Is Samsung Galaxy 5 a good buy ?

My friend wants to buy a phone. He cannot stretch his budget beyond Rs. 8500 or so.

We are all happy using all those s40 & Java-based phones so an Android device would be a dream-come-true anyways. So high-end features are not required. I just want a balanced phone & the best one in the limited budget.

I have some questions however:

1. Will the Galaxy 5 get an official Android 2.2 Froyo update ?

2. Would any other (& better) Android phone within the budget get launched within 2-3 months (April 2011) from now ? Please exclude those Indo-China Brands.

3. Is there any serious feature missing from the phone so that it should not be bought ?

4. Any other suggestions ?

yes, galaxy 5. not much chance of an official rom. but XDA got lot of Froyo ready roms so shouldn't be a problem.

yes, galaxy Mini should get launched in world mobile congress but will cost 10k+ surely.

N

pauldmps said:
1. Will the Galaxy 5 get an official Android 2.2 Froyo update ?

No.

2. Would any other (& better) Android phone within the budget get launched within 2-3 months (April 2011) from now ? Please exclude those Indo-China Brands.

Samsung gonna extend its galaxy series soon. Galaxy 5 will soon be replaced by new (and supposed to be better) one.
It may not be better in specs but yeah FroYo is there.

3. Is there any serious feature missing from the phone so that it should not be bought ?

I don't think so. But if your friend us in photography 2MP camera may bother him. But that's not a serious feature for me.

4. Any other suggestions ?

If you really want FroYo (i mean officially) than WAIT!!!
Else buy Galaxy 5 (and upgrade to FroYo unofficially :-D

)

Or you can consider BADA counterparts.

^^ I know that unofficial Froyo update is available but it does not bring the anticipated features (read: multi-touch) except apps to card.

Once you write that Froyo will not be launched officially & then you ask to wait for Froyo. Can you clear this ?

N

"if you want froyo officially then wait" and buy upcomin' phone

Which upcoming phone within the budget ?

N

But I suspect it too will support multi-touch

Galaxy Suit. But waiting period can be long (and I don't know how long it will be)

^^ Okay so a quick Google search revealed that it might be launched in the Mobile Web Congress which starts on 14th feb. I think a wait should be good.

R

Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done

i read this article about upgradation of samsung galaxy phones to froyo

^^ Yes, that's an unofficial method. I am more interested in an official update.

Two more questions :

1. If I unofficially upgrade the phone to Froyo & then an official update is released, will I be able to install it directly ? Or will I have to downgrade to the older firmware ?

2. Will unofficially upgrading to Froyo cancel the warranty of the phone ?

1. you can install official ROM but it's like clean install and you will lose all the data.
2. nope. warranty will not go unless you brick the phone and the engineer specifically looks for any unlock attempts.

N

LG's counter of Samsung Galaxy Suit - Optimus Me P350 :-D

from looks suit looks like a G5 replacement so if Me wants to compete with suite, it must be priced at or below 10k. so maybe we'll have a new mobile at 12k (i hope so) to compete with Galaxy 551.

I think the Optimus Me would be priced higher.

@desiibond

Thanks.

Samsung p551 Galaxy is better buy..3k extra but qwerty,official froyo

what is the difference in specs of optimus p500 and optimus p350?

Optimus p500 LG Optimus One P500 - Full phone specifications
vs

Optimus p350 Android-running LG Optimus Me P350 goes live - GSMArena.com news

N

@ sam & paul
Optimus Me is low end, not mid end.
2.8-3 inches screen and 240*320 resolution, according to phonearena.

already told. it should compete with Galaxy5 or the galaxy5 replacement. from the looks one can say it won't be 3.2". just comparing the length of the touch sensitive buttons to the screen will show it'll be 2.8-3" which also means no 512Mb ram & Wifi n (price control) which GSMArena stated.

V

For that budget better wait. Glaxy suit, optimus me on the way. Samsung bring their products in india quickly so i expect it too launch in india around april or may

waiting 3-4 months. a good idea? it may turn out to be close to 6months.

L

Not much is going to change in that price range as true potential of android is best viewed in the upper segment of handsets...so wait for may be around 3-4 months, raise Ur budget a bit and then at that point the current handsets will be selling a lot cheaper and new options will also be available....!!!

@Sam.Shab
Let's wait & watch till the the MWC next month. He wants to buy the phone in April (after his class 12 CBSE exams) anyways.

@ladoo1985
Not everyone can afford huge budget. We belong to the genre of people who use Nokia s40 phones. Therefore a low-end Android would be a great thing to have anyways.