oTeKReview: Samsung Galaxy Pocket, Dynamite In Your Pocket

The Screen Size

It is a 2.8” TFT capacitive touchscreen. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Ace that is 3.2”. Reading and surfing the internet on this tiny screen can be a lot of work. Of course you can always increase the text size in some applications, not all. The size of the screen in one of my biggest turn off and it is the reason I called the phone an experiment.

The virtual keyboard will cover more than half part of the screen when you’re typing text in portrait mode within some app. If you activate x9/predictive text you will have some more section of the screen covered. See the diagram below.

When using text message and sending email, I did not have this issue.

When I downloaded Flipboard, an application for reading contents on the web and on social media, I got a message that the app was not compatible with my device. I ignored the warning and the app works perfectly. It must have been due to the resolution of the screen and the size that they did not include the Galaxy Pocket.

Applications

There are variety of applications that are available.

As long as you have entered your Gmail id, you’re ready to start exploring from Google Play. There are some apps that are not compatible with the device. I searched for Camscanner, an app that allows you to scan a document by snapping it and it converts the document into PDF, but couldn’t find it. It appears it is not supported on the phone.

The User Interface

The text message UI is so bland and ugly.

It’s time either Samsung or Android so something about that. It has often been a turn off for me. I even find the email UI to be bland too. It works, but it’s just plain ugly.

What is my final verdict?

If you are looking for the cheapest and functional smartphone in Nigeria right now, that allows you to use myriads of third-party applications; this is a very good choice for you. Mind you, the cost of acquiring the phone is cheap, but you may need to subscribe to internet data for you to enjoy some of these lovely features.

If you are a first time smartphone user, you can use the Galaxy Pocket as your learning and entry point.

The Samsung Galaxy Pocket can serve as your portable pocket wi-fi. You can use it to share internet with your laptop, tablet and other devices. This is one very superb reason to get this phone if you are in constant need of wi-fi on the go. You could also use it as your secondary phone.

Are you going to pick a Samsung Galaxy Pocket?

P.S. I got the phone for N18,500 at Computer Village. If there’s any phone manufacturer or retailer that’ll like to sponsor future reviews, feel free to get in touch with me; jesseoguns AT bits DOT com

Note: To snap or capture your screen on the Galaxy Pocket like I have done here in order to illustrate to you, click Menu button + Power button. You click the menu button before the power button.

Image credit: flickr