Galaxy Mini browser supports three zoom methods – dedicated buttons, double tap and multi-touch pinch-zooming. The browser also supports text reflow – a moment after setting the zoom level, columns of text align to the screen width.

The bookmark list shows a thumbnail of the bookmarked page and you also get a “most visited” list in addition to the history.

Page options and settings

The screen is big enough to handle complex pages well, though the text isn’t as sharp at low zoom levels as it is on phones with higher resolution. Regardless, it’s still readable and panning and zooming are fast so the Galaxy Mini scores a good mark in web browsing.

Although the Galaxy Mini is running the Flash-capable Android Froyo, there is no Flash support in the web browser. The situation is quite similar to the LG Optimus One: the processor is either incapable of handling Flash content (or it’s disabled due to performance issues).

A YouTube app partly makes up for the missing Flash support

The Samsung Galaxy Mini has the YouTube app to partially compensate for the lack of Flash support. Of course, there are plenty of other video sharing sites and sites that use Flash for completely different purposes, but you have to live without them.