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Samsung Galaxy Y review
| Review: November 2011 | ||
Rating: In a nutshell: The Samsung Galaxy Y is a bargain basement Android phone. Best buy: Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) 16G ... from Amazon (£174) |
Review
While the iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S2 superphones grab the limelight, there's still a huge market for a budget smartphone that isn't a complete disappointment. Because, sadly, smartphones that cost less than £100 tend to be a letdown. Too many corners are cut in the rush to shed the pounds. Yet Samsung keep trying, because a low-cost compact smartphone that worked would be a cool thing.
The Galaxy Mini has probably been Samsung's most successful effort in this price bracket so far. We complained that the Mini wasn't really that small, so it's nice to see that the Galaxy Y really is tiny. It runs the latest version of Android (2.3, Gingerbread) plus Samsung's TouchWiz user interface, making it an easy yet powerful phone to use. The capacitive display is responsive, though at 2.8 inches, it's too small for comfort. With an 800MHz processor, the phone responds very rapidly too.
So the Galaxy Y gives you the power of the latest Android operating system in a tiny, lightweight and cheap package. As an entry-level Android phone, it has the advantage of running Gingerbread and having a fast processor. Sadly, that's where the good stuff ends. Because far too many corners have been cut here. The screen is too small to be of much use. The camera is awful. Google Maps and the web browser are uncomfortable on the tiny display. There isn't enough memory onboard and generally everything is too hard to do.
So, our verdict is give this one a miss and choose the Galaxy Mini or Galaxy Fit instead. If you have a few more pennies to spend you could try the Galaxy Ace.
Samsung Galaxy Y features include:
- 2 megapixel camera
- Video recording (QVGA, 30 frames/second)
- Display: 240 x 320 pixel (2.8 inches) capacitive touchscreen with auto-rotate
- Music player
- Stereo FM radio RDS
- MP3 ringtones / 64-voice polyphonic ringtones
- Messaging: SMS, MMS, instant messaging, email
- GPS with Google Maps
- Personal organiser functions
- Memory: microSD memory card (up to 32GB supported)
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, 3.5mm audio jack
- Internet: Android browser, GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA
- Quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900), dual band 3G (900/2100)
- Size: 104 x 58 x 11.5 mm
- Weight: 98g
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Samsung Galaxy Y user reviews
Love this product? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other people choose the product that's best for them. Please do not review this product if you have not used it, and please ask questions in our User Questions section above. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!
Average rating from 41 reviews: 
Reviewed by Ro
from UK
on 27th Sep 2015
Absolutely the worst phone I have ever had the misfortune to own. No
storage space at all, and you can't even remove Samsung's useless
bloatware which takes up half that space. Almost every single basic
feature you want is missing e.g. blocking numbers - where is it? Oh,
sorry, you can't do that. Even though brick phones from the 1990s
could already do that. In fact, this is the most common response
you'll find online whenever trying to make this piece of junk do
anything at all. "Sorry, you'll need to download a buggy ad filled app
to implement a basic feature that should have been there in the first
place." Which would at least be possible on any other phone... except
that the Samsung Galaxy Y only has the space for about 3 apps. "No
problem" you might be thinking, "I'll just get an SD card!" Hahaha,
nope. It can't download straight to the SD card. So even if you have a
32 Gb card, it will still tell you that you don't have enough space
because it FIRST has to download to its tiny internal storage area.
Incidentally, this means that you can't even upgrade the software on
the phone, since even official Android updates don't have enough space
to download to. I used this phone for a year before the frustration
almost drove me insane. It practically put me off smart phones for
life. I've had many, many phones and never have I hated anything as
much as this phone. I would have given it zero stars if I could. Sorry
for the rant, but... Dear God...
Rating: 
Reviewed by DAISY
from ENGLAND
on 2nd Sep 2015
I have had problems from the start. Brought it in March 2015, April I
took it back to the shop, all o.k. Last month, August I lost all forms
of communications while away from home. Had to take the battery out,
then put it back in. Worked for a month, now the phone keeps cutting
out when making & receiving calls. Worst phone I've ever
brought.
Rating:
Reviewed by Jen
from UK
on 24th Apr 2015
dont buy it. REally disappointing. Has put me off smartphones for
life.
