Samsung GALAXY Fit Preview

Introduction:

The successor of the Samsung Galaxy S may be the Sammy phone everyone is talking about, but that didn't stop the Korean manufacturer to announce four low- to mid-end GALAXY handsets - the Ace, the mini, the Gio and the one you are reading about right now - the Samsung GALAXY Fit.

The last time Samsung targeted this market segment, the Korean manufacturer offered a pair of decent affordable handsets - the Samsung Galaxy 3 and the Galaxy 5, so it's time to ask ourselves - can the same be said about the GALAXY Fit?

Design:

There is nothing extraordinary about the way the Samsung GALAXY Fit looks like, but we can only compliment its build quality. Fair enough, it's predominantly made of plastic, but you get that feeling of a good craftsmanship when you hold the GALAXY Fit, and the chrome-like bezel surrounding the phone further helps this perception. Moreover, the trademark black glossy plastic (which is a finger print magnet) we know so well from the back sides of various Samsung handsets (like the Galaxy 5) is replaced with the finger print-resistant  plastic of the GALAXY Fit.



You can compare the Samsung GALAXY Fit with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

This phone sports a 3.3-inch capacitive screen with a resolution of 240 x 320, which ensures that the items on the screen don't look particularly great. On the other hand, we were pretty pleased with the viewing angles of this phone, and its screen visibility under the sun is nothing to frown about either. Furthermore, the responsiveness of the capacitive screen is exactly what it should be, i.e. very good.

On the front side this handset has one physical button at the center, which looks a lot like a d-pad. However, it's not a d-pad - actually, its sole functions are to take you to the home screen and to bring the task manager (after a long press). On the left and right of the physical button are positioned two touch sensitive ones (menu and back respectively).

On the upper right side of the handset resides the power button, while on the top side are the microUSB port and the 3.5mm headphone jack. On the left are the volume rocker and the microSD slot. The 5MP camera is on the back, but unfortunately a dedicated camera button is not included.



All in all, the Samsung GALAXY Fit feels good in the hand. What we like most about it is that it feels sturdy without being bulky, and we have no reasons to doubt its durability. Moreover, the fact its back side is not a finger print magnet is refreshing in itself.

Interface and Features:

Similar to other phones manufactured by the Korean maker, the GALAXY Fit has the Samsung TouchWiz UI on top of Android. This is only a preview, and we won't go at length about this custom interface, and yet it's worth mentioning that it offers 7 screens, a 3 x 4 menu grid rather than horizontal list (which is the norm with the green robot), some widgets and a few more perks.


One thing we're pleased about is that the 600MHz processor gets the job done, and the Samsung GALAXY Fit executes all processes in a quick manner, which is even more pleasing given the fact this is only a prototype. Sadly, the build-in memory of this phone is only 160MB, so a microSD card is a must



Messaging:

The Samsung GALAXY Fit keypad looks a bit passe, but we don't really mind that. What we do mind, though, is that typing a message on the keyboard is one very irritating experience. Even though the screen is a responsive one, the virtual letters are way too small and occasional typo mistakes are unavoidable. Moreover, Samsung didn't leave any room for numbers, so the only way to type "1" is to hold the "r" letter. The same applies for dashes, hyphens and so on. This is to say that if your password is (for example) we-217-gotta_12, it would take a lot of time (and cause a massive amount of irritation) to type it properly. Nevertheless, we hope this issue will be addressed in the retail version of the phone.

Luckily, Samsung added Swype support, which works just fine, and is a cure for the above-mentioned problems. However, if you are not much of a swyper, you will surely face a few problems with the virtual keyboard.



Internet and Connectivity:

The Samsung GALAXY Fit offers all the connectivity options we have come to expect from phones like this one - 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and A-GPS.

The overall browsing experience with the Samsung GALAXY Fit suffers considerably from the low resolution of the 3.3-inch screen, and text is not very legible. You have to zoom-in considerably to read a web page comfortably, but at least pinch-to-zoom is supported.

The Samsung GALAXY Fit takes advantage of the stock Froyo browser, which seems to offer all  basic features you actually need. What's even more important is that everything runs smoothly on this phone.



Camera and Multimedia:

The GALAXY Fit packs a 5MP camera that doesn't offer flash and in our prototype unit some features like white balance were missing. Despite that, we're pleased with its performance, and in good conditions this camera produces photos with vivid and natural-looking colors.



The same can't be said about the video recording capabilities of the Samsung GALAXY Fit - it shoots videos in 240 x 320 with a fps rate of 15 or to put it in another way - the end result is some truly appalling videos. Still, we've tested a prototype unit so the final one might put up a slightly better performance.

Samsung GALAXY Fit Sample Video:



There are no surprises with the music player, as it's the standard Android one - it doesn't excel with some amazing features or UI, and yet it covers all standard needs. As this is not a retail unit, earphones weren't included in the package, but nevertheless we tested the GALAXY Fit with our own earphones - and the music experience was of average quality. Of course, this is not a final verdict, so things may change a bit when we test the final version of this phone.

The GALAXY Fit's gallery is a good one as it offers an easy-to-use interface and some features like slideshow and pinch-to-zoom options.

Battery life is definitely one of the Samsung GALAXY Fit's strong points - even though the unit we tested was a prototype one, we are delighted it got us through a full day of heavy usage and still wasn't in a desperate need of juice.

Expectations:

Our bet is this handset will position itself between the low and mid-end segment of the market. Its quality construction, good camera for its class, the lack of lag and great battery life are all pros, but on the other hand, the low resolution, the uncomfortable virtual keyboard (this one may be sorted out in the final version, though) and the awful video recording capabilities make us wonder whether the Samsung GALAXY Fit will be able to stand its ground against the competitors in its class.

Furthermore, it may be a bit hard to differentiate this handset from the other budget GALAXY phones that were launched at the same time (the Ace, the mini and the Gio), but as this is only a prototype unit, we would wait a little bit longer before we give the final verdict on the Samsung GALAXY Fit.

Samsung GALAXY Fit Video Preview: