First a little bit about the Samsung Galaxy Mini GT-S5570. We purchased this handset locked to Three mobile for £89 + £15 top-up.
Some reviews of this phone have argued with the fact that this handset is ‘mini’; unlike the tiny Wildfire S this phone is actually pretty much a standard size with its 3.14” touchscreen. It is a fairly low cost Android handset and as such is deemed a pretty good first step into the Android market. It is both Wi-Fi and 3G enabled with HSDPA giving you download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps. The Samsung Galaxy Mini come with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and gives you access to thousands of apps through the Android market. A couple of other nice pieces of functionality, are the built-in Google Mobile services, including speedy access to Gmail, GTalk, Google maps and more; in addition to the gateway to Social Networking sites and Instant Messengers.
On the downside, as with a number of these lower cost Android phones, the battery is only really sufficient for moderate use for a day; the oblong keys mean it’s easy to hit the key next to the one you wanted – they also aren’t that large, so perhaps a phone for the more dainty fingered? The camera is also only 3 mega-pixels and doesn’t have a flash, so if you take a lot of pictures on your mobile, you might want to look at an equivalent.
These are some of the key differences between the two phones: The Wildfire uses HTC Sense, whilst the Samsung Galaxy Mini uses TouchWiz 3.0, and includes features such as the Swype-enabled keyboard and Social Media integration, however the Galaxy Mini has less memory than the Wildfire. The Wildfire also has a superior camera, including flash and auto-focus, so may be more popular with those who use their mobile for taking photos?
How would you rate the Samsung Galaxy Mini? Let us know by leaving a comment about the handset.
Unlocking Samsung Galaxy Mini GT S5570
This Samsung Galaxy Mini was locked to Three. Searching for free unlocking solutions for the Samsung Galaxy Mini GT S5570 again brought up no reliable solutions, there was a thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1192122, but the unlocking process seemed hugely complicated and wasn’t guaranteed to be successful. If you’ve successfully used this or a different method, let us know in the comments.
Therefore we tried and tested another Unlocking Service from Unlockapedia. This time we used UnlockData , they sent through genuine Samsung codes and instructions on how to use the codes. I got my Samsung Galaxy Mini unlocked in under thirty minutes (they say the code will be returned in one hour) – which is great if you need a quick solution and want to get going with your phone. The price for unlocking the Samsung Galaxy Mini was £19.99*, and the code worked first time without any issues. If you are happy to wait a bit longer to use your phone, you can also contact some of the other Unlocking Service providers.
Check out our YouTube video on Unlocking the Samsung Galaxy Mini and applying giffgaff settings:
Tell us how you unlocked your Samsung Galaxy Mini, including the price and time for the unlock.
Applying giffgaff settings to the Samsung Galaxy Mini
OK, so this bit is easy. There are three ways to apply these settings – two of which are detailed in the video and the third is listed below. With the Samsung Galaxy Mini, once I had unlocked the phone I got a Configuration message on the home screen (this showed as a thin grey bar which could be dragged down). This was a message saying that my settings were ready to be installed. (See the video). Alternatively, if you don’t get this message, you can either, apply the settings manually (as shown in the video) or use the giffgaffAPN app .
If you have any problems, don’t forget you can ask the community.
*This price was correct at the time of publication.
Anybody who wants to SIM Unlock a Samsung Mini S5570 for FREE should do the following;
1. Download upd_1.zip from 4Shared.com (it's free), install on your sim card, put your phone into Recovery Mode and go to Update from SD Card. Select upd_1.zip and install. This ROOTS your phone. You can UNROOT later which still gives you a SIM FREE/UNLOCKED phone. To UNROOT, go to Google Play Store and search for UNIVERSAL UNROOT, INSTALL IT, RUN IT and your phone is now UNROOTED.
2. Go to Google Play Store and search for GALAXI SIM UNLOCK, (be aware there are a number of them so select the right one, Install it and run the application. This app will seek the unlock code, stored on the phone and informs you of the number. Open your telephone key pad and dial in the number. Your phone is now SIM Free.
The above method has been tested by myself on my Samsun Mini and works as explained above.
If you are having problems locating the required apps, send me an email and I will forward these to you.
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