A new android phone has arrived to Virgin Mobile and its name is the Samsung Galaxy 550.
Samsung Galaxy 550
I got the Samsung Galaxy 550 with Virgin Mobile December 10th, 2010. So I have had a week to review it. I use to have a Samsung Galaxy 3 but decided to exchange it due to it having Android 2.1.
Edit! Updated review at the bottom.
First off the specs;
It is a 2.8 inch, touch screen phone with Android 2.1. It weights only 102g. I barely notice it. Its screen is 240×320. It has 16m colors so the screen looks pretty nice for its size.
2G Network
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network
HSDPA 900 / 2100.
200-300 hours worth of standby, and 6-9 hours of talk time use (and yes it really does). WiFi with wireless b, and g. The Samsung Galaxy 550 has an accelerometer that is only used when you rotate the device. The phone comes a 600mhz processor.
Overall its ok for its $200 price (or $50 with Virgin Supertab).
The Samsung Galaxy 550 is pretty fast. You never really notice it “lag” except for when the odd app misbehaves and crashes the phone.
It also has GPS and a fm radio. The FM radio however only works when a headphone (regular 3.5mm thankfully) is connected.
I would recommend the Samsung Galaxy 550 but I would get a different keyboard app, the default android keyboard really doesn’t work well.
The 2MP camera works exceedingly well indoors, do does its video camera. No front facing camera. The phone comes with a 1GB microSD card with a max capacity of 16GB.
The touchscreen responds well.
I give the Samsung Galaxy 550 a 2.5/5.
Call quality is excellent, voices are clear. Speakerphone however could be louder.
Good:
- Android 2.1
- Touchscreen
- No bloatware
- Virgin Mobile
- Cheap
Bad:
- Touchscreen can be annoyingly unresponsive at times
- Lags…alot
- Microphone quits after 5 months.
- Poor battery life (around 5 hours)
Update: Unfortunately just after 5 months my phone’s microphone has quit. Loner phone after loner phone same issue. Over the past 5 months I have a distaste for this phone. It lags alot, its default keyboard is a joke, and now my microphone has quit. Battery life is horrible. It will give you about 6 hours of texting, 1 hour of GPS, or 2 hours of calling.
I recommend Virgin Mobile users DO NOT get this phone, its built quality is poor.
Samsung I5500.
Loved it! This phone is sexy…
Awesome, looks very tempting.. hope to have one this Christmas.
have a question if i get a bluetooth head set will the fm radio work with it?
Nope. Headphone port must be used (headphones [any] are used as an attena).
I have this phone. I don’t like it. The shape makes it really hard to grip, as it its a bit wider towards the top and becomes more narrow towards the bottom. Not only that, i’ve been having technical problems with this phone. It shuts off on me automatically. To turn it back on, i have to take the battery out and then put it back in. This morning, it shut off again so i tried taking the battery out, and it didn’t even work. It would only make it to the loading screen with the Samsung logo and then shut back off. I don’t understand why it’s doing this. I’ve only had it for about 2 months..
Send your phone in for repair.
I just returned my 3rd Samsung Galaxy 550 to Loblaws. Keeps crashing and the battery is pathetic. Don’t recommend to anyone. Only good thing is Loblaws is good about returning things.
Yea, the phones pretty low quality..but I guess thats what you get for the price.