Samsung Galaxy Apollo Review
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Review: August 2010 |
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Last updated November 2011.
Phone rating: 
In a nutshell: The Samsung Galaxy
Apollo is a cut-down Android smartphone with features such as
a 3.2 inch touchscreen, aGPS, 3D sound, DivX video playback,
fast internet access, and a good web browser. It's a smart phone
at a smart price, but don't buy it on Orange! In any case, there
are better Android phones now available, even in this price
range.
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The Samsung Galaxy Apollo I5801 is practically identical to the Samsung Galaxy
3 I5800, sometimes called the Galaxy 580. Confused? We certainly are! But whatever
this phone is called (and we think that Apollo is the best), it's probably best
avoided, as there are much better Android smartphones available, such as the
Samsung Galaxy Fit.
The Apollo (or Galaxy 3 or Galaxy 580, etc) is thinner and shorter than the
higher end Galaxy Ace, although not as
slim. The front face is made of metal and glass and has a quality feel, which
contrasts with the plasticky back. At least the plastic helps to keep the weight
down. The LCD display on the Apollo measures 3.2 inches and compares well enough
with other phones in this price range. The camera has a resolution of 3 megapixels,
and with no flash it's a bit disappointing. The built-in memory is also quite
low for a smartphone and the processor is relatively underpowered. All of these
factors make the Apollo rather sluggish and prone to freezing and other software
glitches.
The Galaxy Apollo runs the Android 2.1 (Eclair) operating system, plus Samsung's
TouchWiz 3.0 and Social Hub software. This is quite old now, and isn't the smoothest
or most reliable combination.
Features such as aGPS and the Layar Reality Browser which combine the camera,
compass, and GPS to identify your location and then display information on your
screen make the Galaxy Apollo seem like it's been beamed out of the future.
More everyday features such as DivX playback of movies and a built-in FM radio
provide all the entertainment you need on the move.
The battery has a monster 1500 mAh capacity, yet as you'll see from reading
the user reviews below, the battery life of the Apollo is awful.
The Galaxy Apollo is looking very dated now. There are other entry-level Android
phones available, such as the the Samsung Galaxy
Fit or Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini
which are definitely superior. And one final warning - don't buy the Apollo
on the Orange network, as the Orange firmware seems to have seriously screwed
up the functioning of the phone. Read the user reviews below, and notice how
many of the one-star reviews point the finger at Orange.
Features of the Samsung Galaxy Apollo include:
- 3 megapixel camera with autofocus, face detection, smile shot and 4x digital
zoom
- Video recording
- Display: TFT, 16 million colours, 240 x 400 pixels (3.2 inches) touchscreen
with auto-rotate
- Music player
- FM radio RDS
- MP3 ringtones with 3D sound
- Integrated handsfree speaker
- AGPS with geo-tagging and Google Maps
- Messaging: SMS, MMS, instant messaging, email
- Personal organiser functions
- Document viewer
- Memory: 4GB plus MicroSD memory card (up to 32GB)
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0
- Internet: Layar Reality Browser 2.0, Android browser, GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA
3.6Mbps
- Quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900), dual band 3G (900/2100)
- Size: 114 x 55 x 12.9 mm
- Weight: 109g
- Battery: 1500 mAh
- Talktime: 7 - 15 hours
- Battery standby: 510 - 620 hours
Samsung Galaxy Apollo User Reviews
Love your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other
people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review this
phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so
please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive
language, and please, no advertising!
Average rating from 136 reviews:
Reviewed by Ihatemypone from uk on 21st Aug 2012
I top my phone up and my credit vanishes, without me even using it
Rating:  Reply
Reviewed by Rose from England on 13th Jul 2012
I had this phone nearly a year, and initially I adored it. It was my
first smartphone and and there were some features I really adored. Threaded
messaging was nice, as I had never had it before and it made things
a lot simpler. The music player was awesome, and it was genuinely the
only reason I kept this phone as long as I did (that and the untimely
death of my iPod) the choice of free apps and games was immense and
originally I loved how I was free to choose apps etc. Also the unlock
screen amused me, with the jigsaw pieces
But, around five months after I got it, the phone really started to
bug me.
It freezes, and would refuse to revive text messages. Which surely is
a basic phone feature?
It took forever, and I mean a good few minutes, to fully load - bad
when it'd either arbitrarily turn off, or I'd have to reset it due to
it freezing. This happened at least three times a week.
Some apps refused to work, Facebook I'm looking at you.
The lagging, especially when receiving a text message is laughable,
I could literally tell when I was about to get one due to how sluggish
the phone would become, no need for vibrate.
WiFi wouldn't work. I tried with routers, at WiFi hotspots, even when
i had full signal i couldn't use WiFi.
Battery life was insane, it's the only phone I've ever used that can
go from 60% to 5% in ten minutes.
also the lack of a camera button really annoyed me. I like to use my
phone as a camera and I believe touch screen phones with a camera should
have a camera button, my old LG viewty did and it made pictures so much
easier. This is part of the reason I jumped ship to windows phone...
on the plus side, it does stand up to being thrown against walls out
of sheer frustration.
I would only recommend purchasing this phone if it's to give a youngish
child as their first smartphone, because some of the issues that dog
this phone maybe wouldn't affect them. However, I wouldn't recommend
it to and adult for their first smartphone due to the small screen (3.2
inches SERIOUSLY?!) and the ability to see how much potential was missed
with this phone.
To give you an idea of how much I don't like this phone, it's given
me android phobia and I'm now converted to windows phone, which is a
shame because I can see it being a good platform, it was just implemented
poorly on this device. And the only reason it gets two stars and not
one is because of how strong it is, and how damn good the music player
is.
Rating: 
Reply
Reviewed by James from Canada on 13th Apr 2012
Have had this phone about a year now.
My known issues:
Randomly resets or turns off on its own once in awhile.
Touch screen will sometimes glitch, not allowing you to slide the lock
to answer a call or worse yet, the lock which lets you use the phone.
