Samsung Galaxy Fit Android smartphone Full marks to Samsung’s marketing folk for the Galaxy Fit’s go-getting name, but it’s actually a fairly low-end Android smart phone with an outdated OS, low resolution screen and less than speedy processor. That said, it has a few good points too, including a surprisingly good 5Mp camera. Samsung Galaxy Fit Exercise …
It is as was said in the article somewhat long in the tooth.
Why do makers ship one phone with 2.3 or whatever and another one with 2.2?
2.3 can't cost them more than 2.2. Probably is costs less due to the bug fixes etc.
Or are Samsung only shipping 2.3 on phones that cost more than £300 or £400 (Unlocked)?
Are they really inviting the owners to root them?
Fail.
News for spec-suckers. High resolution screens on small displays offer little or no benefit. Emperors new clothes. They are for spec wall-pissers. 320x240 does everything you need.
As for the OSF, I have one and I wouldn't recommend it even for £25. Give me a phone that gives a decent reception, reasonable battery life, takes a decent image and doesn't need its battery taking out every time I want to make a call please. You can have all the above on my OSF in return. It's the second one btw, the first one went back because I thought it was faulty, it wasn't, it's just normal for an OSF to be shyte.
For a start it was only £100 (@ Phones 4U), not £170, but I needed to buy £20 call time as well.
It's a temporary replacement for my work phone, and actually it's ok in that capacity - even plays angry birds, with only the occasional stutter. Surprisingly good battery life too.
It's a cheap, cheerful smartphone, plain and simple. Would it have scored higher with the lower price?
I bought a Fit as a replacement for a lost/stolen Galaxy S and have not been too disappointed with what I got. (I wanted another S but sadly didn’t have the dough …. )
The box contained: Galaxy Fit, ear-buds, charger, 2Gb mini-SD card (I actually use a 16Gb one), USB lead, software mini-DVD and very minimal instruction book. (I am in Australia so “contents of the box may vary” as they say)
I knew that the Fit wouldn’t be as fast or flash as the S but nevertheless it does (more or less) what I need:
Making / taking calls is fine – speaker quality is clear and crisp. Microphone seems to be fine as no-one has complained about the clearness of the sound at their end.
I have found no real issues with the display - but it definitely is duller than the AMOLED of the S!
Small screen, definitely, when compared to the S, iPhone etc but adequate. (When used as a GPS, using Navigate, through the chaos that is Melbourne’s traffic system , the size of the screen was just right for the map displays and the speaker more than adequate for the oddly-accented lady who was telling us where to turn next.
Navigating around the phone was a little confusing at first because some of the usual options are not present, however once you’ve got used to it (as with any phone), it is actually quite easy to use.
I did have an issue moving music from my PC to the Fit initially because I was under the impression that I had to use Kies (bundled with the Fit). However, I discovered that the normal USB connect to PC option was still there – just not obvious – and went back happily to drag and drop.
Music player works just fine and copes with all my varied tastes as well as any other phone music player I have used . (I was supplied with ear-buds when I got my Fit but they were returned to the box after the first use and were replaced with a pair of Sennheisers. If I was going to use the radio, I would probably have to use the Samsungs ear-buds as they work better as an antenna but since I don’t use the radio …..)
Video playback is good using VPlayerPro with the display coping well with whatever is thrown at it. Video recording, on the other hand, is pretty basic - as expected from a low-end machine. Good enough to record my daughters violin concert but not Blu-Ray standard by any means!
The camera is the best bit of this phone – although, as with my S, there is NO flash (Samsung – wake up!!!). I took a couple of hundred photos during a trip from Brisbane to Melbourne recently in a variety of conditions and the results were consistently good. The picture quality was crisp and clear and the overall ease of use was good.
Playing games can be a hassle as noted in the review, as when games get busy, the processor tends to struggle a bit . Angry Birds works, but don’t expect a happy experience as the game will get jerkier the higher the level until it is almost painful to watch.. Simpler games such as Reversi work just fine..
Best attribute? camera – despite lack of a flash
Worst: SD card cover – the card doesn’t fit inside the body of the phone with the SIM, but instead is inserted into a slot on the left-hand side of phone. This would be OK if it wasn’t for the dodgy plastic cover that (sometimes) clips over the slot. Surely Samsung, wouldn’t it have been better to either have the card sitting inside the body of the phone with the SIM or at least put a sliding cover over it like the one used to cover the mini-USB connector???
My overall impression?
If you want the latest and best – go and buy a Galaxy S or S II
If you want a basic smart-phone without too many bells and whistles, the Fit might be just what you want
Just wanted to point out that handling Flash and handling Streaming Video are two totally different things and reviewers should not confuse the two. Flash is just a bloated, heavy-weight tool that happens to do streaming video. A phone that doesn't support Flash may well support streaming video well, e.g. mine does.
The 2.3 upgrade has now been released via Samsung Kies. The Froyo issue is no longer valid, just upgrade it via Samsungs own software. Phones4U are doing this handset at £99 (they call it by Samsungs code - the 5670), what a bargain. It does everything you want from a budget smartphone and is great value. If you turn off 3G and only use 2G and some wifi, battery life is about 5 days, with a few short calls per day. Great phone (for budget use) and great price.
P.S. If you want PAYG - try talkmobile essentials, the cheapest I could find and is fine
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