Looking back-Samsung Galaxy Y – Nostalgia!
Introduction
Back in 2011 when the budget phone market was dominated by Symbian and Java powered phones, Samsung became the first manufacture to introduce an Android powered device below 10,000 INR or 150$.It was the phone that laid the foundation for Samsung as a market leader. What features were there on the phone? What made the device stand out? Let’s find out.
Size
The dimensions of the phone were 104x58x11.5mm or 4.09×2.28×0.45 inches. The screen size was 3.0 inches. The screen had a resolution of 240×320 pixels with 144 ppi pixel density. The screen also supported multitouch.The phone was easy to hold .One handed operation were also easy.
Processor 
The phone had 832 MHz ARMv6 along with a Broadcom VideoCore IV.It had 290 MB available RAM with 190mb of onboard storage.The performance was better than any other budget phone at that time. But due to lack of good GPU, gaming experience was not considered great, with the phone not supporting many games .HD videos were also not supported.The phone was considered good for casual usage.
Camera
Camera is an important aspect while choosing a phone.The 2 MP, f2.8 aperture camera in the device was considered average .The phone was capable of recording videos at a resolution of 320p@15fps. Additional features for the camera included geotagging, smile shot and panorama mode. Some features like Flash, noise cancelling microphone and front facing camera were missing.
Software 
The phone was the first budget device that ran on Android. It ran on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread with Samsung’s TouchWiz on top. Samsung released a firmware update to upgrade the phone to 2.3.6.Though Samsung never updated the phone to newer versions of Android, many custom ROMs were available. This made the phone a preferred choice for modders and Android enthusiasts.
Features
The phone had accelerometer and proximity sensors built-in. It also supported a microSD card up to 32GB.All multimedia features and Social Networking apps were available. Most of the wireless features like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth were also available in the device. The 5.1 channel audio enhancement available in the device was loved by many users.
What made the phone a Success
Any budget phone with good performance and better than average camera is always preferred by Indian buyers. With Galaxy Y, Samsung offered just that. Considering the fact that it also ran on Android, which was not available on any phone under 10,000INR at that time, made it stand out. Sealing the deal were features like WiFi, Bluetooth, support for multimedia features and social networking apps.Samsung offered a Smartphone at a budget price, which at that time, no manufacture did. In 2012 Samsung also launched a dual sim version of the device, further attracting customers towards it.
What its Success meant for Samsung 
Galaxy Y became the highest selling phone from Samsung. Before the launch of the phone, the company was facing a tough competition from Nokia, LG and other manufactures in the budget phone market. The phone increased the marketshare of Samsung and helped the company establish a stronghold in budget Smartphone market. Samsung became the leader of Smartphones due to the sale of its budget-friendly phones, with Galaxy Y leading the way.
