hiteshkkk1 327 Report post Posted May 8, 2010 (edited) Hey guys.. Just got Samsung Galaxy Spica last week & thought of posting a short review for our community. Its a value for money android phone (GSM) @ just 12.5k. As of now ver is 1.6 but service center guys will update it to ver 2 as it is already out in India now. Operating speed is too good as it boasts 800 mhz processor. Camera quality at 3.2 MP is average. On multimedia front, it has inbuilt divx player which is another plus. Battery life is amazing. Screen quality Ultimate.. Touchscreen average. Typing is bit tedious as compared to HTC (I use Finger Keyboard on HTC Diamond CDMA). Box includs phone, battery, charger, USB Cable ( I use USB cable to charge too through my HTC's charger & its very convenient), 2gb card with adapter, CD (but pc suit is of no use. Sync is best with google instead), carry pouch. I would highly recommend this budget android phone for gsm android seekers. Also, I use Vodafone & you can refer my GPRS post here for more details. Edit: As requested by my friends, posting some pics & bit detailed review. (Pardon me for quality of review as I am new at reviewing & posting photos). Build quality of the handset is quite good. Normally Samsung handsets seem to be some what inferior as far as build is considered but this time it is good. Battery is a big one but no mah is mentioned on it. Backup time is good with more than 1 day of standby time & high wifi usage / texts. 1 drawback is that the buttons for calling / ending / home, etc are not backlit. Call quality is good but mp3 playback on speaker is bit low. Playback on headphones is quite good but mp3 player app is very basic with no equiliser settings. Screen quality is excellent. UI is the same Android 1.6 with 3 home screens. Samsung extras as I noticed were only keyboards i.e. Samsung Keybord & Hindi keyboard. Samsung keyboard was good but major problem was it always converted character i to capital no matter it is typed individually or within a word. (for ex. if i type hitesh, it will convert it to hItesh). Hindi layout is good for hindi texting but I cud not understand how to type on it as many characters were missing. Did not dig more. Text input is fastest with Slide It but only for dictionary words. For others, smart keyboard is good app & can be found here. Speed is remarkably fast with 800mhz processor. I didnt face any difficulty in browsing or using any of the apps. On apps front, pre-installed apps are very limited but you can find lot of free stuff. Below is list og apps that I am using: hiteshkkk's Apps on the phone Phone: GT-I5700 31 total, 31 free (100%), 0 paid (0%), 31MB total size, $0 total price EStrongs File Explorer aFile Lite APNdroid Bluetooth File Transfer Compass Shazam Backgrounds Facebook for Android Star Contact Smart Keyboard Skyfire Browser 2.0 (beta) Documents To Go 2.0 Main App Handcent SMS VuDroid Barcode Scanner Bebbled Android System Info eBuddy Messenger Dolphin Browser Task Manager Network Monitor Advanced Task Killer SlideIT Keyboard Lite handyCalc Sprite Migrate - BETA2 AppBrain Market Sync Terminal Emulator MySpace Mobile Google Maps View this app list on AppBrain It also has inbuilt DIVX player which does its job perfectly. You can find full working documents viewer for word/excel/pdf here One more good app Call Log calendar Much other stuff here. Some pics : Contents. (USB Cable is not there in the pic as I had kept it at home). One comment on it. The length of USB cable is tooo less. Charger & its port. Streo Handsfree. Call pickup/drop button is on left side. It also functions as pause / play button for mp3. Home screen Uploaded with ImageShack.us Back cover I hope i have covered most of the points. Still, if you have some doubts, just post here, will clarify the same. Edited May 10, 2010 by hiteshkkk1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
raccoon 53 Report post Posted May 8, 2010 Is the camera quality really so average? What would you be comparing it to? Also, in what way is the touchscreen average? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Greatest 55 Report post Posted May 9, 2010 GSM Android budget phone... Good review Hitesh.. But I just hope the OS is upgraded OTA ASAP.. 1.6 is become damn old now... Also, is it possible for you to post pics of the phone and accessories that you have mentioned, it would be great rather than googling for it for members like us.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
commonman 228 Report post Posted May 9, 2010 As per GSM Areana its HSDPA & Wifi, 3.5 mm jack but no secondary camera (for video call). For Java it says "with 3rd party application" - what does it mean? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Greatest 55 Report post Posted May 9, 2010 ^^^ in gsm arena, i was not able to find samsung galaxy spica... link Could you or the topic opener give a link to the specs and ofcourse pics of the phone?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