Rating:
Reviewed by stepa
from bham.england
on 28th Nov 2014
Theres only one thing to do with this galaxy y after i finish this and
it is beat it with my lump hammer and put petrol on it and watch it
burn.ive tried every thing to it to make it run smoothly but it just
doesnt want to know.i bought this off my girlfriend at the
time.nowonder she wanted to get rid of it asap and i thought she was
looking out for me.anyway i got rid of her just like im going to with
this phone.both have given me severe depression.we even tried an
exorcism on the damn phone to clear it of its evil past but even that
didnt work.the end has arrived for this phone.
Rating:
Reviewed by trish
from england
on 13th Nov 2014
This is the very worst phone I have ever bought.It hangs up at random
mid call ,will not always allow me to delete old phone messages and
texts.Sometimes will not allow me to answer an incoming call.I have
only had the phone for 6 months and the shop where I bought it has
gone bankrupt !! Never ever will buy a Samsung again Beyond belief for
rubbish
Rating:
Reviewed by Raymicle
from Malaysia
on 11th Nov 2014
I will REALLY want to smash this DAMN phone to walls! So unreliable
when try to make calls. Emergency or no signal. Need to restart so
often to make it normal. Software,apps,storage,ram~all sxxks! Never
recommend to buy this modal. My pictures gone, mp3s gone, no longer
access to gallery or files data...complete junk. Im a fan of samsung
product, this tiny phone really annoyed me!
Rating:
Reviewed by jeanpaul cahill
from uk
on 13th Oct 2014
worst phone ever. battery last half a day. It wont make calls and the
memory is non existent. next phone I'm getting will be a nokia. a bit
more basic but at least it's reliable
Rating:
Reviewed by Suzie Q
from UK
on 29th Sep 2014
I have had my Samsung Galaxy Y for about 6 months and find it an
un-reliable phone. Even in areas of good signal phone calls often cut
out. Now I am having a problem with text messages - it has difficulty
sending long messages and now I'm finding that I'm not receiving all
my text messages. I have to rely often on my 'back up' phone, (a basic
Nokia). I would not recommend it - too many glitches.
Rating:
Reviewed by BonzoDog
from UK
on 13th Jun 2014
Utter rubbish, cheap and nasty piece of tat.
Rating:
Reviewed by Sam
from Uk
on 8th Feb 2014
I have had the phone for 2 years, don't get me wrong it's a good phone
but the memory is not big enough, I have cleared everything off my
phone and memory card and it still tells me my external memory is
full...not sure why..I will be upgrading and will definitely stick to
samsung...this phone will be passed on to my son
Rating: 
Reviewed by Caroline
from UK
on 8th Feb 2014
Absolute rubbish from Samsung. Can't wait for my upgrade so I can
change it.
Rating:
Reviewed by dhanya
from malaysia
on 7th Feb 2014
Outstanding
Rating: 
Reviewed by cynthia
from indonesia
on 29th Jan 2014
the worst phone i ever had. I will never go buy another phone from
Samsung in the future.
Rating:
Reviewed by Eileen
from England
on 19th Jan 2014
Went onto this phone with contract with Tesco. Have had trouble from
the start makiing calls, it switches off mid call. Took it back to
shop only to be told that I must keep it "glued" to my ear as the
slightest movement puts it on hold. Utter nonsense. Do I put up with
it for another 10 months (2 year contract) or cut my losses and get
rid of it?
Rating:
Reply by Andrea Greenaway
from UK
on 3rd May 2014
I have had problems with mine (also on a Tesco contract) since October. Can't send or receive texts, contacts list "has been deleted" a few times when I wanted to phone out but returns if I take the sim out and rub it although sometimes that means the date sticks on the 1st of January for several days. Have access to the internet but no notifications from facebook etc. Has frozen a few times and failed to make phone calls (most notably when stood in oncology with my elderly mother trying to phone for a taxi). My advice is to phone tech support who are much more helpful than the phone shop. Demand a new phone but be prepared to have to send the phone back and wait for Tesco to receive it before they will send another then when your contract is up go elsewhere as I intend to.
Reply by Paul
from UK
on 27th May 2014
I have got 3 of these on TESCO. I agree 100% they are a disaster, my brother's does not even connect to calls for longer than 20 seconds, texts do not get through until hours after they are sent and the screen locks every ten minutes. I have contacted TESCO about this and they say they will look and repair it as I am out of then 28 day period when I bought it.
That is not technically true as they calculate the start date as the date you purchase, not the day you receive the handset or even the day they port your number over to their network. I will be taking this further if I do not get a resolution. I will be asking for 3 new handsets any model, just not this one as it clearly does not work and TESCO should not be flogging it.
