The Samsung Galaxy Indulge is the first 4G capable phone offered by MetroPCS. You can now get your hands on a very attractive QWERTY Smartphone without the need of signing a contract with a carrier and you will surely enjoy the features offered by this phone. In terms of performance, this is not the best Android phone on the market, but it can hold its own against some tough competitors and it won’t let you down when you need it the most. Plus, the slide out keyboard is definitely a plus and this phone has a few other tricks up its sleeve.
Design
The phone feels pretty bulky and the measurements confirm it: 5.2 inches tall, 2.4 inches wide and 0.6 inches thick. Most people would expect a 4 inch screen from such a large phone, but unfortunately, the people at Samsung wasted some space here and the display is only 3.5 inches. The rest of the space is occupied by the metroPCS logo, the Samsung logo, and four regular keys.
These buttons are easy to push and they won’t get in your way when you are performing regular touch screen activities. They are also quite useful, so it is nice to see them here. This phone weighs 5.4 ounces, which is a not as much as we expected. If you turn the phone on its side, you can slide out the QWERTY keyboard. The layout is spread across 4 rows, so you can easily use numbers and letters without pressing an additional key. Each button is easy to press and there is plenty of space in between keys, so you should have any problems typing. The touch screen is efficient in day to day use and for text messages, but if you want to go online and enjoy the full experience, you should definitely give the keyboard a try.
The camera is placed centered on the rear side of the phone and it is the only noticeable element you will find here. A sliver line goes across the margins and this is also where you will find the volume rocker, the camera shutter, and a couple of ports. A microUSB port is available for data transfer and charging and a 3.5 mm headphone jack is perfect for your music listening needs.
Features
The phone is powered by a 1GHz Hummingbird processor and it runs on Android 2.2. This combination is perfect and you won’t experience lag or any twitchiness no matter what you do. The only thing that might set you back is the amount of free space, so if you plan on listening to music or watching movies on your Samsung Galaxy Indulge, you should buy a 32GB microSD card. When you go into video view mode, the accelerometer gets the job done and it will flip the screen in an instant.The 3.5 inch screen comes at 800 x 480 pixels of resolution, so you will be able to enjoy most video clips you have on your phone, but you won’t get anywhere near the quality you would get from an AMOLED screen. The phone responds very well to any type of touch and it will recognize your inputs without any problem.
The 3.2 mega pixel camera will take above average pictures, but you shouldn’t expect anything out of the ordinary. The camera comes with autofocus, various shooting modes, adjustable exposure, and a few other small features. If you pay attention to the settings, taking great pictures won’t be difficult, but you will have problems in poor lighting conditions. Browsing pictures in the gallery can be done fairly easy, but the more important part is the video gallery. The Samsung Galaxy Indulge can play Xvid and Divx videos. You can watch any movie, including 720p ones, as long as you are comfortable with the 3.5 inch screen size. If you want to make your own videos, you will have to settle for 720 x 480 video resolution. On the bright side, the phone will record videos at 30 frames per second and the quality is decent. Unfortunately, this phone is no match to HD recording Smartphones, but for the odd video recording, it will get the job done.
Like with any other phone that runs on Android, you will be able to download a few interesting applications in no time: Google Maps, YouTube or Gmail just to name a few. You can also use the app platform developed by MetroPCS. Here you can find many other interesting apps that might prove to be useful. GPS is available, so real time navigation instructions are at the tip of your fingers.
Because most people will use this phone for browsing the internet, it is nice to see that the download speed goes a little over 1Mbps. If you want to upload something, you will reach the same speed, which is definitely a plus. However, this is not exactly 4G and there are plenty of devices out there, which can achieve much higher download and upload speeds.
Pros and Cons
The Samsung Galaxy Indulge is a decent phone with a nice design. The QWERTY keyboard is very easy to use and it will make the phone feel more user friendly. The processing speed is fast enough for most applications, so browsing the internet, listening to music and watching movies won’t be a problem. The camera is decent, but not spectacular.
The main problems this phone has are the lack of HD recording, somewhat slow internet speeds for a 4G phone and it could use a larger screen. If you are fine with all of these issues, you should consider buying this phone.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy Indulge is a very decent Smartphone and it won’t cause too many problems. If you want a phone that you can use for browsing the internet and watching movies, this might be the perfect one for you. If you are looking for a camera phone, you might want to look further.