Samsung Announces (Incrementally Upgraded) Galaxy S Advance

January 30th, 2012 by Davey Alba, LAPTOP Staff Writer

One could argue that there is already enough matter in Samsung’s galaxy, but the company has just announced another addition to that universe: the Samsung Galaxy S Advance. And in that rather overcrowded space, we aren’t completely convinced that this device is earth-shaking enough — with minor, incremental upgrades — to be considered a shining star.

Essentially, the handset is an update to the original Galaxy S, which was first released in 2010. Underneath the Advance’s slightly curved screen (a design cue taken from the Galaxy S and Galaxy Nexus smartphones), the device is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor and comes with 768MB of RAM and HSPA 14.4 support. It runs Samsung’s usual TouchWiz user interface on top of Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and you can get either 8GB or 16GB variants of the unit, with internal storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD.

Display-wise, the phone shows off a 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED screen at a 480 x 800 pixel resolution. You’ll also find a 5-megapixel shooter on its back, which is capable of filming 720p HD footage at 1280 x 720 resolution. And on the front, the Advance features a 1.3 megapixel camera for video chatting. A decent 1500mAh battery provides the juice on the handset, which measures 4.9 x 2.5 x 0.4 inches and weighs 4.2 ounces.

When you consider that Samsung already came out the Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Nexus, both of which have better specs, it’s clear this phone isn’t aiming for the high-end or breaking any new ground in the process. The industry-leading Galaxy Nexus has a full 1280 x 720 screen, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and rides on Verizon’s industry-leading 4G LTE network in the U.S. However, depending on its price, the Galaxy Advance could be a good budget play for Samsung.

The Galaxy S Advance will be available in Russia by next month, then gradually roll out to CIS, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Southeast and Southwest Asia, Latin America and China. We haven’t yet heard when it will be making its way to the US, or how much it will cost when it gets here, but we’ll be sure to let you know when we do.

via Samsung