Samsung Galaxy mini 2 Review

Interface:

Well, what do you know: the Samsung Galaxy mini 2 runs the tried and tested tandem of Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread with the TouchWiz UI installed on top. The user interface looks more or less identical to what you will find on all of Samsung's recent Android devices, save for the new lock screen and the tweaked animations here and there. We are really hoping to see an update to Ice Cream Sandwich at some point in the future, but for now, chances of that happening are slim.


Bear in mind that the on-screen virtual keyboard is really tricky to use in portrait mode. One of the options to tackle that is to turn the phone sideways and use the landscape virtual keyboard instead. Alternatively, getting a different keyboard from the Google Play store, such as Swype or TouchPal, may also do the trick.



Processor and memory:

Thankfully, the 800MHz single-core processor – an MSM7227a chipset by Qualcomm, handles navigation and every day tasks without much effort. For the most part, the interface is really smooth and responds to input without delay. The same good level of usability is maintained even after we beautify the home screen with a popular live wallpaper. Casual games like Angry Birds Space and Temple Run are absolutely playable and rarely get choppy.

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	NenaMark 2
Samsung Galaxy mini 2	1922	2695	15,5
LG Optimus L3	1271	2559	13,2
Motorola Defy Mini	951	2391	15,6

512 megabytes of RAM is what we have on the Samsung Galaxy mini 2, which is sufficient for a smartphone of this rank. In terms of storage, 4 gigabytes come standard, but only a fraction of that is available to the user: 1.73 gigs for music or photos and a little under 900 megabytes are allocated for installing applications. Therefore, buying a microSD card is recommended, although not absolutely necessary unless you plan on storing a large portion of your music collection on the smartphone.


Internet browser and connectivity:

Believe it or not, the stock web browser on this little munchkin supports Adobe Flash out of the box. Having it on, however, noticeably affects the browser's performance, so you might want to have the feature activated only on demand. But other than that, surfing the web works just fine and we have nothing else to complain about. Essential web browsing features, namely pinch to zoom, tap to zoom, text reflow, and support for multiple windows are present and work as intended.

With the Samsung Galaxy mini 2, you can connect to the web either over Wi-Fi b/g/n or by using its 7.2Mbps 3G radio. You also get Bluetooth 3.0, NFC, A-GPS, and an FM Radio with RDS. We gave the GPS radio an outdoor test and it managed to pin-point our location in about 20 seconds from a cold start. The same process constantly took about four seconds each time from then after, which is not bad at all.


Camera and multimedia:

The 3-megapixel camera on the Samsung Galaxy mini 2 may be as basic as it gets, yet it manages to deliver satisfactory results under the right lighting conditions. Despite the lack of auto-focus, details in non-closeup shots remain distinguishable, which is why photos taken in broad daylight look more presentable then we though they would. Indoor images look average at best, but then again, few phones of this caliber can do well in that category.
 You can shoot VGA video as well, but its quality is nothing impressive.



We were pleased to notice that the camera shutter is very responsive and captures the frame almost instantly. Furthermore, it takes no more than a second before the next shot can be taken. As far as features go, we have burst mode and panorama photos thrown in, but since the resulting image is of very low resolution, we don't really find these gimmicks very useful.

Samsung Galaxy mini 2 Sample Video:




Multimedia:

Without a doubt, the stock music player will meet the needs of most smartphone users. It comes with all features that are essential for a music player, and as an added bonus you get lock screen controls, an equalizer, and a feature that simulates 5.1 surround sound. Keep in mind, however, that a pair of earphones is not included in the set.

The video player could play back only MPEG4 video samples of resolution no higher than 800 by 480 pixels. That, however, is more than enough considering the smartphone's display size and pixel count.