Galaxy S Duos – GT-S7562
Samsung Galaxy range of smartphones includes several devices that offer dual SIM capability, for example Galaxy Y Duos and Galaxy Y Duos Light. These two phones are quite affordable devices for those who want to enjoy smartphone technology without spending too much.
But not all who want dual SIM would like carrying low priced phones around. For them, Samsung has brought Samsung Galaxy S Duos S7562. S Duos is a strong and stylish android dual SIM device that comes within the price bracket of Rs. 15,000 to 20,000.
Let’s briefly take a look at what Galaxy S Duos has to offer:
Dual SIM Always On: According to Samsung, ‘Dual SIM Always On is a revolutionary service that ensures you never miss a call. Samsung’s Dual SIM service allows you to receive calls while you are connected to the internet or even if you are already talking on the phone on the other SIM card.’ Enough said, I think.
Looks: S Duos, measuring 63.1×121.5×10.5 mm and weighing 120 g feels quite pleasant to hold. The design seems a little inspired from SIII. Though unlike SIII, it has a dull silver metallic looking frame around it. The plastic back panel is not overly glossy and looks good.
Display: S Duos possess a 4-inch TFT Capacitive Touchscreen and would definitely appeal to those who want a big screen phone, especially with a dual SIM capability. The screen is WVGA with 480 x 800 Pixels Resolution and 16 M color capability. It also has the dandelion wallpaper that we know so well from SIII, making it look more like the bigger phone. The phone, of course, has the Touchwiz user interface. The UI and the pre-installed widgets are actually quite similar to SIII.
Power: S Duos runs on 1 GHz Cortex-A5 Processor, with 768 MB RAM. These and the Android v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system combine to provide smooth and stable functioning and high end performance along with Dual SIM (GSM + GSM) capability. S Duos is powered by Li-Ion, 1500 mAh battery that is capable of giving 12 hrs (2G), 8 hrs (3G) of Talk Time and 570 hrs (2G), 470 hrs (3G) of Standby Time.
Storage: S Duos comes with 4 GB Internal storage. This can be expanded upto 32 GB by using microSD card. Thus it offers plenty of storage space for media and apps.
Camera: S Duos comes with two cameras. The primary back camera is 5 Megapixel, the front camera is 0.3 Megapixel. S Duos camera capabilities include 2x Digital Zoom, LED Flash, Auto Focus, Geo-tagging, Multi-shot Mode, Panorama, White Balance, Photo Effects,
Connectivity: S Duos is not short of connectivity options either. It is fully enabled with Email, Android Browser, GPRS, EDGE, 3G (7.2 Mbps HSDPA; 5.76 Mbps HSUPA), Wifi (802.11 b/g/n), micro USB, v2, Wi-fi Hotspot, A-GPS with Google Maps, Bluetooth v3, Supported Profiles (PBAP, PBA, A2DP, GAP, HFP, HSP, OPP, SPP, HID, PAN, MAP). The internet browsing is smooth and fast and with WiFi Direct, the rapid file sharing capability is there too. Kies Air is supported as well.
Media: The Music Player of S Duos is capable of playing MP3, WAV, eAAC, MIDI files while its Video Player supports MP4, H.263, H.264, WMV. FM radio, with recording, is also available.
Other Features: S Duos comes packed with various apps to serve all usual smartphone needs. It has Document Viewer, Pushmail, Conference Call, Chat ON, SNS Integration, Play Store, Samsung Apps, Gmail, Google Search, My Music, My Movies, Games Hub, Handy, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo News, Weather Widget, S Planner, S Memo etc.
Some of these apps are worth mentioning in detail:
1. My Movies: My movies offers you a library of movie trailers, videos and movies from which you can choose and stream on to your phone any movie you want. The movies are categorized as Now Playing, Editor’s Choice and Premium. When you click on a movie, a page opens up displaying important information about the movie like its rating, star cast, synopsis etc. And when you tap on ‘Watch Now’ the movie will start streaming. I watched a bit of movie Fashion and a bit of Titanic (3D) and found the streaming quality quite good on my WiFi.
2. My Music: This app enables you to browse, preview and download songs on your phone. The songs of various Indian languages are available. The categories also include devotional songs, Ghazals, international, independent artists, instrumental and also dialogues. These are further classified as New Arrivals, Featured, Hot Pics and Free. However there is no category offering old Bollywood songs. You can browse the songs for free and enjoy free preview. But for downloading any songs, you need to get your phone number registered. As for the payment method, I can’t tell you much as for some reason, I couldn’t get my review device registered. So I have not been able to download any songs yet. But I have enjoyed several by streaming previews.
3. Handy: Handy is an app the promises to assist you in activities like booking movie tickets, getting info about trains and bus timings, booking taxi, getting info about flight schedules, stocks. You can connect it with Facebook and Twitter. Unfortunately, I can’t give more details about this app either because it never functioned for me. All I got out of it was ‘No Results To Display.’ Most probably, the service is not yet available where I live. It has a long list of cities to set as Location, but my city wasn’t among them. What a pity because I think this app is a great idea and can really make booking movie tickets etc a lot more convenient. I would have enjoyed using it.
4. Game Hub: Game Hub is where you can browse through various games and download them. The app also has a re-sizable widget to bring to your phone’s home screen suggestions of new and interesting games. Just tap on them and you’ll be taken to the game’s page on Samsung Apps. Of course, you need to have a Samsung account to download these games, just like other Samsung Apps. I have already downloaded several games by following its suggestions.
Overall, the phone promises a high end performance, stable and smooth functioning with the pleasure of a big 4 inch screen and Dual SIM Always On capabilities. Some of its features (My Music, Handy) did not work for me. But Galaxy S Duos with its sleek appearance and smart performance is definitely worth a look if you wish for a high end phone with dual SIM,
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Jyoti Arora
Author of Dream’s Sake, Samsung Mobiler
DREAM’S SAKE