Does not have the power to multi task at all. In fact, if you open a
few programs (gmail, facebook, music player), the phone becomes so laggy
(even when you start closing/minimizing stuff) that it becomes unusable
and requires a reset (if you can still use the screen) or you have to
pull the battery.
The battery only holds a full days charge if you turn off wifi/gps tracking/cell
tower tracking. I don't use google maps often, so it's not a big deal
for me I guess.
The thing is pretty much designed to collect dust no matter how careful
you are with it. Once it starts getting under the screen, it becomes
difficult to read the screen in sunlight. This is a probably with many
smartphones however.
Oh, and to take the cake, it absolutely will not let me connect to samsung
kies to update the android OS. My PC meets all requirements yet it will
not connect. Ever. I'm told updating my OS would improve these problems,
but samsung/telus keeps telling me the problem is on my end, when I
am 100% sure it is not.
Anyone that says this phone is awesome hasn't had it long enough or
has never had a decent phone before. It. Sucks. 250 dollar paperweight.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Mia from England on 9th Apr 2012
Wow, this phone.is truly terible. I recieved it as an unwanted gift
from my parents after i broke my iphone and have not been happy since.
The screen is tiny and graphics are simple. Battery life is awful, it.willbe
half full and suddenly go flashing red withing the space of ten minutes.
It is sluggish and slow PERMANTENLY. And yeah if you pull this out in
front of your mates expect to be laughed at. A tip for parently, unless
you can bear the moaning of your child to get them a 'cool' new phone,
do.not go for this one..
Rating:
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Reviewed by Liam from england on 3rd Apr 2012
i have had this phone since it came out and i have had no problems with
it at all you lot don't no how to take care of a phone most probably
learn and abc did you buy your phone brand new or off some one like
cash converters places like that if so ahhahahahahahaha by it brand
new trust me u can tell the diffrence in a bit nooobbbsss :@
Rating: 
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Reviewed by abc from England on 1st Apr 2012
At first when I got this phone I was really impressed. It looked great,
and the features were great too. But then after a few months the battery
life decided to go rubbish on me. So I would charge it for a full night
and then I would have had it on for about half an hour and it would
go down to yellow, and after about 3 hours the battery life would go
down completely and it would switch itself off. This was with minimal
use, maybe sending the occasional text. Also it would take about 5 minutes
to turn on and it would be really slow. Don't get it, get a blackberry
or an htc instead.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by nx from not telling u on 19th Mar
2012
I HAVE THIS PHONE AND HATE IT SO MUCH. FIRSTLY, I'M NOT NORMALLY COMPLAINING
ABOUT PHONES,BUT THIS 1 IS TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!! IT IS ANNOYING IT FREEZES
ALL THE TIME I HAVE TO TAKE BATTERY OUT, I SERIOUSLY HATE IT AND IN
A MOOD MY PARENTS WON'T BUY ME ANOTHER. I CAN'T LIVE WITH THIS DAM PHONE.
FOR ADVICE TO NOT GET TO MY STAGE.... DON'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!! simple
(: hope you take MY advice. sorry bout all shoutin caps lock txt (:
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Don from UK on 9th Mar 2012
I had nothing but trouble with this phone on orange but after taking
the plunge and installing android 2.3 and rooting the phone it has been
transformed. So much faster, longer battery life and no problems at
all. Why on earth did orange have to mess with it? Im going to give
it 4 stars, it would have been 5 but the lack of a camera flash is a
draw back.
Rating: 
Reply
Reviewed by Hayley from UK on 2nd Mar 2012
I don't even know where to start!
I got this phone in Feb 2011 and for the first month I loved it! Then
the problems started...
It takes about 2 minutes from switch on to be usable, sometimes more
and sometimes it crashes and flashes "Samsung" over and over.
The screen blacks out on calls unless you use the speakerphone option
which is annoying when trying to hang up or halfway through key entering
for telephone banking.
Phone freezes on a regular basis, especially in the Android Marketplace.
Battery life is shocking, I have GPS and Wifi turned off and it lasts
just over 1 day dropping from 80% to 5% then switches off drained within
5-10 mins of the 1st low battery warning.
The phone switches itself off randomly (in my bag, on my desk etc) and
will not switch back on. I have to remove and re-insert the battery
before it will power up again.
Sometimes people cannot hear me on phonecalls but I can hear them.
Signal strength is shockingly bad, I cannot move while talking at home!
If I have more than 20 text messages stored it takes 30 secs to 1 minute
to access my messages so I have to weed them constantly.
Finally...the back button lags and jams a lot! It will either do nothing
or do nothing then skip 5-6 steps at once.
Orange are refusing to replace it and tell me every single Samsung handset
regardless of model randomly turns off and you have to remove and replace
the battery to start up. I am sceptical of this so I have contacted
Samsung directly and am waiting on a response. Unfortunately I am tied
in with this god-awful phone until Dec 2012, please be wary!
Rating: Reply
Reply by Mobile Phones UK from UK on
4th Mar 2012
"Every single Samsung handset regardless of model randomly turns
off." No, that read, "Every single Orange handset regardless
of model randomly turns off." LOL.
Reviewed by Joe from Uk on 28th Feb 2012
Absoloutely great phone, rarely lags, fast internet connection and for
such an affordable price!!! Admittably when it does play up it is annoyin
but i find this is a rare occurance and overall it is the perfect phone
for a high school pupil who doesnt want his allowance eaten into by
a lengthy blackberry or 3gs contract :) very pleased but of course there
are improvements which could be made to turn this from a mid range android
into a challenger for the higher end smarphones :)
Rating:
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Reviewed by whoeveruwantme2b from whoeveruwantme2b on
21st Feb 2012
This is an awesome phone!! watz up with it? no problems what so ever
for me! I have got lots of apps has android, I now have loads of free
downloadable themes for the home screen and the background love it!!
