Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
Samsung Galaxy Mini review: Maps and Apps
The Samsung Galaxy Mini has Google Maps and Navigation on board – a truly great sat nav which never fails, regardless of which Android device they run on. With Google Navigate, you can say the destination you want, choose to navigate by car or walking and navigate to one of your contacts if they've given you an update on their location.
The Market has a number of satnav applications available for download, but Google Navigation is easy to use and a fail-safe when lost.
GPS works really well on the Samsung Galaxy Mini, especially while using a sat nav app, and is remarkably accurate at pinning down the handset's location.
It keeps up pace when driving fast down London's motorways, and doesn't even drop in the City, where some high-end smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S tend to fail. This ensures you can use the Samsung Galaxy Mini as a full-time replacement for a standalone sat nav.
Other apps can be downloaded from the Market, which is by far our favourite app store, because the list to choose from is plentiful and will keep you occupied for hours on end. Users will frequent the Market, because there very few pre-loaded apps on the handset.
All apps on the handset are standard Android ones, including the Calendar, YouTube, Memo and Quickoffice, while Samsung only incorporates its pretty pathetic Samsung Apps store. To a large degree, it's great to see plenty of space for personalising and little space being used by useless additions.
Basic widgets are available, including news and weather, and some social networking apps come with a widget extension once the app is downloaded.
