Recently announced last January 2012, the Galaxy S Advance I9070 is one of Samsung’s latest addition to the Galaxy S lineup. It’s been quite a while since the release of the Galaxy S Plus and now the Galaxy S Advance comes to join the ranks.
Now, you might be expecting that this will be a souped up single-core phone but what we are looking at here is a ticking 1GHz dual core chipset. Having been a former owner of a Galaxy S, I have my expectations set for this smartphone as I try to play along with it.
Design
The overall design has deviated from the original Galaxy S look and has come to almost mimic the Galaxy Nexus look and feel. The phone is really light and doesn’t feel all too solid since it’s mostly made of plastic but it still fits well on the hand.
At the front we’ll find the 1.3mp secondary camera for video calls and camwhoring. The usual Android menu and Back capacitive buttons can be located below the screen surrounding the physical home button at the middle. The screen sports a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, that is made of Gorilla glass with a WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels).
At the back you’ll find the 5MP snapper with LED flash and the speaker right next to it.
At the left side, you’ll find the volume rocker while on the right side is where the power button is located.
There’s nothing to see on top, the usual 3.5mm headphone jack is now located below the phone with the micro-USB port. I find it convenient to have the ports located below since the wires will only be from one place instead of having your phone wired from the top and bottom.
Features and Performance
As previously mentioned, the Galaxy S Advance sports a 1GHz dual core processor. It has 768 megabytes of RAM and runs on an Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread with the same TouchWiz 4.0 UI we saw on the Galaxy SII.
The UI is very smooth and responsive albeit the occasional lags but it’s a great experience nonetheless.
Here is its impressive quadrant score (2159) below.
There are no updates yet from Samsung as to when or if they’ll even upgrade the Galaxy S Advance to Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), but I’m pretty sure they’ll have to considering most of the phones right now are gearing towards Android ICS.
Browsing
Browsing with the Galaxy S Advance, as expected, is top notch with smooth transitions when zooming in and out or panning along the page. Top it off with support for Flash and you have yourself a great device for mobile browsing.
Multimedia
The multimedia experience is fantastic as well. The Super AMOLED screen displays rich colors for image viewing, watching movies and of course playing games. I played Gun Bros which I find to be a system hog since it tends to be really slow when mobbed with enemies and bullets flying around the screen. With the Galaxy S Advance, I didn’t encounter any lag all throughout the gameplay which makes this phone a great device for gamers.
Although pressing the home button and going back to the game after a while, tends to halt the game for a few seconds before you could continue to play. This is a common case for Android phones though and I hope the performance would be significantly better if ever the Android ICS gets released.
Camera
The 5MP auto-focus camera is a decent shooter with good color contrasts during daylight although it tends to get really grainy when shot during the night or under low-light conditions which is expected actually. Pics taken indoors were acceptable enough especially when you’re the type who takes pics of food in restaurants.
Here are a few sample photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy S Advance:
[nggallery id=34]
This phone can do 720p HD recording as opposed to the Full HD recording capability of Samsung Galaxy S2.
Battery
I may not be able to give out an exact time on the battery life but the phone lasted me for almost two days of constant phone calls, texts, WiFi, with some occasional browsing and games. I say the battery life is pretty much the same as the other Android phones Samsung has to offer.
Verdict
After a brief exposure to the Galaxy S Advance, I’d have to say it’s going to please a lot of Android users out there. It seems to be a standard nowadays that smartphones are equipped with dual core chipsets and the Galaxy S Advance made sure it doesn’t get left behind.
With that amount of power, great Super AMOLED display and good looks, you might think this will burn a hole in your pocket. On the contrary, the Galaxy S Advance sells for Php 22,990! Samsung has once again set the standard for a great smartphone performance with an affordable price tag. For those who thinks that the Galaxy SII is out of their budget then this Samsung Galaxy S Advance is a very good alternative for you.
| Samsung Galaxy S Advance I9070 Specs: |
|---|
| Dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 MPCore |
| Android OS, v2.3.5 (Gingerbread) |
| 4.0″ Super AMOLED (480 x 800) Gorilla Glass display |
| 16GB storage, 768 MB RAM, 2 GB ROM, microSD up to 32GB |
| 5 megapixel camera, LED flash |
| 1.3 megapixel front camera |
| 720p @ 30fps HD video recording |
| HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps |
| Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, WiFi Direct |
| Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP |
| Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery |
| 123.2 x 63 x 9.7 mm |
| 120 g |
| SRP: Php22,990 |
28 comments
Good review. But kindly check the price……you mentioned two prices — P22,990 and P16,990. What is the correct price?
I think its 22900…
sorry bout that. hit the publish button too quickly. it’s 22990.
Hi Kiko,
It’s 22,990. Its price is close to Samsung Galaxy S2. So it is better to weigh the options first before buying. However, it the specifications match the SRP of the phone.
where to buy?
I’m sorry but I have to disagree. I don’t think 22K is “affordable”. And this statement comes from a guy who has bought the original Galaxy S and the Galaxy SII the 1st week it came out.