<3 traded mine in for a nokia E5 glad I did eventho I proper loved my
e5 at first but then I missed my touch hav had mine about a week or
less, no probs and I love it to bits it's not the latest of the galaxys'
but it has loadzzz to offer
Rating:
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Reviewed by j williams from england on 24th Jan
2012
great phone cant fault it as yet and iv had mine 8 months???????? so
cant understand why so many are having a problem with such a great simple
to use phone
Rating:
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Reviewed by Aoife from Ireland on 22nd Jan 2012
Awful awful awful phone, had so many problems from day 1. First when
i would connect to the internet i would lose connection after only 5
minutes the only way to resolve i found was switching the phone on and
of. as a result carphoneware house gave me a new handset. the problem
continued, i know there was nothing wrong with out router as the 5 other
iphones in our house connect fine. The memory is awful.. It can take
up to 2 minutes for messages to open, its difficult to hang up and the
camera is terrible. the battery life after a while is horrible only
lasting 8hours at most. sound quality isnt great. I have also found
that the touch screen will sometime become out of sync which is extremley
infuriating when your tryin to preform basic tasks. Also to connect
to the kies software is difficult as it never seems to pick up on the
phone connection. i have always had a samsung phone and always found
them great, however this phone has made everything more difficult..
and stressful and i don't think i'll ever buy another samsung phone.
i bought this phone originally as it was cheap and on a student budget
its all i could afford however i would happily spend an extra bit if
i knew i could get a phone that actually work.. HATE IT don't buy it
Rating: Reply
Reply by kevin from uk on 14th Feb
2012
i have this phone and have the same problems . would not reccomend it
Reviewed by steph from England on 20th Jan 2012
I do like this phone but am getting an upgrade today so hopefully won't
have as manky problems with new one. The problems i had with this is
i have charge my phone twice a day. It switches itself off loads,takes
forever to open a message when try charge my phone it thinks i have
usb plug in and won't let me use the phone when charging and past few
days i can't hear when making calls but they can hear me. Had my phone
a year i getting a new galaxy i love the phone just pity so many problems
Rating:
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Reviewed by Alice xx from UK all the way xx on
19th Jan 2012
Don't get it. If you can afford this you can afford a blackberry or
a samsung ch@t, which for some reason are much better and are a lot
like blackberrys. They are fantastic however if you only have a phone
for emergencies, but im a teen so i text a lot and have lots of games
and music, and now its absolute rubbish. Depends what you're looking
for. Good luck guys xx
Rating:
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Reviewed by Steve from England on 18th Jan 2012
Freezes, Switches itself off, Pathetic internal memory, Cant save apps
onto SD Card so memory dwindles excruciatingly fast. Can take up to
a minute to load messages from opening. Internet signal can just drop
off during usage, even if the phone hasn't moved. Overall, pretty bad!!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Alec from UK on 17th Jan 2012
I have had this phone for about 8 months. As the review states I would
not recommend it as there are better choices. Problems I have had are
the home button ceased to function after 4months or so.I had put a custom
ROM on it and blamed this at first . I have since assesed it was not
a ROM fault but physical failure of the button. It can be glitchy switching
itself off unexpectedly, playing music without activating the app, call
volume seems too low to me. kies software is very hit and miss when
identifying the phone. seemed like a lot of phone for the money at the
time. This year i will be spending a bit more. It has taught me not
to go too cheap on android ! Currently looking for cheapest price on
a galaxy w will review that should I end up with it .
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Alice from UK on 14th Jan 2012
I'll admit it's not the greatest phone, but for what I need it for (internet
on the go and a lot of texting) it's absolutely fine. A lot of people
complain about the battery life, and I can see why, BUT I think the
battery falls from 100 very quickly but will last a couple of days at
less than 20%. This is very odd given that other phones tend to work
the other way round. So even though it may say 1% remaining, I've managed
to use the phone for another 5 - 6 hours absolutely fine. (That's with
wi-fi or data on permanently.) I don't really use apps except latitude
and Gmail, and both work absolutely fine. I can understand why it could
be frustrating for a lot of users, but for me it does the job well!
Rating:
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Reply by Hayley from England on 2nd
Mar 2012
How strange, I have found the exact opposite with mine! Stays on 100-80%
for most of the day then will suddenly plummet to low battery and be
flat and switch off within the space of 10 minutes of the 1st low battery
warning :(
Reviewed by Connor from England on 13th Jan 2012
If you only use this phone for basics such testing and phone calls it
is excellent but if you want this phone for games, apps and web browsing
it isn't too good.if you like to use the phone for ganesh and apps it
tends to crash alot. If you like to use custom launchers it is not recommended.typing
is slow too.so for basics it is fine, for more than basics don't get
this phone..
