Samsung Galaxy S Advance Preview

Review index

Posted: 17 Feb 2012, 08:35, by Nick T.

Categories: Samsung Samsung Android Android

Discuss10

Our Samsung Galaxy S Advance Review is now published - click here to read it.

Interface and functionality:

What runs on the Samsung Galaxy S Advance is Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread customized with the all-familiar TouchWiz 4.0 user interface. And besides a few minor visual tweaks, there is really nothing new to show off here. At this time, we have no word as to whether Samsung is planning on updating the Galaxy S Advance to Ice Cream Sandwich, and failure to do so would be a huge drawback for the smartphone. The 1GHz dual-core NovaThor chipset from ST-Ericsson along with 768 megabytes of RAM handles navigation effortlessly even though this here is just an unpolished prototype unit.


What runs on the Samsung Galaxy S Advance is Android 2.3.6 customized with the all-familiar TouchWiz 4.0

Given its 4 inches of display real estate, typing on the on-screen virtual keyboard is a bit tricky in portrait mode and typos can be common. Switching over to landscape mode, however, makes inputting those long emails and text messages much easier.


On-screen virtual keyboard

Internet Browser:

In terms of features, the built-in internet browser on the Samsung Galaxy S Advance has all necessities covered - pinch to zoom, tap to zoom, text reflow, Adobe Flash support, you name it.


The built-in internet browser

Camera:

We took a few outdoor shots with the prototype Samsung Galaxy S Advance and its 5-megapixel auto-focus camera, and the results were quite good under favorable conditions. When taken in broad daylight, photos look detailed and properly exposed. Indoor shots, on the other hand, lack fine detail and the LED flash messes up the white balance making the whole scene blueish. Of course, the quality of photos taken with a final unit might differ. When it comes to features, tap to focus is supported, and you have plenty of shooting modes and settings to experiment with.


Camera interface



Outdoor samples made with the Samsung Galaxy S Advance


Strong	Medium	Low light	Darkness
Indoor samples

The Samsung Galaxy S Advance can shoot video at 720p, and as the case is with still photos, footage looks good as long as the scene is well illuminated.

Samsung Galaxy S Advance Sample Video:

Samsung Galaxy S Advance Indoor Sample Video:

Expectations:

Judging by this prototype unit that we got to play with, the Samsung Galaxy S Advance is shaping up as a very promising device. It looks good, fits comfortably in the hand, and really didn't give us much to complain about. We believe that it would be a good pick for consumers looking for dual-core performance at a reasonable price. Speaking of pricing, the Samsung Galaxy S Advance is currently available for pre-order. At $440, it is priced similarly to the Samsung Galaxy R and at about $70 more than the Samsung Galaxy S Plus. Shipping is expected to start by the end of February, and you can expect our full Review soon after.

Our Samsung Galaxy S Advance Review is now published - click here to read it.

Discuss10

Samsung Star 3 Review 17 Feb
Prev review

Motorola DROID 4 vs Samsung Galaxy Nexus 21 Feb
Next review

Related phones

Samsung GALAXY S Advance

Specifications
News (5)
Review 8/10
User Reviews (7) 8.4/10

Discussions (5)
Photos
Size it
360°
Manual

10 Comments
Follow Following

Options

Want to comment? Please login or register.

1. spiderpig2894 posted on 17 Feb 2012, 10:35 1

does amoled displays always look greenish?

3. Joshing4fun posted on 17 Feb 2012, 13:01 1

Actually they tend to have more of a bluish tint.

2. imkyle posted on 17 Feb 2012, 11:16 2

Considering this is a step below the Galaxy S II, I really like the curve design like the Nexus has.

4. hritikbhimani posted on 18 Feb 2012, 03:41 0

here in india....the galaxy r seems to b discontinued...none of the retailers even the online ones dont hav stock of it...so i think galaxy s advance is kinda replacement of it wid better display but less ram

btw @ nick ....hw does this new novathor chipset perfroms against likes of snapdragon n tegra 2s?

5. Muhannad posted on 18 Feb 2012, 13:50 0

I would choose the Galaxy S Advance over the Galaxy R anytime, that's because of the AMOLED display and judging from the sample pictures it has better camera quality.

8. sagardesai93 posted on 15 Mar 2012, 12:41 0

@hritikbhimani did u get ans for snapdragon v/s tegra 2.....????

can u tell me which is better samsung galaxy r or upcoming advance... i want mainly for gaming...

6. Goldeneye posted on 19 Feb 2012, 02:06 3

Is it just me or the Galaxy name is just way overused? I mean is it really hard to get a different name?

7. nicknice posted on 21 Feb 2012, 01:08 0

Is there an tv-out on him?

10. binxter posted on 29 Apr 2012, 05:03 0

I have a Samsung phone that has DNSe 3d Sound technology and I love the way music sounds in it, seeing this and looking for answers on the net, I can't seem to find out if it has the same technology (or better?)
Can anyone shed light to this? Thanks!

11. sid7777 posted on 17 Sep 2012, 05:46 0

Does the S advance have usb otg or tv out??

Want to comment? Please login or register.

Samsung Galaxy S4
- Announced: 14 Mar 2013
- OS: Android 4.2.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1900 MHz, Krait 300, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 5.0 inches, 1080 x 1920 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 13 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
Apple iPhone 5
- Announced: 12 Sep 2012
- OS: iOS
- Hardware: Dual core, 1300 MHz, Apple Swift, 1016 MB RAM
- Display: 4.0 inches, 640 x 1136 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900), CDMA (800 1700/2100 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS EV-DO Rev.A EV-DO Rev.B
Samsung GALAXY Note II
- Announced: 29 Aug 2012
- OS: Android 4.1.2 4.1.1
- Hardware: Quad core, 1600 MHz, ARM Cortex-A9, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 5.5 inches, 720 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 35 hours of Talk Time, 980 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 21.1 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
HTC One
- Announced: 19 Feb 2013
- OS: Android 4.1.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1700 MHz, Krait 300, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 4.7 inches, 1080 x 1920 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 4 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900), CDMA (800 1900)
- Data: LTE HSPA (unspecified) UMTS EDGE GPRS
Sony Xperia Z
- Announced: 07 Jan 2013
- OS: Android 4.1.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 5.0 inches, 1080 x 1920 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 13.1 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 11 hours of Talk Time, 550 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
Google Nexus 4
- Announced: 29 Oct 2012
- OS: Android 4.2.2 4.2.1 4.2
- Hardware: Quad core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 4.7 inches, 768 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 15.3 hours of Talk Time, 390 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS
LG Optimus G
- Announced: 28 Aug 2012
- OS: Android 4.1.2 4.0.4
- Hardware: Quad core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 2048 MB RAM
- Display: 4.7 inches, 768 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 13 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 15 hours of Talk Time, 335 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE HSPA (unspecified) UMTS EDGE GPRS
Nokia Lumia 920
- Announced: 05 Sep 2012
- OS: Windows Phone 8
- Hardware: Dual core, 1500 MHz, Krait, 1024 MB RAM
- Display: 4.5 inches, 768 x 1280 pixels, Capacitive Touchscreen
- Camera 8.7 megapixels, 1920x1080 (1080p HD) video
- Battery: 17 hours of Talk Time, 400 hours of Stand-by
- Technology: GSM (850 900 1800 1900)
- Data: LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s LTE Cat3/4 Uplink 50 Mbit/s HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s UMTS EDGE GPRS