Samsung has announced the Samsung Galaxy Star and Samsung Galaxy Pocket Neo, two new additions to its Samsung Galaxy line aimed to appeal to younger consumers on a tighter budget.
The duo of low-end handsets look very similar, but the Samsung Galaxy Star just wins out over the Samsung Galaxy Pocket Neo in terms of processing power.
Both handsets sport a 3-inch QVGA screen with an unimpressive 320 x 240p resolution powered by a 1,200mAh battery, perfect for those looking for handsets on a very low-entry price point.
Packing 4GB of internal storage expandable via a microSD card slot to 32GB, both the Samsung Galaxy Star and Samsung Galaxy Pocket Neo offer a 2-megapixel camera in the rear, but lack any kind of front-facing snapper, meaning video calling is not an option.
Weighing in at only 100.5g each, the handsets are lightweight, with the Samsung Galaxy Star measuring 104.95 x 58 x 11.9mm and the Samsung Galaxy Pocket Neo a smidgen larger at 105 x 57.8 x 11.8mm.
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is bundled as standard, rather than the latest Android 4.2 OS, but as the pair pack little specs power, it isn’t much of an issue. Of course, the duo’s Android OS is overlaid with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI too.
As for processing chips, this is where the pair differs. The Samsung Galaxy Star offers the slightly more powerful 1GHz processor, whilst the Samsung Galaxy Pocket Neo has an 850MHz chip with both handsets offering 512MB of RAM. With specs like that they are definitely poles apart from the South Korean company's upcoming flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S4.
The distinguishing feature of these two budget handsets, aimed at the younger generation of smartphone consumers and their parents’ pockets, is their Dual SIM functionality. This may mean the Samsung Galaxy duo will launch in developing markets, but it does mean that they can take two SIM cards for separate business and personal numbers.
Although availability and pricing plans have yet to be announced, Samsung has confirmed that both handsets will launch in dual- and single-SIM varieties, but we expect the UK will only see the single-SIM options.