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Bulli from Australia on 13th Jan 2012
I've upgraded to 2.2 and still hate this phone. Why does the battery
only last half a day while sitting on my desk receiving no calls, making
no calls downloading nothing and being connected to nothing? Bluetooth
doesn't recognise ... well much of anything really. When Bluetooth crashes,
which is every connection, it freezes my car's audio system I have to
enter Bluetooth via system, turn on Bluetooth, make it visible then
press the device it is paired with to connect, I have no idea why it
won't simply be recognised AND WORK like my Nokia. What is the go with
Keis? and why will it just not do what is expected. How come I have
to unmount the SD card for Keis work with my phone???? The phone is
really poor as a small computer but it is a really excellent small computer
when you consider its performance as a phone. Not just the blue tooth
being shoddy, everything from freezing when trying to answer a call
to being unable to readily updating contacts, it is slow, clumsy and
likely to freeze up the machine by doing anything. Okay some things
work: Kindle is excellent on it, ... no, that's about it. Oh, yes, the
alarm clock with the android upgrade to 2.2 works mostly. Overall an
exciting form factor but utterly frustratingly poor performance
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by badman from israel on 10th Jan 2012
I think its alright but mine completely broke down i got it fixed and
its great. Android great and nice apps. Good value for price
Rating:
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Reviewed by Sue Fisher from England on 2nd Jan
2012
I love this phone it has all the qualities i need. Its simple to use
has amazing Arty things great camera effects.good download system.i
bought for the internet and APS. Which are good.Samsung have. Never
let me. Down yet. So thanks
Rating:
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Reviewed by cheppy from uk on 29th Dec 2011
but it freezes ALL the time.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Justin from uk scotland on 28th Dec
2011
Had this phone less that two months and allready ive had soo many problems
wirh this, first of the phone didnt except my memory card,i tried my
memory card in another phone and it worked perfectly fine. it didnt
save any of my contacts, poor camera and no flash, and you cant even
download less that 6 apps without the phone being out of memory, also
it keeps freezing constantly very poor phone
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Ameliaa from uk on 14th Dec 2011
i got this phone for my 16th birthday n i was soo exicted. At first
i thought this phone was amazing it worked perfctly. A couple a weeks
later my phone constantly kept freezing, my phone randomly started out
playing music out of the blue. The batter life is also very poor and
lasts me about half a day and i barely use it. Dont get this phone kinda
ruined my bday :(
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Andy from UK on 11th Dec 2011
Never have I had such a poor phone. Simply do not buy or let any mobile
sales rep from Orange talk you into having this phone. Trust me, you
will regret having this phone.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Nicholas from United Kingdom on 26th
Nov 2011
I've seen lots of reviews complaining about battery life, and when i
got my phone about 8 months ago i also noticed the battery life was
poor, but it was easily solved. I rooted my phone and got an app called
CPU Tuner and it made a massive difference. The app sets different power
states depending on what its being used for. Since installing the app
on the rooted phone my battery life lasts 3 to 4 days without needing
a charge and i'm constantly using it. The only complaint i guess i do
have which isn't specific to this phone is the lack of internal memory
and app space. When the phone is rooted you can move apps to the SD
card, but the memory is stil very low to run all the apps i like to
use. Overall i give the Apollo 5/5 :)
Rating:
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Reviewed by ben sting from eglish on 26th Nov
2011
My phone is best. Phone because free apps
Rating:
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Reviewed by Mags from Canary Islands on 25th Nov
2011
I have had my Samsung Galaxy Apollo about 5 months now and I have had
so many problems with it. At first I thought that it was me turning
it to "mute" for the ringing tone but then it was happening so many
times whilst it was sitting on my office desk, that I knew that it was
the phone. It has also put itself into "flight-mode" a couple of times
too, so I know that it has a mind of its own.
Rating:
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Reviewed by BT from UK on 23rd Nov 2011
It's definitely not a bad phone, but the main things that drag it down
are WiFi connectivity, sluggishness and terrible battery life. When
using WiFi on the Apollo and my iPod Touch, the difference is quite
obvious - the iPod can pick the WiFi up at 2-3 bars when the Apollo
is struggling to pick up one. The resolution is also bad - My dad has
a Samsung Galaxy Portal, on which the screen is much clearer, and the
Browser also looks quite dated for a smartphone. However, it does do
its job, and it was very cheap for a smartphone, so I'm not complaining
that much.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Jet from UK on 23rd Nov 2011
Very disappointed. After 7 months I have to charge the battery every
day if I hardly use the phone (no syncing, no wifi, no long phone calls,
only bit of surfing/texting/apps). If I do use the phone normally (still
no syncing, no wifi) I have to charge about every 8 hours. Sometimes
the phone just spontaneously shuts down or thinks it is in flight-mode.
Also, very often, the phone claims the network is down, but I suspect
it's a phone problem and not a network problem. Wouldn't recommend.
Am going to buy another one and this time it won't be a Samsung
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Damo from uk on 20th Nov 2011
i have this phone and have had few problems with it but sent it back
to samsung and they have sorted it but i still went out and bought a
new samsung galaxy S II as dont trust it enough that it will keep going,
but not bad for £45 will do as a spare or maybe let daughter use it
Rating:
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Reviewed by Sandra from UK on 16th Nov 2011
Disappointed with this phone. Changed from a Motorola Rzr. Screen message
keeps telling me the SIM card has been removed (utter nonsense) and
I keep having to reboot the phone to clear the message. I am looking
to change to a different phone and won't be buying a Samsung again.
Agree with others that it takes ages to start up after switching on.
Rating:
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Reviewed by shaz ball from England on 15th Nov
2011
Lots of features and cool apps but the battery is unable to cope with
them. What is the point of having an android phone if the battery u
are using is only fit enough to power a kitchen clock. Can't even use
the security lock pattern as it means charging up the phone every night...
c'mon Samsung,this is a great phone with fantastic features...but mobile
doesn't mean having it attached to its charger on a permanent basis.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Shan from northern ireland on 13th
Nov 2011
I bought the Apollo about three months ago and for about the first two
weeks it worked perfectly, i couldnt fault it (apart from the battery
life which i had to charge every night)! Then, it all went downhill.
The pull down notifications bar at the top of the screen wouldnt pull
down and the phone would freeze upon unlocking it or opening an app.
Then, it stopped letting me answer calls (everytime i tried to slide
the answer button across it wouldnt work)!!!! When i tried to text or
call somebody, the phone wouldnt send messages and was constantly saying
o2 network is unavalible. I would NOT recommend this phone to anyone,
ive never had a phone worse than it in my life.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Ryan from U.K on 11th Nov 2011
I bought this phone and it is brill, once rooted, overcloked and all
the orange firmware is gome this works like a dream. the reviewer seems
to be very biased!
Rating:
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Reviewed by kevin from nedreland on 10th Sep 2011
i dont like this fone it turns his self off and dont want to turn on
Rating:
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Reviewed by Kate Stoddard from UK on 7th Sep 2011
I have had this phone for a couple of weeks and whilst it looks good
and works fine, the battery life is ridiculously poor. It probably lasts
26-30 hours on stand by, without making a call, I do not have any apps
enables and I don't browse the internet. The only thing I have turned
on is the Wifi which must be draining the battery. What is the point
of having a 'mobile' phone if it is not mobile because you have to charge
it every day? I feel duped by the assistant at Orange who sold me it
as an 'upgrade'!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Stoopy from UK on 2nd Sep 2011
Outstanding phone, outstanding value. If you're new to android, you'll
be blown away. So much phone, for so very little dosh!
