Mak Cik Blogger: Samsung Galaxy GT-S5660

Introduction

It’s devices like the Samsung Galaxy Gio that helped Android gain so much ground in so little time. They are a better bargain than the uber-smartphone and find their way into people’s pockets a lot easier. With that goal in mind, the Galaxy Gio must be an all-round pleaser of a phone.

Samsung Galaxy Gio S5660

They may soon be running out of names for the Galaxy lot. But it will be when number plates start to fall short that they’ll know they’re in trouble. Back to the point though. Boy number S5660 is called Gio. He’s a teenager – mischievous and fun, too young for a suit and tie.

It’s a decent offer for the midrange: with a good enough version of Android (2.2.1 Froyo), good enough screen, a powerful 800MHz processor and a great connectivity set, ranging from 3G to GPS. There’s little to complain about, save for the imaging skills perhaps.

Here’s the rest of what the Galaxy Gio has to offer.

Key features

Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
7.2 Mbps HSDPA support
3.2" 16M-color TFT capacitive touchscreen of HVGA (320 x 480 pixels) resolution, multi-touch
800MHz ARM 11 processor, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset; 278MB of RAM available to the user
Android 2.2.1 (Froyo) with TouchWiz 3.0 UI
Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n with Mobile Hotspot functionality
GPS with A-GPS connectivity; Digital compass
3.2 MP autofocus camera with geo-tagging and face-detection
QVGA@15fps video
microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
microSD slot (up to 32GB, 2GB in box)
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Accelerometer and proximity sensor
DNSe sound enhancement
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Document viewer
Smart dialing
Swype text input
Samsung Apps brings a few nice apps for free

Main disadvantages

Poor video recording
No shutter key for the camera
No Adobe Flash support in the web browser
No ambient light sensor for auto brightness
No DivX/Xvid video support out of the box

The Samsung S5660 Galaxy Gio obviously isn’t a camera-centric device. QVGA video and 3.2 MP stills don’t go a long way. But as a smartphone it has what it takes to be taken seriously.

Samsung Galaxy Gio S5660 live shots

The Samsung Galaxy Gio is a phone of compromise. If you’re looking to give smartphones a try, you may be willing to live without a killer screen and a brilliant camera. The Gio will be a good choice for newbies or budget upgraders, if the price is right.

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 900 / 2100
	Announced	2011, January
	Status	Available. Released 2011, March

BODY	Dimensions	110.5 x 57.5 x 12.2 mm
BODY	Weight	102 g

DISPLAY	Type	TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	320 x 480 pixels, 3.2 inches (~180 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes
		- TouchWiz v3.0 UI

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes
		- DNSe sound enhancement

MEMORY	Card slot	microSD, up to 32GB, 2GB included
MEMORY	Internal	158 MB storage, 278 MB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Yes
	EDGE	Yes
	Speed	HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

CAMERA	Primary	3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging, smile detection
	Video	Yes, QVGA@15fps
	Secondary	No

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo), upgradable to v2.3
	Chipset	Qualcomm QCT MSM7227-1 Turbo
	CPU	800 MHz
	GPU	Adreno 200
	Sensors	Accelerometer, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, Silver White
		- SNS integration - MP4/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player - Organizer - ThinkFree document viewer/editor - Image/video editor - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration - Voice memo - Predictive text input (Swype)