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Samsung Galaxy S Advance GT-I9070 – A Quick Hands-on

By Lionell Go Macahilig - 28 Jan 2012

Samsung Galaxy S Advance GT-I9070 – A Quick Hands-on

From Rumor To Reality

A few days ago on our Facebook account, we shared with you a few photos of one of the Samsung smartphones that have recently caught our attention, the Galaxy S Advance. Initially, we thought that the Internet is already rife with information about this new smartphone, but we found nothing. However, when we used the keyword “GT-I9070”, we have successfully found several entries of it on the Web, yet most of them are rumors that have been circulating since last year.

In front, the actual screen of the Samsung Galaxy S Advance measures four inches, smaller than that of the Galaxy S II. Running on Gingerbread with TouchWiz enhancements, the Galaxy S Advance offers a software experience similar to other current Android-based Samsung smartphones.

Some of the reports say that the GT-I9070 might debut in China this year, so what is it doing here in the Philippines? In any case, since it has landed in our lair, we took the opportunity to give it a quick hands-on.

In front, the GT-I9070 appears like a smaller version of the Samsung Galaxy S II. The GT-I9070’s display measures four inches according to our ruler with a screen resolution rated at 480 x 800. Its fascia shows a front-facing camera on the upper portion of the screen, whereas the only visible element on the lower part is the Home key which is flanked by the capacitive Menu and Back keys. By merely looking at the GT-I9070’s display, it is hard to tell if it uses a Gorilla glass panel. Yet, we noticed that it is slightly curved in, partly reminding us of the Galaxy Nexus’ display.

From this angle, the Galaxy S Advance's curved-in fascia is relatively conspicuous. The front side hosts the secondary camera and the tangible Home key which is sandwiched by two capacitive keys.

Inspecting the back of the GT-I9070, the plastic rear cover is simple yet attractive. This side shows the 5-megapixel camera with a single LED flash. The left side is occupied by the volume rocker, while the right side has power switch. The bottom side hosts both the 3.5mm audio jack and the micro USB port. The notch that helps you remove the back cover is located on the left side of the handset. With the plastic rear cover being removed, the GT-I9070 reveals that its SIM and microSD slots are readily accessible. The battery module’s rating is 1500mAh, similar to that of the Galaxy W I8150.

The rear side shows the handset's 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash. Also shown are the 3.5mm audio jack, micro USB, and the volume rocker on the sides.

On the software side of things, the GT-I9070 runs on Android 2.3.6 (Gingerbread) that is TouchWiz-enhanced. Hardware-wise, both Quadrant Standard and AnTuTu Benchmark show that the GT-I9070 uses a dual-core ARMv7 (VFPv3, NEON) CPU and a Mali-400 MP GPU. One notable detail that was shown by the two applications mention “Samsung Janice” which refers to the smartphone’s motherboard.

Allow us to provide you with a glimpse of the GT-I9070’s software environment as well as its gaming capability with these videos.

Some sources say that the GT-I9070 might make an appearance at the MWC next month. It is not yet officially available in the Philippines, but the folks at Samsung priced it at around PhP 22,900. Although Gingerbread looks appetizing on it, we are looking forward to seeing it run on Ice Cream Sandwich once it becomes available in a commercial scale.

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