Rating:
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Reviewed by Bob Marley from UK on 2nd Sep 2011
This phone is amazing. Very Good value for money. If your thinking about
buying this phone, please do. Its better than the htc wildfire (i used
to own one) and i must say that the samsung apollo beats the htc wildfire
hands down! HTC Wildfire - 3 star. Samsung Apollo - 5 star
Rating:
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Reviewed by Tom from Spain & UK on 30th Aug 2011
I have had mine for 6 months after 3 months I had to reset it, then
ok. Updated to Android v2.2 (Froyo) this week using KIES. Security warning
on the Orange web site if using v2.2 "recommend that users change their
mobile access point settings". All ok but would like to use only wifi
and stop it using 2G and 3G as it is expensive here in Spain. I have
stopped all app upgrades, but sometimes it just tries to access the
network when there is no wifi. Mine is not locked I use movistar in
Spain and O2 in UK.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Ben from Wales on 25th Aug 2011
Useless phone! ok maybe im being harsh. For the first few weeks the
phone worked perfectly. I was able to download apps and away i went.
then all of a sudden the problems started. It would freeze all of a
sudden and refuse to work (this resulted in resetting it everytime).
i was told 'you run too many apps in the background' so i downloaded
a task killer and it kind of sorted things out. But now after a year
the phone is still doing the same freeze and no respone. Because im
with oragne coverage is bad anyway, but the phone will now not allow
me to recieve any messages for up to 5 days at a time. This phone on
orange is terrible as stated above, DO NOT get this phone if you are
on orange. The battery is terrible charge everyday. cant update it to
Android 2.2 (or at least orange/kies wont let you). seriously just avoid
it!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Adedotun Obilaja from Nigeria on 24th
Aug 2011
this is the best phone ever, i bought it last year and it is yet to
give me any problems. I would recommend this phone to anyone because
its very easy to use and its also very light
Rating:
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Reviewed by Laura from UK on 18th Aug 2011
Love the phone but for the first couple of days I could not download
any apps. It just froze. That righted itself and I read on forums that
this is a problem with Samsung Galaxy phones. I love the instant e-mail,
internet connection is good although sometimes the network goes down.
Facebook access is very good, superior sound and vision on youtube videos.
Two niggles, one, I would have liked a much bigger keypad, as texting
is a slow process, and two battery life is abysmal. Have to charge every
other day. Other than that, cant fault it.
Rating:
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Reviewed by pemberton johns from england on 13th
Aug 2011
I have up graded to a samsung galaxy gt-15800 touch screen phone . My
first touchscreen mobile , at first i thought it was brilliant but on
checking my payg balance its eating it up when my not doing anything
. I worked out that it will cost about £33 per month for doing nothing
on it . dont know why , but the phone will be going , i cant afford
that , thats why i have a payg phone .
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Dobbers from UK on 12th Aug 2011
Awful problematic phone. Im now on my 2nd handset and 2nd SIM from Orange
and there's still 8 months to run on my contract. Problems are namely:
The answer button needs holding for ages b4 answering, it takes ages
to boot up once switched on, quality of photos is dreadful, the screen
goes blank so it's hard to hang up as buttons disappear, sound goes
on some calls so they can't hear you, battery life is too short, internet
pages are tiny and when enlarged enough it's hard to fit info you need
on the screen, the odd choice of texting words it gives you e.g 'Oz'
instesd of more usual 'my' and the apostrophe is so well hidden down
in it's menus that you end up not bothering and txt lk tnagr.. I could
go on. Orange have offered me a 3rd handset rather than admit this phone's
not of merchantable quality and will not let me upgrade early.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Natasha from Scotland on 6th Aug 2011
This phone is brilliant I had it 3 months and not a single fault the
graphics are great and you get loads of free apps to use on it. The
only bad things are the battery life and for some reason my internet
always seems to be used up when I haven't used it but I'm planning on
contacting orange to see if this is an issue with the phone or if it's
just orange being useless.
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Reviewed by julie from uk on 2nd Aug 2011
I think this phone is excellent, so easy to use. I thought I would have
problems getting used to it but I have had none and would recommend
it to anyone. If I can master it in no time so can you.
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Reviewed by Peter Houghton from UK on 2nd Aug
2011
Dont understand something.....How come this phone says its 4gb internal
memory;;; downloaded 3 apps for it at av 3mb to 15mb,, and it says phone
memory is full....! theres nothing on it apart from operating system!
How big is the operating system on it??? 3.5gb??? Apart from this the
phone is good, brought spare batteries for it as it drains the power
in a day.. so now carry spares with me... s i dont miss the odd phone
all...
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Reviewed by codiee from Americal on 31st Jul 2011
Hello I got this phone a day ago and I no bow to use jt its so simpke
to use and I think id rather have tbis phone than a iphone . Etc I had
an I phone befote
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Reviewed by Ray Howe from united kingdom on 27th
Jul 2011
The samsung galaxy appolo, Is ok till I put my simmcard In, then no
phone signal where I live, then I put the same simmcard in a nokia 6630
wow five bars, how can this be? The phone has been sent back to the
carphonewarehouse.It is also saying cant conect to internet, Im 6" from
my router.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by JW from England on 26th Jul 2011
Got gallaxy apollo last sept,loved it at 1st but 2month's down the line
the screen started to go blank, could'nt turn it off so had to take
battery out. That still keeps hap now along with the battery life getting
shorter each week! Im now down to charging it every night and even 2nd
charge during day time. I have 1game on it (angry bird's) & just the
app's it came with? ive considerd another battery but read simliar reviews
that say it wont make a difference so i will suffer in silence & wait
till contract is up with orange then do my homework to find another
phone, it's a shame as my confidence in samsung has gone down.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by someone from rochdale on 21st Jul
2011
its sick buy or die
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Reviewed by Matty from United Kingdom on 20th
Jul 2011
This phone was my first Android phone. It is an amazing phone! Since
it is a mid range phone I expected it to be much less then the Galaxy
S, but to my surprise it was nearly the same Plus with Android 2.2 it
makes it a especially good phone. You will have no problems. Even if
you do buy on Orange
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Reviewed by James Stewart from England on 18th
Jul 2011
Just bought this phone from Carphone Warehouse who set it up and ready
to go. I am an Orange PAYG customer with £20 credit so stayed with them.