Reviewed by shaun hague from englandd on 19th Sep 2013
Good for what it is allround
Rating:
Reviewed by Nathan from Ireland on 13th Aug 2013
had this phone for 8 months and the memory on it is awful i had only downloaded
7 apps and couldn't download anymore plus the battery life wasn't great either
so i got rid of it and got the ace 2 and i must say it's way better, far more
memory and better battery life
Rating: 
Reviewed by Fernando from UK on 1st May 2013
How anyone can rate this phone is beyond me!
It constantly hangs, even worst, you don't know it has stopped working because
the screen looks OK but no calls will get through.It's only when you try to
make a call and can't that that you realise the phone is not working and you
have to switch it off and on again so that it works again. No good at all if
you want any reliability. Most of the other features are terrible too--the touch
screen is misaligned so when you press a number or letter the wrong number or
letter appears, the signal is awful compare to an old Nokia and an old Sony
phone in exactly the same location.
Amazingly, the sat navs works OK and the voice recognition is not too bad. But
for making and receiving calls you are better off with two tin cans.
Rating:
Reviewed by miguel from England on 20th Jan 2013
this is a good phone i recommend to anyone because u can gave lots of apps on
it like twitter ,whatsapp favebook.its good for sociql networking and those
who like to chat and you can get lots of fun games on it like hill climb racing.
The camera is not that bad but i dont mind cuz i dont take pictures often. tge
battery is good for a android,my dads htc only last for like 4 hrs.but if im
on this one heavily it should last me a day. i still have 20/25% left but if
im onit like to text and play and a bit of games it should be 40/60% its very
good
Rating:
Reviewed by Filthy Herbert from UK on 22nd Oct 2012
What a bunch of moaning Tards on here, the phone is perfectly fine and very
useable
Rating:
Reply by Fernando from UK on 1st May 2013
Actually, no it's not. It's pretty much the worst phone I have had.
Reviewed by Catinthehat from UK on 2nd Oct 2012
My daughter who has just started secondary school really loves this phone and
it does everything she needs and more. One word of advice and this probably
goes for all android smartphones- do yourself a favour and download a free app
called Lookout/Plan B from the Google apps store. She lost her phone at school
and we managed to download this app remotely to her phone as she had linked
the phone to her google mail account. We were able to track the phone to a specific
address in the town we lived in thanks to the GPS capacity- you just text the
word 'locate' to the phone and your email address will get emails locating the
phone to a googlemaps address sometimes down to as specific as 5 meter radius.
We sent this information to the school and hey presto the phone reappeared and
was handed in. There are lots of interesting similar stories on the Lookout/Plan
B website.
The app does not work with some more recent Android updates but it worked fine
with this phone.
Rating:
Reviewed by phil cain from iom on 6th Aug 2012
Was ditched with this piece of worthless trash when my Galaxy S II was sent
away. I can only hope this one breaks also! P.s. typing is a mission!
Also, the terrible excuse of a camera (2MP) needs to be noted, it's worse than
the camera of a Nokia 6303
Rating:
Reviewed by vicky from UK on 14th May 2012
This is the worst phone . I hate it. Its slow and old . Does not pick up reception
, impossible to type on. Do not get it.
Rating:
Reviewed by planetlaxy2012 from United Kingdom on 10th
May 2012
The phone is really small and easy to use and the battery lasts longer than
an iphone but it starts to get boring quickly and it is not compatible with
all of the apps on android!
The price is good though and it does all the basic things that the other galaxy's
do so if you dont want to spend much but want a samsung galaxy then its worth
it! get the white one!
Rating:
Reviewed by Andrew from USA on 25th Mar 2012
The phone is small and cheap.incredible phone.for me, it is like the phone of
the month.at last 2012,i want to go to sony ericsson xperia mini 2(if i can).
Rating:
Reviewed by becki from u.k on 11th Feb 2012
terrible phone, the worst i've ever used. very unresponsive touch screen, took
45 mins just to enter pin code to get it working. returned to vodafone!
Rating:
Reviewed by aqeel from saudi arab on 3rd Feb 2012
.fbk files not supported. how can i read fbk files.very nice phone.
Rating:
Reviewed by M Said from Libya on 22nd Jan 2012
This is a nice phone for such a Price, it works just fine with all the fun of
Android OS
Rating:
Reviewed by 12345 from northern ireland on 20th Jan 2012
good phone in general but lose o2 uk reception a couple of times in derry
Rating:
Reviewed by Yousuf from Sweden on 18th Jan 2012
Great phone the camera is 2mp but is good. The samsung galaxy y is fast and
has android 2.3.5 but you can upgrade it to 2.3.6. Some of the apps that are
pre installed are google maps android market social hub and youtube. You can
download many cool apps from the android markt and samsung apps. Its perfect.
