by Mike Leader
Samsung have always produced a full range of mobile phones to cater for all sectors of the market and the Samsung Galaxy Fame is an entry level Android smartphone which looks, well, pretty much like most of the rest of their range if we're honest.
The important thing is you will not feel inferior or out of place if you opt for a phone that simply gets the job done instead of blowing a month's pay on something like the all singing, all dancing Samsung Galaxy S4
Look and feel
It's a smart looking smartphone too, with a gloss white casing finished off with a gold trim around the sides which is a nice touch.
It's nice to hold too and surprisingly feels well made with a good solid feel to it. We expected a flimsier feel, perhaps unfairly because we can not fault the build quality of this handset.
Screen and processor
The 3.5 inch screen does the job but obviously lacks the sharpness of top end smartphones, and the relatively low resolution isn't perfect for web browsing but it's ideal for everyday phone use.
Beneath it lies a 1GHz processor and 512M of RAM, pretty much on a par with the Sony Xperia E.
This Samsung handset runs Android 4.1 with Samsung's proprietary Touch Wiz interface laid over the top.
The only problem with this is that Samsung's customary customisation does eat into memory space although there is no noticeable lag in normal use.
Camera
The generously equipped 5 megapixel camera produced very clear and bright pictures, subject to the limitations of the display screen, and the camera coped better than most indoors in low light though the LED flash light did help.
Video recording is included too but it isn't it's best function and not for the serious movie maker.
Connectivity
You will not want for much more here as connectivity is generous and includes 3G, USB, Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth and also NFC which works well along with Samsung's own S Beam app.
Battery life is not the greatest but should get most people through the day with normal use. We seriously question Samsung's claim of 17.5 days standby though.
Summary
Overall a decent phone at this price level, we slightly edge towards the Sony Xperia E3 which seems a little slicker in use but there is little between them and the Samsung Galaxy Fame does have a slightly better camera with flash. It's really down to which design you prefer and both are good handsets.