Couldn't understand why I kept losing credit on the phone even when
charging up and internet switched off. Carphone Warehouse suggested
contacting Orange. Seems that GPRS is constantly trying to update the
phone as long as it is live. Once they took that off my system (did
this over the phone)no further problems. So far it's a great phone but
just like previous reviews watch out for Orange.
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Reviewed by Doug from New Zealand on 9th Jul 2011
I lOve this phone. I replaced a Nokia x6 with it. It made the nokia
look very clumsy. Easy to use. I tend to turn off the Internet functions
both on the network and at home on WiFi unless I really need them. I
get about 5 days without a recharge.
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Reviewed by kaz from UK on 9th Jul 2011
I am on phone no.3 as main issue is receiving texts from 1 person yet
when i open the text its from someone totally different! Highly awkward
when i reply as never know who the text will go to!!
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Reviewed by Costas Pittalis from Cyprus on 1st
Jul 2011
Same, lovely phone (first adroid phone anyway), nice features, but awful
battery indicator. As for lasting, it all depends on the features you
have enabled, but still the indicator is not accurate. Mine needs a
charging twice a day if I also use Wifi, GPS for driving and the rest,
otherwise without gps it lasts a day and a half. Mind you I have full
sunchronisation of facebook and google emails/calendars etc.
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Reviewed by Robert Gullival from England on 25th
Jun 2011
my back button stopped
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Reviewed by Dave from UK on 22nd Jun 2011
I love the phone but the battery is terrible. For example, just checking
email every hour and 2 phone calls depletes the battery. So, this feels
more like a fixed line phone since it's constantly being charged. Great
functionality but battery lets it down massively.
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Reviewed by Eilidh from UK on 18th Jun 2011
I love this phone it is great. At the top you said dont buy it on Orange
but my 1 is with Orange and its fine.
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Reviewed by david from uk on 16th Jun 2011
i love it not slows down when on wap and the aps are funny dose me right
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Reviewed by David from UK on 7th Jun 2011
Very poor. I used to love Samsung phones. I had a Tocco before this
one and unfortunately they have both been big disappointments (unlike
the many previous Samsungs I've had which were reliable and well thought
out). The galaxy has good music and video players other than that it's
a mess,slow,unintuitive and full of problems.The potential of the multifold
Android apps comes to nought as this phone seems incabable of handling
them. As a mobile telephone, and lets face it, this should still be
it's core function,it is useless.If you are looking for a new phone
- sorry to say look elsewhere ! Let's hope Samsung get their act together
again soon, otherwise my next phone certainly wont be a Samsung !
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Sophie from Wales on 6th Jun 2011
I got this phone a couple of weeks ago, after reading the reviews on
here telling me NOT to buy it on Orange, however I went ahead and bought
it anyway because I wanted to keep the same number and network. I have
had absolutely no problems at all with this phone.. infact I love it!
I think it is just a matter of chance that certain people had a problem
on Orange. :)
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Reviewed by Dee from England on 28th May 2011
My main gripe with this phone is the size of the icons and text. I'd
returned the Galaxy Tocco to Virgin because I only realised, once I
started using it, that it didn't have wi-fi. In all other respects the
Tocco was great. I then ambled off to Carphone Warehouse and bought
this for £79 (£89 if you include the talk time I had to buy with it).
Once I got it home and switched it on I was astounded to see how tiny
the icons and text were (especially compared to the Tocco). I simply
can't live with a phone where I have to strain to see things. I'd opted
for the Apollo over the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro (which I'd
been very tempted by) because I had wondered whether I'd be able to
live with such a small screen. As it is, I think the icons and text
on the Apollo are smaller, so I should have just opted for the Xperia
all things considered. Anyway, the Apollo is now on Ebay. Shame, because
other than the terrible size of things on there, it looks like a good
phone...
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Reviewed by Brent Elliott from New Zealand on
26th May 2011
Whilst the technology crammed into this phone certainly makes it good
value buying, the downsides for use as a work phone certainly over-ride
this. The phone is currently in the repair shop as I've had problems
with it; turning on whilst on an aircraft having turned it off before
hand, GPS switching on from time to time, switching off SIM card from
time to time, battery life very limited even with APPS, GPS etc off
and the list goes on. We have a few of these in the company and my colleagues
have experienced similar problems but can't be bothered to send in theirs
for repair. Maybe it's not a repairable issue but a fundamental with
the phone. I would not encourage anyone else to buy this phone and I
see that at some NZ stores the phone is no longer available.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Paul Constantine from UK on 24th May
2011
Allegiance: I am since 2002 a dedicated HTC customer (my favourite after
the i-Phone), but needed something for the everyday use). Price: Just
bought one for GBP 79.99 from Carphone Warehouse (+GBP10 for the SIM).
First conclusion: Price-wise I reckon this is a great deal. Use: I needed
this unlocked phone to use it abroad (use any operator's SIm in any
country in Europe). Build Quality and Features: Quality build is flawless,
functionality is excellent (covers every and any topic on my wish list,
EXCEPT MS Office....like any Android phone would do). Size: If you need
reading glasses (as unfortunatelly i need for a couple years now :-()
consider the size of the screen! small fonts could be. Issues: Because
of its memory limitations one should expect screen freezing if using
simultaneously memory-hungry applications. Conclusion: By far the best
phone you can find in the Market in the 100-200+ pounds range...for
a bargain price. Benefits from Galaxy S system architecture and features
in a smaller bundle. Two year-warranty makes it a great pick. Highly
recommended.
