Samsung Galaxy Young S6310 review: Just for starters

Introduction

With flagships coming in like clockwork, Samsung obviously thought it was time for their entry-level Android lineup to also get a fresh of coat of paint. And that goes all the way to the bottom, where the Galaxy Y prepares to make room for the new kid on the block. This time around, with the new naming Samsung is not leaving anyone guessing about who this phone is for.

The Galaxy Young S6310 is the most basic of packages in Samsung's updated Android lineup. It's the most affordable too, so that says it all about the level of equipment. Let's just say, you could probably fit the hardware specs of this one on a matchbox. The important thing though is that the Young does well to upgrade its predecessor in terms of screen resolution and processing power.

Samsung Galaxy Young official pictures

Quite surprisingly, the Young even has more RAM than the supposedly higher-ranked Galaxy Fame, which we only recently reviewed. Not that it makes that much difference but, based on our experience with the Fame, the Young should be quite nippy and responsive. The only place where the Galaxy Young clearly feels inferior is still imaging - it's got a really low-end 3MP fixed focus camera. It has no front-mounted camera either.

Oh well, everything that's built to a budget involves compromise and the Galaxy Young is no different. What it will be trying to do is convince enough users that its flaws are outweighed by its charms - like offering Android Jelly Bean on rock bottom pricing.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band UMTS support
• 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 3.27" capacitive TFT touchscreen of HVGA resolution (320 x 480)
• Android OS v4.1.2 Jelly Bean
• 1 GHz Cortex-A5 CPU, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227A chipset
• 768 MB of RAM
• 2GB of user-accessible built-in storage (4GB total)
• microSD slot (64GB supported)
• 3.15 MP fixed-focus camera, geotagging
• VGA video recording @ 24fps
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct
• GPS with A-GPS
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Li-Ion 1300 mAh battery
• Document editor
• File manager preinstalled
• Samsung Apps brings a few nice apps for free

Main disadvantages

• Mediocre screen quality
• Fixed-focus camera
• Subpar video recording
• No front-facing camera

With Jelly Bean in the driver's seat and a solid connectivity set, complete with things like hotspot and Wi-Fi direct, the Galaxy Young is trying to stay relevant, albeit on a shoestring. The FM radio and the microSD card slot will certainly be appreciated too.

Inevitably, there were some corners cut, but we're yet to see if that's had a significant impact on the overall experience.

Samsung Galaxy Young studio photos