TechRadar Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Pro is an unfortunate mix of good keyboard and poor screen. In the end, we find it hard to really recommend it. The keyboard, transplanted onto a handset with a larger, higher resolution screen, would have scored much higher in our book.
Pros
- +
Great keyboard
- +
Good music player and radio
- +
Surprisingly good camera
- +
Low price
- +
Good media streaming
Cons
- -
Small, low-resolution screen
- -
Only Android 2.2
- -
Slightly wide for small hands
- -
No headphones in box
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Samsung is like the little engine that could. It just keeps on going. Sometimes it produces high-end, market-leading smartphones such as the stupendous Galaxy S II, sometimes it plays a safer game, attacking the middle of the road as with the likes of the Galaxy Mini.
It's Android's turn again, but with a bit of a twist. Samsung has stuck Android 2.2 into a small-screened handset with a chunky BlackBerry-style keyboard, in the hope, no doubt, of stealing some market share from the fruity company that seems to be losing its way a little at present.
The Samsung Galaxy Pro has been equipped with a range of smartphone credentials, including GPS, HSDPA (7.2Mbps) and Wi-Fi. The 3MP camera sounds a bit measly on paper - we'll see how it fared under testing later on.
There's an 800MHz processor, and the mere 512MB of onboard memory is supported by a 2GB microSD card.
The screen is - of course - touch sensitive, but at a size of 2.8 inches and a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels, its a worry before we even switch the phone on. Will it be big enough to handle what Android expects of it?
In terms of physical design the Samsung Galaxy Pro has its ups and downs. We really like that the micro USB port on the top edge has a sliding cover to protect it from dust and dirt. This port is all too often open to the elements, in our view and can severely disrupt your phone's lifespan if it breaks.
The top edge also houses a 3.5mm headset connector, and this is in just the spot we like to see it. There is precious little else going on by way of ports and connectors, though, with just a volume rocker on the left edge and the on/off switch a tiny button on the right.
On the front, beneath the screen, there's a long lozenge that looks like a rocker, which houses the Home and Back buttons, and outside this are the Search and Menu buttons. The keyboard occupies the space below, and we'll look at this in more detail a bit later on.
The chassis is plastic through and through, and this helps to keep it fairly light at just 103g. There's a rather nice patterning on the backplate, but otherwise things are pretty nondescript, design-wise.
The Samsung Galaxy Pro is a bit wide for the hand, though, at 66.7mm. Smaller hands will have trouble using either screen or keyboard one-handed.
On the plus side, it's super cheap at £18 per month and only £130 a month on PAYG - surely enough to make up for a large number of faults?
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