Samsung has announced a new mobile phone to add to its already massive range of Android devices, but rather than being a super-special, top-of-the-range monster, it’s a very ordinary handset with a set of basic features. If you’re wondering why you should care, it’s because it’s Samsung’s response to the growing threat of a cheap Windows Phone.
The phone in question is the Samsung Galaxy Pocket, and it runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread which is displayed on a 2.8-inch touchscreen with a 320 x 240 pixel resolution. An 832Mhz processor can be found inside, while a 2-megapixel camera can be found on the rear of the phone’s casing. Just 3GB of internal memory is on hand to store your pictures, music and apps.
Other features include Wi-Fi, 3G with HSDPA connectivity, a microSD card slot to increase the storage by up to 32GB, plus an FM radio too. Android is covered in Samsung’s TouchWiz skin, and there’s the usual array of the company’s apps too, including the cross-platform messenger service called ChatON.
At 12mm thick and 97 grams in weight, the Galaxy Pocket screams “I’m very, very average” at passers-by. Which is exactly what a lot of consumers want, especially as the Pocket will be very, very cheap too.
Pricing
How cheap? Samsung hasn’t said yet, but as the aging S5570 Galaxy Mini — which has a slightly larger screen and a better camera — can be had for £100/$140 unlocked, there’s a good chance it’ll be available for double-figures in both currencies.
There are plenty of bargain Android phones already on the market, but most are branded by a network or wear less desirable brand names. Samsung has plenty of cache, a fact backed up by its status as the world’s number one smartphone manufacturer.
Android too, is astonishingly popular, and although many will lust after the Galaxy S II and all its competitors, most will just be looking for a cheap phone for themselves, their family or as a second handset.
You probably know all this already, as it was revealed at Mobile World Congress that there are now 850,000 new Android activations per day, a figure which speaks for itself.
It’s good, solid, cheap phones like the Galaxy Pocket which make up a fair chunk of that massive figure too, and it’s this performance that Microsoft is chasing with Windows Phone .
Competition
The Nokia Lumia 610 was revealed at Mobile World Congress, and it’ll sit in the cheap seats alongside the Lumia 710 and other devices such as the ZTE Orbit for Windows Phone later this year.
Windows Phone Tango will drop the minimum spec requirements needed to run the OS, and in turn the price of the hardware will drop too. But the Lumia 610 is going to cost £160/$250 unlocked, and even though it has a better camera and larger screen than the Pocket, it still represents the cheapest Windows Phone option.
Down at this end of the pricing scale, cheaper means better and at the moment, Windows Phone doesn’t have an answer for phones such as the Galaxy Pocket.
Nokia has its Asha series of smart feature phones which can easily compete with the Galaxy Pocket, except they run on Nokia’s Series 40. It’s perfectly suited to this level, but as it isn’t really a smartphone OS, it doesn’t have quite the same customer pull as Android.
The Lumia 610 is cheap, but it looks like Microsoft will need to make Windows Phone even cheaper if it wants to truly compete with Android.
laughs? what samsung sponsored you or android? it laughs? there are so many low end android devices, which of them work well? compare a low end android to a windows phone…android cannot match what windows phone has. nokia lumia 610 is a far better, faster, and a more usable os.
Dear Andy,
I’m Saulo Passos, head of communications for Mobile Phones at Nokia. Just to clarify that Nokia Asha devices, such as the beautiful Asha 302 launched at MWC, run on Series 40 operating system and not on Symbian. Could you please update the data?
Thank you.
Saulo Passos
@saulo
Cheap phones are to boring and a 2.3 inch screen Really? 2mp camera that is just nasty.
Hmm. Interesting angle, but Samsung makes cheap Windows Phones also like the Focus Flash. All of the big players seem to be stepping up their game in delivering better low-end smartphones (Motorola too), but I’m not sure Windows Phone is the exact threat here. Nokia, maybe.
Thanks. Nokia is Windows Phone at the moment though, right? It’s the only manufacturer embracing the OS, in the same way that Samsung has truly embraced Android. It’s going to be a fascinating ongoing battle.
Very true. Samsung and HTC make Windows Phones, as do ZTE, Acer, and Fujitsu, but it seems like an afterthought for them all. Nokia is the only company that has put itself on the line. So I get ya there. Samsung is notorious for dipping its feet in most areas though, so I think it would honestly be fine with Windows Phone rising. It would just start making more of them. I am rooting for Nokia a bit though. I’d like to see Windows Phone become a viable platform.
Me too, I think it’s a great smartphone OS. And you’re right, all the other manufacturers have treated Windows Phone like the poor relation and haven’t seen great sales because of it. Didn’t LG and HTC say sales were so low they wouldn’t be launching any WP devices until Apollo?
Nokia needs one or two more phones, each with a great, headline feature such as the PureView camera to sew the current WP market up. It’s good to see them focused, in a way that Samsung really isn’t.