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Reviewed by sarah from england on 22nd May 2011
got this phone yesterday n am loving it, it got every at a touch n i
can talk 2 mates and send texts and read them while am on the phone
i culd not do tht with my tocco lite. Also i like it cos i can go on
youtube any time i like n watch videos n the signal is very good few
pubs i go into i culd nt get signal with this phone is can txt while
in the pub n it's good value for money. I only buy sony ericcsons or
samsung phones cos they are the best phones bit pricey but u paying
for a good make of phone. love the voice search saving me typing it
in google :) x
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Reviewed by emmie from england on 21st May 2011
Its okay i mean i cant upload pictures from my phone to computer which
is annoying and then i cannot seem to grasp swipe text or whatever and
wen youu click a picture it is fuzzy for a while. but the goos points
the camera is very good and then phone looks good and the memory i found
was good and internet was fast i always have good signal and then the
new text thing it cool :D
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Reviewed by Luke from UK on 20th May 2011
DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE!!! There are so many flaws to this phone. From
the speed to the graphics to the quality of build everything is majorly
tacky. I really really want something to praise about this phone but
its just so poor. It can run a maximum of 1 function at a time so the
when it takes minutes to close an application it get really really frustrating.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Steve from UK on 9th May 2011
Further to my review two weeks ago, have now had the phone for three
weeks, and it is incredibly good value for money. Even comes with a
translation app, and as I am a liguist, I can say it's very accurate.
Obviously others have bought faulty models, perhaps on Orange. Mine
on Vodafone does everything perfectly.
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Reviewed by Georgina from Uk on 7th May 2011
Never ever ever buy this phone, mine crashes and doesnt respond, just
like veryone elses but when i went to the store where its from and they
said it has "no space left on my phone" even though i had a third of
a gb left, they did nothing, sending me home to BUY myself a bigger
memory card! But by the responses that others have said on this website,me
and my dad have come to a conclusion that is a MANUFACTORING default,I
have had the phone 3 months and now i am having to buy myself my own
phone and then put it on this contract, i have to be on this contract
for 24 months! The apps take up alot of room on the phone but when i
delted 4 apps it said it still had a third free, buy this phone and
you are going to be upset with the consequences like me!!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Declan from UK on 4th May 2011
Mixed feelings. In regard to battery life, Android isn't really battery
friendly. I found an app which lets you turn HSPDA off when not needed.
That has worked. Will do until I can afford a HTC
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Reviewed by Derek Smit from Uk on 30th Apr 2011
It's not very user friendly,difficult to handle without turning the
volume down, hard to end calls because the screen goes black.
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Reviewed by Steve from UK on 26th Apr 2011
For only £80 you get a lot for your money. Upgraded from the LG Cookie,
mainly because the Galaxy Apollo has youtube, which works most of the
time, and faster internet browser. Miss using a stylus to text but as
the keyboard is reasonably big in landscape mode am getting used to
it. Downloaded plenty of apps from the Android Market, and think it's
a great phone for the price. Camera is about the same as the Cookie,
with the advangage that you can zoom in, video camera likewise. Early
days yet, but am very pleased with this smart-looking smartphone.
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Reviewed by Jessica from uk on 25th Apr 2011
i love this phone and i have it and i am keeping it forever! It will
never get old because everything about it is wonderful and it has google,
notes, clock, apps and many MANY MORE!!!
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Reviewed by iain macdonald from Britain on 24th
Apr 2011
this mobile is useless. its not as good as its made out. Im totally
let down now I have a 18month contract. cant wait till its over...defo
not have another samsung mobile if this is the standards... I hate it...
wish I got a Nokia instead or something...
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Bilal from England on 18th Apr 2011
The phone is great. The only problems being the very short battery life
and the absolutely useless battery life indicator. Apart from that i
have no problems whatsoever.It is easy to text, browse and use the apps.
no problems with network as most orange users have complained about.
Great on T-mobile. Overall probably the best phone you can buy for the
price.
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Reviewed by Jason Litherland from UK on 17th Apr
2011
Got this phone on Orange, had no real problems with it as a phone, most
problems are with the Samsung support, Samsung Kies is useless. have
updated the phone to Froyo2.2, which seems to make it better than the
standard Orange issued phone, all in all a good budget phone, does all
I need, calls, texts, E-Mail, hundreds of Apps available (Market, not
Samsung). Guess I must be a lucky customer, as having looked at the
other reviews have experienced none of the problems listed, all in all
a good phone, on a budget, guess you get what you pay for, I for one
am a satisfied customer of the I5801
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Reviewed by Daniel from UK on 16th Apr 2011
I love this phone. Its packed full of features for the price, no problems
with it so far, I think some people are having problems because of the
Orange firmware, I am with Vodafone and have never had a single network
issue. I reccomend this phone to anyone :)
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Reviewed by Fay from U.K on 12th Apr 2011
Looks like a really flashy phone with loads of cool features and that
to begin with, but after a couple of months it's a complete nightmare!
Some of the apps don't work, it takes a good 10 minutes to turn off
and on again, it deletes contacts, you actually can't hang up when talking
to people because the touch sensitivity is so dior. Generally really
frustrating to use, and I would not recommend it if you're a busy on
the go type person, as you need quite a bit of patience to deal with
this phone. However the good points are that the facebook feeds & updates
always work pretty well and the keyboard is relatively easy to use,
but I hardly think that this excuses it for the amount of grief that
comes with it.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by lomond82 from Scotland on 11th Apr
2011
Had this phone for 6 days and HATE it. Used Nokia for 16+ years and
needed a change. not sure at first of a touch phone so borrowed my friends
daughters old TOCCO samsung to get to grips with touch phone. Loved
her phone so bought this. On hers I could email, facebook, text, make
calls and use the calendar. On this the calendar is pants, it took an
hour to download the android facebook and nearly 4hrs for the game angry
birds!!!. Android facebook doesnt work right as my status disappear
and are only on my wall so nobody sees it. I have had to charge the
phone at least once a day. The internet is slower than a wet weekend.