Rating:
Reviewed by Hamish from Dalkeith, Scotland on 16th Jan
2012
Its a great phone, fits nicely in my hand and the camera has really good smoothing,
for a 2MP camera. Quite fast aswell and I got mine for £79.99 in the O2 January
Sales whereas at other shops it would be £80.99!
Rating:
Reviewed by Jos from Sweden on 27th Dec 2011
I bought a galaxy Y along with my father who also has one. They work good, but
they turn off/restart themselves whenever they feel like it. I always manage
my apps with task killer and my father doesn't really have many apps at all,
and the battery is always good. You can't call the cellphone when has restarted
itself because you have to write your pin code. It's not fun when you have to
set an alarm and the phone turns off itself when you're asleep... Anyone who
knows how to fix it?
Rating:
Reviewed by gary from philippines on 22nd Dec 2011
if you are having problem with you galaxy y, all you have to do is update it.
with the supplied samsung kies cd, install it on your laptop/computer and then
plug your galaxy y with the supplied usb cable. google and samsung already release
the updates, text will increase in size, camera will be better, some icons will
be different, wi-fi will go on stand-by when not needed even when left on. battery
last longer,,, etc etc,, plenty of improvements. you just need to update the
phone.. no problem what so ever i experienced with this phone, for everyday
use, this galaxy phone will serve you well.
Rating:
Reviewed by Jay from India on 19th Dec 2011
Hi,friend this phone have excellent effortable price and {other existings features
etc} so my first dream is to buy this Andriod mobile phond from Samsung Galaxy
Y.
Rating:
Reviewed by neeraj from india on 11th Dec 2011
Good phone but price is so much along with its future it shoud be Rs4500 . It
is best for it
Rating:
Reviewed by Yusuf from North Cyprus on 7th Dec 2011
I have bought my galaxy Y in London in Nov 2011, when I was there for WTM event.
Now I'm using it in North Cyprus. There is a problem with my phone; It shuts
down itself after I ended my calls. I have to re enter pin code to turn it on
again. I is boring. It is a nice phone, and I don't want to change it. But there
is no registered service here and I couldn't find any solution yet. I wonder
why the sellers or main service team don't find a solution for international
users. Couldn't they help through internet. I heard same problem from different
users abroad but I couldn't find how they solved this problem.
Rating:
Reviewed by KP Chandrashekar from India on 27th Nov 2011
Orsam, i love samsung phone's since( 6) years when i started use the right now
i am using samsung" Y" next i wanted to go for samsung Ace.
Rating:
Reviewed by RAY BERRY from ENGLAND on 26th Nov 2011
Galaxy y is useless. Only bought it to use as a phone BUT charged battery runs
out and not even used the phone, needs charging every day. WHY?????
Rating:
Reviewed by Bob from UK on 24th Nov 2011
Absolutely the worst samsung I ever bought.Going back to Nokia ASAP. The touch
screen has a mind of its own, This phone has put me off samsung for life..........
Rating:
Reviewed by Lewis from UK on 17th Nov 2011
Update to the Galaxy Y. What a very cheap nasty phone. GRRRRRRRRRR. Got to the
point where I went and got the Galaxy Ace. I returned that due to very poor
build quality. Come on samsung. No have the HTC Wildfire S. I liked the other
HTCs I've had in the past. Even the Wildfire had great build quality. Sorry
Samsung but 1 star as I can't give zero stars.
Rating:
Reviewed by Lewis from UK on 16th Nov 2011
Just got this galaxy y today after i dropped iphone 3gs yesterday. Due for an
upgrade in Feb anyway so just needed cheap phone to see me through next months.
I've had android devices before but only HTC and tried the galaxy pro for a
few days. Anyway, back to the galaxy y. No idea what battery life is like yet
but this version of android (2.3) is far better than 2.1 which my other phones
ran. Setup to how i like it in np matter of time. Build quality is ok as a cheap
phone goes. A plastic screen won't break like my 3gs did. A decent case might
help the device feel better. The screen is a little on the small side for big
thumbs but auto correction does help once half the settings like swype are turned
off. Email and texting work ok. Phone calls ok so far. It's a cheap android
phone, nothing fancy bit it does make me want a better range galaxy though.
Rating:
Reviewed by subhasish from india on 14th Nov 2011
Very nice phone.
Rating:
