Review : Samsung Galaxy R I9103

I was looking for a fast,well capable phone having a large display covering almost every feature a smartphone can have. But i was not willing to spend more thn 20k on a phone.My requirements were atleast 1Ghz Procc, 512MB Ram, 4" display & all other usual things. I was considering Galaxy SL & Neo V(skipped O2x coz of smaller screen & less RAM thn SGR) but then price of Galaxy R dropped to 20k and i bought it.

Design - I love the design of SGR more thn other galaxy phones out there. Its looks so sleek & shiny from both front and backside. Its much slimmer thn i imagined by seeing its picture earlier on the net. It easily fits in my shirt's pocket although its a bit wider.
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Package contents - I got main set, 1650mah battery, charger, data cable, an earphone, a leather pouch (I really loved the pouch, need not to purchase other), No Kies CD(although it can be downloaded)

Memory shown - RAM - 724MB, System storage - 1.97GB, USB storage - 3.75GB(although its printed 8GB on the box... lots of space is system reserved), and a microSD card slot
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Multimedia - It played every audio format it tried. But the stock video player failed to play some 720p video.. I tried flv,avi,mp4 format of different size & resolution. Later i installed Mobo Video Player, MX Video Player, Real player & some codecs with them which almost fulfilled my need. But still searching for a good video player app which can handle every format without any hitch.

Browsing - Browsing is a fun on SGR believe me. I never worried that i'm browsing on a mobile phone. It always felt that i'm on PC having a bit smaller screen. Opening webpages and switching between pages & sites is very convenient. It never lagged, crashed, hanged or whatever till now. (paisa vasool for me bcoz its one of my primary requirement). I tried stock browser as well as Dolphin HD, Opera & Skyfire. Opening multiple webpages doesn't make it operate slow.

Apps & Games - Till now i've installed more than 50 apps on my phone. It handles running multiple apps simultaneously without any lag. I not much into games so hvn't tried any of them yet.

Battery - With medium to heavy usage it easily lasts whole day while on 3G. I have to charge it daily(as in the case of maximum android phones). No complain.

Camera - This 5mp camera is sufficient for all casual needs. but i'm not satisfied with video recorded with it maybe i'm comparing it with my digital camera's video quality thts why.... Although it shoots nice quality pictures. Front camera is the added benefit.

Conclusion - I'm happy with the money i spent. it's totally worth.... Its the best one around 20k.
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If the fellow members have any doubt or query regarding this device which they think i can answer thn pls post them here. i'll be happy to help......

- Abhishek

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shad

Recruit
Aug 25, 2011
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Nice Review :clap: Okay one final question before I seal the deal on Galaxy R can it open .pdf files smoothly with no lags as I have tons of graphic intensive ebooks (for studies) which I plan to read on it for quicker reference ...
 

prime

Skilled
Nov 22, 2008
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Good review.

For videos, try MoboPlayer. I am using it and found it great. Plays almost all the formats.
 

Sizz

Disciple
Dec 19, 2011
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Thanks a lot Abhishek.

Regarding system storage... how can it hide ~4GB space? I need at least 4-5 Gb for my music only and I was planning to have some pdfs as well.

Can you tell if it has some app like adobe reader preloaded which can be used for pdf?
 

sandeepk

Disciple
Nov 28, 2009
145
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Pune
Can you please let know about your view about screen quality? Have you used either iPhone 4/4S or any AMOLED display phone, if so how does it do against them? How does it feel in under direct sunlight (at max brightness)?

I currently have Samsung Focus (Super AMOLED screen). So I am looking for a comparable screen quality.
 

abhishek2600

≡ Green World ≡
Disciple
Jul 31, 2011
190
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shad said:
Nice Review :clap: Okay one final question before I seal the deal on Galaxy R can it open .pdf files smoothly with no lags as I have tons of graphic intensive ebooks (for studies) which I plan to read on it for quicker reference ...

it has a preinstalled app for opening .pdf files....

u can zoom, pan & all.. it works flawlessly

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sandeepk said:
Can you please let know about your view about screen quality? Have you used either iPhone 4/4S or any AMOLED display phone, if so how does it do against them? How does it feel in under direct sunlight (at max brightness)?

I currently have Samsung Focus (Super AMOLED screen). So I am looking for a comparable screen quality.

Display quality is very nice. I havn't used any version of iPhone or SAmoled phones so can't compare with them.

but seen Nokia's Amoled phones... i didn't feel any noticeable difference in quality... both are impressive

SGR's SC-LCD performs very well under sunlight... it remains usable easily but naturally u'll have to increase brightness
 

Aces170

ex-Mod
Mar 16, 2005
5,990
85
187
Battery - With medium to heavy usage it easily lasts whole day while on 3G. I have to charge it daily(as in the case of maximum android phones). No complain.

Hmm I was looking for a phone in the similar range, but that battery life is a concern. Bro has a i 9003 on a custom ROM, and it last 2 days on medium usage. Unfortunately for Galaxy R, the dev scene is not good, else CM7 ROM would improve battery life considerably.
 

jags1987

Disciple
Oct 15, 2009
88
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Excellent Review:). I bought one myself through ebay. Extremely happy with it :hap2:! Its a major upgrade from my 3 year old Nokia 5800 :)
 

red dragon

Justiceforall
Skilled
Jan 30, 2010
2,305
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Praha, Czechia
Nice review!

Regarding media player,I would suggest you to stay away from MX or mobo player,they mostly use the software decoding,which eats the battery pretty fast.

Only 2 players in the market uses hw decoding

a.dice player

b.BS player lite.

Dice player is not free and I could not purchase it either.

BS player is good too and it is free.

Try them,you will be impressed.

Sent from Galaxy S2
 

karty

Disciple
Jul 3, 2011
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35
In the second pic it appears as if there are a couple of scratches. Are there any ?

Aren't you using any screen guard ?

I am considering this phone but no gorilla glass is worrying me. Will using a screen guard reduce the sensitivity or response ?
 

abhishek2600

≡ Green World ≡
Disciple
Jul 31, 2011
190
83
91
karty said:
In the second pic it appears as if there are a couple of scratches. Are there any ?

Aren't you using any screen guard ?

I am considering this phone but no gorilla glass is worrying me. Will using a screen guard reduce the sensitivity or response ?

no any scratches till now... now i've put one screen guard too

i feel tht the touch sensitivity is still same as earlier.....