Samsung Galaxy Apollo

Samsung's replacement for the Galaxy Spica has lost a few buttons, and is called the Galaxy Apollo by UK networks O2 and Orange, though it goes by a few other names elsewhere.

Samsung's latest entry-level smartphone running Android 2.1 is in some ways a little brother to the Galaxy S, which offers much more features.  There's nothing revolutionary about this new handset, but that doesn't mean it can't be a decent touchscreen mobile that's easy to use.  Let's take closer look ...

Design

The style of a mobile is always a question of taste, and although the Apollo doesn't really have a distinctive look (it's finished in glossy black plastic), the thick form factor with a curved back might not be for everybody.  What's more certain is that you will like its lightweight construction which means you can forget you're even carrying it.  


Le Galaxy S, Galaxy Teos; two very different phones

For users, the interface is largely based on the screen, but there are three physical buttons just under the screen;  pressing and holding the one in the middle brings up a list of the apps that are currently running.  We're glad that they're real buttons, and not touch-sensitive, as the latter are often all too sensitive.  The build quality is acceptable for a phone entirely made of plastic.

The 3.2'' multitouch display uses capacitative technology. It won't win any awards for brightness, or contrast for that matter (it's unusable in bright sunlight) unlike the Super AMOLED screen we recently enjoyed on the Galaxy S.  A resolution of just 240 x 400 pixels means you have to zoom into web pages to be able to read them.  To put it another way, it's obvious that this is a phone in a different class, and so its screen only offers a bare minimum, although it does, fortunately, have the advantage of being reasonably responsive.


TouchWiz on Android

Samsung has customised Google's operating system with its own TouchWiz interface.  It's generally pretty intuitive and you can customise the seven different homescreens to classify apps according to different functions: calls, Internet, media and so on ...


Anybody will be able to get the hang of this phone very quickly.


So is the Apollo very fast?  Surprisingly, the answer is yes, despite the 667 MHz processor which is less powerful than the hardware found in the current big names.  Navigating through the menus is usually smooth, but you will notice a few short pauses when you open certain apps, including the phonebook, the numeric keypad and the camera, to name just a few.  It's not that annoying, but now that lots of other smartphones can do everything instantaneously, we're becoming more and more demanding. 

Multimedia

We'll start our examination of the Apollo's multimedia capabilities with the camera.  It does pretty well for a phone with just 3 Megapixels.  In good lighting, the photos it produces are decent (despite the slight blue tinge) and there's a lot of detail for a phone in this class.  As soon as light levels fall a little, things get a little worse.  It's a lot better than the Spica, but even up against the 5 Megapixel camera on the Galaxy S, the Apollo has nothing to be ashamed of-indeed, its photos are even sharper than its high-end cousin.


Browsing the web isn't bad either, but the Apollo can't really rival the Galaxy S, the iPhone or the HTC Desire of course. That's when having a such a small screen with a low resolution becomes a real problem.  You need to zoom in several times before you can read the text.
Music is exactly how we'd expect for a phone from this range: perfectly acceptable, but make sure you upgrade from the headphones supplied with the phone!

Finally, the Apollo is pretty stingy on battery life: you'll only get a day out of it at the very most.