If you’re looking for the low-end Android smartphone with physical QWERTY keyboard, then you’ll want to check out the Samsung Galaxy Chat (B5330). The company claimed that this handset has been intended for those who socially active in social network and also for people who wants the faster and better typing experience. Therefore, let’s take a closer look at the following specs overview of this smartphone for your personal consideration.
Design
The Samsung Galaxy Chat comes with the very sleek candy-bar design with the dimension of 118.9 x 59.3 x 11.7 mm and body-weight of about 112 grams. The display measures 3 inches TFT capacitive touchscreen and below the screen there are three touch-sensitive keys which include Menu, Home and Back. Underneath those keys, you will see the four rows physical QWERTY keyboard which will be very useful especially for those who still prefers typing on keys to text message instead of relying on a touchscreen display. The size of keypad itself is actually bigger as compared to the common BlackBerry’s keypad so that for some people will deliver the more comfortable typing.
General Performance
In terms of hardware specs, there will be no impressive specs contained in this smartphone since it only boasts the single-core 850 MHz processor along with the 4 GB of built-in storage. But on the other hand, this handset has been packed with the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) combined with the TouchWiz UX UI. With this hardware spec, users will obviously not be able to upgrade its operating system to the Android Jelly Bean.
Camera
The phone only provides the rear-facing camera of 2 MP without the existence of autofocus and front-facing camera for video calls. Using this camera, users can capture image with the maximum image resolution of 1600x1200 pixels and record VGA video with the quality of 640x480p at 25 fps. This handset is definitely not ideal for those who have the great interest in photography. But luckily, this phone has been equipped with the built-in image and video editor along with the geo-tagging feature.
Network and Connectivity
To access the 2G network, this phone runs on the quad-band GSM and also the dual-band UMTS network. When using the 3G network, users will be given the data speed of up to 7.2 Mbps through HSDPA and up to 5.76 Mbps through HSUPA. The default web browser supports for HTML and HTML5 web browsing and there are also the built-in online services which include YouTube and Picasa. For the wireless network and local connection, the phone has been packed with the Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, microUSB 2.0 (mass storage device, USB charging and computer sync).
Battery
The standard battery of 1200 mAh contained in this phone will provide the talk-time of about 14 hours (2G) or about 5 hours (3G). This battery will also provide the standby time about 520 hours (21 days) on 2G mode or about 380 hours (15 days) on 3G network
Price, Pros and Cons
The price range of Samsung Galaxy Chat is around $150-180. The advantages of having this smartphone are the compact design, useful touch and type style and the good battery life. On the downsides, this phone lacks secondary camera, autofocus and it’s not upgradable to the Android Jelly Bean. [IS]