Awhile back, I wrote a preview of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Chat. It’s supposed to be a budget Android handset that happens to come with a full QWERTY keyboard, as well as ICS out of the box, however when I first heard of it, there weren’t many specs to go by. That’s beginning to change as the release date draws closer and gadget reviewers are getting their hands on the phone so they can write something about it and build on the anticipation. Here’s what we know right now about the Galaxy Chat’s specs.
Galaxy Chat Technical Specs
- 3″ TFT capacitive touchscreen @ 240×320 resolution (133ppi)
- 850Mhz CPU
- RAM (unspecified as of writing)
- 4Gb internal storage, expandable to 32Gb via MicroSD
- HSDPA 7.2Mbps
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi hotspot
- 2mp primary camera, no secondary front-facing camera
- GPS w/aGPS support and GLONASS
- Bluetooth 3.0
- Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich w/ Samsung’s Nature UX
- 1200mAh Li-Ion battery
For a more comprehensive list of specs as we know them, you guys can visit GSMArena. You can also visit PhoneArena for a full review. I would still like to share a few thoughts about the Galaxy Chat though.
- As you can see from the spec sheet, the RAM has yet to be announced. I would expect it to be at least 512mb since many of today’s Android phones that are running ICS or have a planned upgrade waiting in the future all run on at least 512mb of RAM.
- The Galaxy Chat will run the Nature UX, which is the same UI layer that the Galaxy S3 uses, albeit dumbed down to run on the less powerful hardware.
- The screen is in a portrait orientation. This is the kind of orientation that most apps are designed to run on. Of course, combine that with the QWERTY keyboard and you’ll end up with a really long
- The screen runs in 240×320 resolution, with only 133 pixels per inch. That is so incredibly low that you won’t have to squint to see the individual pixels. Of course, this is meant to be a budget phone, so this isn’t that much of a con. However many apps will be incompatible with this resolution.
- The CPU is only rated at 850Mhz. Sure, HTC proved with their own budget phone, the Desire C, that you could run ICS on just a 600Mhz CPU, but the ICS experience on that little bugger is so bad that I don’t expect the 850Mhz CPU on the Galaxy Chat to be that much better.
- Finally, the QWERTY keyboard might be a nice feature, but you won’t be breaking any speed records in typing because the individual keys are so small. Still, you will be less prone to making mistakes, and if you can’t seem to type comfortably on a touchscreen, especially one as small as that on the Galaxy Chat, then the QWERTY keypad will be your messaging lifesaver.
Ultimately, the Galaxy Chat is a solid budget phone with a trick up its sleeve in the form of a QWERTY keyboard. I believe that pricing will be key to determining the success of this phone in the Philippine market, which is why I can’t wait to see it once it gets here towards the end of July.