Second looks at the Samsung Galaxy W i8150 - After the price drop

The Samsung Galaxy W i8150 was released in the Philippines in November 2011. It was a very interesting offering, but its Php16,000 price bumped head to head with LG's Optimus Black, which had a larger display, and priced below it was Sony Ericsson's Neo V. We noticed that the price of the Galaxy W has dropped to Php11,400 with an official Samsung warranty from one of the retailers who we use for price checks. This now places its price in parity with the similarly spec'ed Xperia Neo V.

Samsung Galaxy W i8150 quick specifications

• Android 2.3. No official upgrade to Android 4.0 but value pack released with some ICS features.
• 3.7-inch WVGA (480 x 800) display
• 1.7 GB of user available storage expandable via MicroSD card slot 
• 512 MB of RAM
• 1.4 GHz single core processor
• Adreno 205 graphics
• Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset
• 5 MP primary camera with a LED flash
• VGA secondary camera
• 720p video capture
• HSDPA 14.4 Mbps connectivity
• 1500 mAh battery

Hardware wise it is superior to the now similarly priced Xperia Neo V. It has more internal storage (1.7 GB v. 320 MB), and faster processor, and a slightly better camera. The case is 1.5 mm slimmer than the Neo V. Overall I prefer the way the Galaxy W rests in my hand and like its matte finnish over the glossy finnish of the Xperia Neo V.

The main advantage of the Xperia Neo V is that Sony released the official upgrade to Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. The Galaxy W will not get upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich, but Samsung has released a value pack, bringing some Ice Cream Sandwich features to Android.

Some user have reported their Neo V's running a bit slower with Ice Cream Sandwich on board with some apps and some WiFi issues. A slowdown is to be expected given that Ice Cream Sandwich requires a bit more in terms of resource than Gingerbread.

With the Neo V at Php11,500 and the Galaxy W at Php11,400, its a though choice. Better hardware or running the latest operating system.