With the latest of Android and TouchWiz, the Samsung Galaxy W I8150 takes a support-and-assist role to the company’s flagship – the S II. The Galaxy W is powered by the same 1.4GHz processor we know from the Galaxy S Plus. Ditching the SuperAMOLED screen in favor of a standard issue S-LCD should make the Galaxy W more affordable.
The Samsung Galaxy W I8150 is a Galaxy S (Plus) inside, but a completely different device outside. The change of screen tech is the key thing to note. No SuperAMOLED is bad news aesthetically, but should be easier on your budget.
Galaxy W should allow you to do almost everything its superiors can: playing games, stepping up your social life, browsing the web or capturing the world around you. Surely, there will be a thing or two missing.
At 115.5 x 59.8 x 11.5 mm the Galaxy W is still reasonably compact and pocket-friendly. The phone weighs a good 110 grams.
At 3.7-inches the screen is big but easy to manage and the textured rear makes it look solid - bordering on rough. The Galaxy W's 3.7” screen is an LCD unit (S-LCD according to some sources). It won’t get you the deepest of blacks, but it’s a decent screen with nice viewing angles. The downside is the reflective and not particularly bright display is difficult to use outdoors on a bright sunny day. And the fingerprint prone surface doesn’t help either.
The Samsung Galaxy W’s rear features the 5 megapixel camera lens, complete with a LED flash and the small loudspeaker grill at the bottom.
Features:
- General: GSM , HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
- Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
- Dimensions: 115.5 x 59.8 x 11.5 mm, 109.9 g
- Display: 3.7" 16M-color WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) LCD capacitive touchscreen
- Platform: 1.4 GHz Scorpion processor, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon, Adreno 205 GPU, 512MB RAM
- OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
- Storage: 2GB built-in, microSD card slot
- Camera: 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and image stabilization; HD (720p) video recording at 30fps, LED flash, front facing camera, video-calls
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, standard microUSB port,GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, Stereo FM radio
- Misc: TouchWiz 4.0 UI, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, Swype text input
- The microSD slot is hot-swappable
There’s a 1500 mAh battery inside the Samsung Galaxy W I8150. The performance would be on par with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Ace or the HTC Desire S.
TouchWiz on Gingerbread: The Samsung Galaxy W I8150 runs Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread out of the box, skinned with TouchWiz 4.0. It's the latest software available, and effectively the same package as on the Galaxy S II.
There's a bit of the Galaxy Ace S5830 in it and some of the Galaxy S Plus. Galaxy W will cross paths with these two more often than not.
It seems no number of phones will be enough for Samsung in the midrange. Some of them may look too similar but they may never compete on the same market. And phones like the Galaxy W will probably enjoy robust demand by both end users and carriers.
Warning! Not all apps can be transferred to SD card. There are apps that only installs on internal memory. And if you transfer apps to SD card, that particular app would load as slow as a granny crossing down a street.
Bottom line is the Galaxy W is a Galaxy S Plus in disguise: it looks good but doesn’t come with any SuperAMOLED awesomeness. It’s a modern and understated Android to offer some high-end services on a midrange budget. Some of the key points you need to be aware…
- No gorilla glass display,
- All Samsung galaxy mobiles look same.
- No camera shutter
- No hdmi means cant connect with tv...
The battery will last me approx. 30-36 hours in weekday with 1 hours of call, 2-3 hours of web surfing including download in market & youtube, few messages & an hours of gaming, sometimes an hour of Papago GPS, during weekend it usually last a day with more usage.
Don't expect good battery life for Android, you will really miss those phones which can last for at least 4 days.
Other than this, we have no complaints about the all-plastic Samsung Galaxy W. It is a well-built phone, with a solid masculine look. It’s easy to handle and the differently patterned surfaces are nice accents on what’s an overall clean design.
