Samsung Galaxy Pocket S5300 review: Happy meal

Introduction

Samsung are back to basics and they say there's always room for one more in the low end. Especially one that doesn't take too much space. The Galaxy Pocket makes the Galaxy Mini look like it's on steroids and the Y series like a bunch of semi pros.

Life at the bottom of the food chain is far from enjoyable but it can be pretty exciting, and some creatures have figured out how to adapt. They're usually small, fast and good at mimicry. The Galaxy Pocket meets the size requirement, but we'll have to check about the speed. And no, no one will mistake it for a trimmed down S III but some feature phones may be fooled into getting too close.

Samsung Galaxy Pocket official photos

It's an exaggeration perhaps that the likes of the Galaxy Pocket herald the demise of the dumbphone. But this and other droids in sheep's clothing will just keep on coming.

Key Features

• Quad-Band GSM and dual-band 3G support
• 2.8" 256K-color QVGA TFT touchscreen
• 832MHz ARM 11 (ARMv6) processor, 289MB of RAM
• Android OS v2.3.6 (Gingerbread) with TouchWiz UI
• 3 GB of internal storage, hot-swappable MicroSD slot (up to 32 GB)
• 2 MP fixed-focus camera with geotagging
• GPS receiver with A-GPS
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Hotspot functionality
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Swype text input
• MicroUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth 3.0
• Social network integration

Main disadvantages

• Low screen resolution limits choice of apps
• Fixed focus camera
• No secondary camera
• No camera flash, no dedicated camera key
• QVGA video recording @15fps
• No Adobe Flash support

This is obviously as basic as a smartphone package gets, but the Galaxy Pocket is still a true droid. It gives users quad-band GSM connectivity and dual-band 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, and a capacitive, multi-touch enabled screen. It can be a basic music player and a basic camera - and the expandable memory is one of the key features that make the Galaxy Pocket a smart buy.

There're lots of blank spots on its spec sheet, which make it vulnerable to older midrange droids in the same price range, but the Samsung Galaxy Pocket is for learners, not knowers. Convenience and affordability were top priorities, in what Samsung would like to see as the first step towards a long-term commitment.

Samsung Galaxy Pocket live photos

We too are going to look at the Galaxy Pocket one step at a time. As usual, we start with the look and feel.