::Hitesh:: 1,763 Report post Posted May 9, 2010 ^^^ http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i5700_galaxy_spica-2965.php Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sreek 5 Report post Posted May 9, 2010 (edited) help me to choose btw these models nokia e63 @ 8.2k with wifi,3g and 2 mp cam samsung s5560 @ 10.5k with wifi 3g 5mp cam samsung corby pro @ 10.7k with wifi 3g qwerty and 3 mp cam samsung galaxy spica @ 12.3k with wifi 3g 3mp cam android Edited May 9, 2010 by sreek Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Greatest 55 Report post Posted May 10, 2010 @hiteshbhai, Thanks man... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hiteshkkk1 327 Report post Posted May 10, 2010 Is the camera quality really so average? What would you be comparing it to? Also, in what way is the touchscreen average? I have compared it with HTC Diamond, Nokia 6303. Results in daylight are somewhat similar but Nokia 6303 is having a Flash so it gives bit better output. Also, camera is average in the sense that the camera app is very basic. No advanced settings like Modes, Quality, Zoom, Effects, etc. Touch screen is average in the sense that typing is bit cumbersome. I am used to type on Touch Screen on HTC (Finger keyboard) where I get accuracy level of 95-98% but in this I am using Smart Keyboard & getting accuracy level of 85-90%. Also, in case of default keyboard, the number goes down to 75-80%. (By accuracy level I mean mistakes in typing) If you want to text, then theres even Slide It keyboard on Market(which we get even for HTCs too). Typing is breeze through that but cant type in shortcuts or Hinglish through that as it is totally dictionary driven. Also, supposed I want to type www.moneycontrol.com then I have to type www then . then slide on money then control then . then com. Also, every word will have space in between which has to be deleted manully. I will recheck the settings to disable the same but cud not find yet. But, overall, at 12.5k, its really value for money android. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hiteshkkk1 327 Report post Posted May 10, 2010 (edited) GSM Android budget phone... Good review Hitesh.. But I just hope the OS is upgraded OTA ASAP.. 1.6 is become damn old now... Also, is it possible for you to post pics of the phone and accessories that you have mentioned, it would be great rather than googling for it for members like us.. Even I am eagerly waiting to upgrade it to 2. Will check out service center at Jalgaon but I guess these dumb people do even know Android or not. Somewhere I read on android forums that even Pune SC doesnt know of any such update even though its out in April. Regarding OTA, is it possible to upgrade Android from 1.6 to 2 OTA?? Waiting for gurus to answer. I will surely post photos in couple of days. Edited May 10, 2010 by hiteshkkk1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hiteshkkk1 327 Report post Posted May 10, 2010 (edited) As per GSM Areana its HSDPA & Wifi, 3.5 mm jack but no secondary camera (for video call). For Java it says "with 3rd party application" - what does it mean? You are right. It is a 3G phone & only 1 camera. For Java, theres app called JBlend which is a 3rd party app developed by Aplix Corp. (www.aplix.co.jp). I tried installing 1-2 apps but it gives some certificate error in JAD file so I left. Theres so much available on APK level that theres hardly any need to find JAD apps. Edited May 10, 2010 by hiteshkkk1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hiteshkkk1 327 Report post Posted May 10, 2010 help me to choose btw these models nokia e63 @ 8.2k with wifi,3g and 2 mp cam samsung s5560 @ 10.5k with wifi 3g 5mp cam samsung corby pro @ 10.7k with wifi 3g qwerty and 3 mp cam samsung galaxy spica @ 12.3k with wifi 3g 3mp cam android e63 is too slow. Even if you open calls history, you have to wait 3-4 secs which is really annoying. S5560 & Corby have samsung UI which is very basic or you can say non-userfriendly to operate. Also, they may have limitations on number of contacts / sms. Sync with google is also not directly possible. Spica seems to be the best out of all 4. 2nd rank to E63. Once u use Android, you will forget Symbian or any other OS. Telling this from my experience. I have used everything from Series 40, Series 60, Win MO, Samsung / LG / SE, Iphone n Android. Only Iphone & Android beat all of them. But, Iphone is way costly. So, the winner is Android, atleast as per me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sreek 5 Report post Posted May 10, 2010 thanks for the detailed post hitesh bhai i wl go 4 galaxy spica can u post some detailed review on ur handset regarding operating speeds,ui,text inputting etc etc thanks in advance Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
konquerror 21 Report post Posted May 10, 2010 Wait for some time...Android 2.1 update is out for Spica...new stock will come with 2.1 pre-installed... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkaile 1,051 Report post Posted May 10, 2010 (edited) Another Android Convert.... welcome to the club... Edited May 10, 2010 by dkaile Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
raccoon 53 Report post Posted May 10, 2010 I have compared it with HTC Diamond, Nokia 6303. Results in daylight are somewhat similar but Nokia 6303 is having a Flash so it gives bit better output. Also, camera is average in the sense that the camera app is very basic. No advanced settings like Modes, Quality, Zoom, Effects, etc. ............ Thanks for the detailed clarifications... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hiteshkkk1 327 Report post Posted May 10, 2010 thanks for the detailed post hitesh bhai i wl go 4 galaxy spica can u post some detailed review on ur handset regarding operating speeds,ui,text inputting etc etc thanks in advance Hi... check my 1st post. I've edited it to accommodate most of your doubts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hiteshkkk1 327 Report post Posted May 13, 2010 Hi friends... Just got my Galaxy Spica upgraded to Android Ver. 2.1 (Eclair) from Samsung service center... It took just 1 hr for the same & new version is really cool... Will try to post more updates in coming days.. BTW, pls refer my previous post of basic camera software in ver 1.6. The same has been upgraded to advanced in this version.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