I pretty sure, at the present time, the Galaxy S Advance performs better than other mid-level smartphones, but calling it “affordable” is a little much, yeah?
What is affordable nowadays? I would think anything lower than 10K could be called affordable. But 20K and up? 20K is over $450?!
I have to agree with this guy. Generally, I’d call a cellphone “affordable” if I can recommend it to budget-conscious people who want a brand new cellphone. For instance, an unlocked iPhone 4S priced at 20k might be considered as a huge steal, but still not as affordable as some might think.
Also, SRP of 23K? Just add around 1-2k and you can net a GSII. Shouldn’t this be cheaper?
uhmm don’t compare the SRP of this phone to the store price of another phone. store prices are mostly always lower than SRP
This is the SRP. Mall SRP of GS2 is actually around 31k. There’s good reason to expect some gray market sellers like Widget City and DBGadgets to sell it at around 16-19k once the price has stabilized since that’s what they sell the similarly-specced Optimus 2X for. Of course, that’s just guesswork since they have yet to start selling it.
Affordable my ass. Go for the Samsung Galaxy SII – I9100 and bypass this! It’s only PHP2K more and the features that go with it is well beyond the extra investment.
Sell this for PHP 16,999.00 then we can talk “affordable”.
Clearly, you’re drinking the Kool-Aid, Calvin. You just got SAMSUNGED!
That also goes to you too, Carl.
here’s my take. if you’re getting a dual-core phone for 16k then you might as well get a cherry mobile. i don’t think Samsung would want to position their galaxy s advance close to the magnum 2x. it won’t do their brand any good.
now for a dual-core phone with a 4-inch super amoled screen, i would still say the SRP of 23k (probably 21k in stores) is still in the “affordable” limits. if you have the chance to try it out, do so and see if it feels P17k.
Samsung Galaxy R – I9103
Fine. PHP 19,800.00 then. Not PHP 23,000.00 (probably PHP 21,000.00 in Widget City, since they don’t pay taxes and customs, hint: NO NTC STICKERS MEANING SMUGGLED).
Blame it on Samsung for flooding the market with way too many phones that are almost identical. you can’t get a good pricing without affecting a lot of other phones.
Not to mention tablets. They debuted two 10.1 tabs: 10.1 2 and Note 10.1 (confusing, I know). They also released the Galaxy tab 7 2, which is exactly the same in specs as the 7.0 Plus except for the downgraded cameras if I’m not mistaken. I couldn’t help but think enough was enough.
Again, you’re using the word “affordable” in relation to phone-features and NOT according to the value of MONEY.
$450 dollars is FAR from “affordable”.
i agree with most people here saying this phone is incorrectly priced. however with the gs3 and somehow the next nexus phone being rumored, we’re better off saving our money for those two upcoming powerhouses than buying now.
Exactly!
well that’s the nature of technology, there’s always a better one coming in a couple of months. it’s a neverending cycle.
clearly, this phone is not for those wanting the latest or the most powerful. but yeah, i’d wait for the quad core phones to arrive just so that the price of dual-cores will go down. hehehe.
Precisely! Just like what the Canon 5D Mark III did to its similarly, albeit 1MP less, predecessor, the Canon 5D Mark II.
=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o==o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=
Then again, there are lots of phones and other brands with similar specs and similar price, namely
Sony Xperia ion
Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
Motorola ATRIX
Motorola ATRIX 2
HTC Vivid
Motorola ATRIX 4G
Motorola Photon 4G MB855
If this is believed to be $535.00USD (roughly PHP 23,000.00) on launching, then it probably is a big joke.
Even so at $489.00USD (roughly PHP 21,000.00).
Honey, we just got SAMSUNGED!
this cell phone is the hot one now in China.
Skip this for the HTC Sensation or XE…way better deal than this one.
Almost the same price range of Galaxy S II, not wise to buy this one but if the price will be around 17-18K that will be a different story. Meanwhile i’ll stick to my plan to buy Galaxy SII this coming October as a birthday gift to myself. I hope quad core Samsungs will be available soon so that Galaxy SII’s price drops, that way i can afford to buy it sooner. ^_^
The specs of this phone says that it has gorilla glass but one time I ask a sales rep from the samsung store about it and she said that it’s not gorilla glass, that only the galaxy II & III have that kind of glass. Can anyone please clarify me on this? Thanks…
The Galaxy S sported a Gorilla Glass, why would they downgrade this to a non-Gorilla Glass one? All sources I’ve checked says it has Gorilla Glass. The on the S3 and Note afaik, is the version 2.0 of Gorilla Glass.
I also checked Mega Exchange at Megamall and they also stated on the specs that it has gorilla glass. I really like the SG-S Advance because the S-II is already expensive for me. But if this unit has no NFC version and cannot be upgraded to ics then i’ll just settle for the Galaxy W, which is more cheaper…
I noticed the price of the Galaxy Advance is twice compared to Australia is there a reason for that ?
In Australia you can buy that phone for 10,000 pesos.
Why so expensive in Philipines ?
the price have gone down if it’s still available in the market. plesae check the date of the review, price listed is the SRP when this phone is announced.