So much slower than my old nokia and it was a classis 6303! battery
says its full then looses charge. The phone takes at nearly a min to
boot up. Its difficult to switch on takes 3 or 4 goes. it loses internet
connectivity saying retry. loses signal. I am on the 02 network but
it was an ORANGE payg phone Summary: slow, pointless and waste of money
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Alice from Scotland on 4th Apr 2011
The best phone i have ever had easy to use good camera lots of free
aps.
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Reviewed by arno from uk on 30th Mar 2011
this handset after the 2.2 froyo update is simply fantastic samsung
have ironed out all the problems mines running as sweet as it can with
ndrive loaded it rocks the htc wildfire is twice the price with a sreen
thats worse you can get the sense stuff off the market
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Reviewed by Mari from UK on 25th Mar 2011
Had this phone for 14 days on Orange, overall quite good, easy to use,
but the battery level indication is useless. Keeps showing 70 - 80%
then going completely flat in an hour or so, & that's without using
it.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Taylor from UK on 25th Mar 2011
This is a good phone, but is it meant to come with a setup disc? If
not, how do you put music and stuff on it?
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Reviewed by paul from UK on 21st Mar 2011
Got one of these and hugely dissapointed. Problems include - callers
not being able to hear me......bluetooth not working......voicemail
sometimes works, sometimes doesnt.....battery indicator worthless....poor
battery only lasts 1 day.....loses signal and only way to get back is
remove battery.....android updates taking forever from samsung... PC
does not recognise .... a disaster of a handset. Going back to my old
one.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Nicholas from England on 16th Mar
2011
Just got this phone. found the sim card would click into place in all
directions except for the direction its supposed to go, i sorted it
though but ramming a tiny bit of card on top of the sim card, holds
it into place nicely. the phone is really fast and other than the sim
card locking mechanism being rubbish, the phone is great to use. the
qwerty keyboard is a little small, even when rotated and is a little
hard to get used, but after a day i'm more confident using it, the swipe
feature makes it easier.
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Reviewed by lionel messi from argentina on 11th
Mar 2011
its the best fone ive had i updated the rom into 3.0 honeycomb
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Reviewed by baz from uk on 4th Mar 2011
this is a decent android phone providing you dont get it on orange o2
is much better,if like many of us you are counting the pennys its a
good choice to get into android for the first time only let down i can
find is the cheap looking battery cover on the back otherwise a good
buy.
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Reviewed by Char from UK on 28th Feb 2011
TERRIBLE phone. I am now on my third and will ring up orange AGAIN tomorrow
to battle getting a different make as now my signal drops and can't
get it back until I turn it off and on again. Its ridiculous! The first
3 phones sent messages to the wrong people (namely my Dad instead of
my friends), called people without pressing anything, hung up in the
middle of phone calls (think my record was 9 times in one conversation)
and were all exceptionally slow.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Nad from Uk on 24th Feb 2011
got this phone from Orange because I wanted an Android phone.The OS
is great alot of apps available for free just a shame about the phone.
The touchscreen is OK pretty responsive except sometimes the keyboard
didn't register my touch and when it finally did only half of what I
typed appeared on screen. Kept dropping the signal so I was phoning
people I could hear them they couldn't hear me and best of all I was
paying for it! After 4 months I had to get a new phone as it kept switching
itself off and I had to long press the on button to turn it back on.
In the end it refused to load past the Samsung screen. Took ages to
get a new phone from Orange. The new phone was much better but once
I had a certain amount of apps on it told me the phone memory was getting
full and started rejecting text messages despite the inbox being empty!
In the end I decided to go back to my old Nokia. It was my first touchscreen
phone and has put me off them. Good phone if you want the Android experience
on a budget but slow and unresponsive at times.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Kate from UK on 16th Feb 2011
I am also on Orange, and its an all together alright phone... although
Im on my second one already because the first ones battery was a dud.
This one turns off because the sim card goes into the side of the phone,
and comes out. Also the battery just falls out? I have found the free
covers orange give you for this phone, dont actually fit the phone and
fall off, with the battery. Its also a bit on the slow side, but maybe
I am just impatient?
Rating:
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Reviewed by LJWILD from UK on 10th Feb 2011
so!! i am not the only one with problems. it seems to be mostly orange
phones than any other networks. Do not buy this phone. my phone freezes,
deletes contacts, no network coverage, my screen is slow and doesn't
respond, sometimes my back button doesnt work etc .... the main one
is when i plug in my head phones i put my phones in and the music comes
out of the speaker every now and then i constantly have to take the
ear peice out to see if its comeing from the speaker.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Priscilla from UK on 10th Feb 2011
No one is mentioning if they find it easy to text. I am a big texter
and this is a nightmare for me. Are there any ways you can make the
keyboard bigger? As even if you rotate the phone, it's not really making
much difference....
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Sander from Netherlands on 10th Feb
2011
I keep having auto reboots and it shut itself off today...for the rest
a very nice telephone, swiping rules!
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Reviewed by Josh from NZ on 8th Feb 2011
I have many of the same small problems that others have mentioned on
here..but for the price and the fact that it is an awesome wee handset,
it doesnt bother me in the slightest. Had a Vodafone 845 before this
and I cant describe the difference! Would recommend.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Akram from uk on 24th Jan 2011
terrible phone DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE to maney problems to tell and no
answers just take my advoice do not buy this phone
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by kianah from USA on 23rd Jan 2011
This is one of the greatest phone in the world its hard to find out
how to do things but after a while you get used to it .. it a amazing
phone buy it now !!
Rating:
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Reviewed by Emma from England on 20th Jan 2011
terrible phone on 3rd handset, many many mny problems, phone calls cut
off if I am receiving a text, ring people on handset or on speaker phone
I can hear them they can't hear me, runs really slowly when I have nothing
hardly on memory, was saying i had sent a text to somebody, when I had
not, orange blamed the 3G connection which is rubbish!Could not get
calender working, had problem after problem! Had samsung handses before
and been really pleased with them, but not this one, Now in battle with
orange to get a replacement handset, not the 4th one of these!
Rating: Reply
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