Review: Gigabyte GSmart G1317D - new dual-SIM Android communicator for a good price!

After some time we have again for review the communicator from Gigabyte. Earlier we introduced you to the plethora of communicators on the Windows Mobile platform, among them the popular dual-SIM communicator S1205. Today G1317D model is one of his successors, but only the Windows Mobile operating system was replaced by the increasingly popular Android. If you want to know how this new dual-SIM works in practical life, read our today review.

Description of communicator GigaByte G1317D

Gigabyte G1317D Communicator is completely made of black plastic, the sides are lined with plastic silver color. Plastic is not shiny, but dull, which is an advantage in that it does not stay fingerprints. The only place where fingerprints are, is the display, because different displays than the gloss has not produced, and oleophobic layer can only afford a few expensive communicators. Dimensions are 113.5 x 60 x 13.3 mm, weighs 116 grams. Looking at the thickness dimension of the phone, it is clear that there will be no graduate at the thinnest cell phone, but it fits perfectly in your hand. I appreciate that, given the size fairly light, which of course its due to plastic construction.

To display on the front side we will describe in the next chapter, so let 'just below it. Below the screen is four touch buttons that can be seen in virtually all phones with Android - the menu, home, search, back. Hardware keys are also on the communicator, on top is the button on / off, on the right side is a pair of related keys for volume control, and shutter button. In the middle right side is a microSD card slot.

On Display in the left corner, is an information LED that indicates charging red, green flashes new e-mail and so on, eliminating the need for still turn the display to let you know if you noticed something.

Jack (3.5mm) headphone jack is on the upper side, on the other end, than the on / off. You can use any headphones or handsfree supplied.

The underside of the device is usually reserved for the microUSB port, even in this model is no different. It is used both for charging and for communication with PC.

Now turn the communicator, and we can see the back side. It consists of a removable cover, is located underneath the battery and SIM card. You remove the cover so that put fingernail in the slot at the top, and gradually move it up. Reverse use the snap-done again. If you snap it correctly, and fits well, and do not make noise, however, relevant conclusions regarding this must be done best over the next several months, and not a few days.

At the top of the back side is a small lens integrated camera with a resolution of 3 megapixel, above is the high luminance LED, replacing flash.

Display

Since the hardware of your phone is rather in a lower middle class, where the price must be low for the aimed group of users, conserve was a bit on the screen. Not so much because of the resolution, this is due to the size of the diagonal still quite sufficient, the conserve took place in display technology. The screen is resistive, that means wearing a thin contact area, which responds to pressure. Earlier, in the days when Pocket PCs and Windows Mobile dominated, such displays was very common, it was controlled with the stylus, but it is gradually replaced by the capacitive display.

Android operating system is designed so that everything is controlled by finger touch, which results in a GUI operating system very well adapted. With G1317D is comming stylus in the box, in principle, but it will not ever need, mainly for the most accurate calibration of the display when you just touch the control points on the screen. Stylus is in the form of metal pen and not stored in the body of the device, to the phone you can easily attach it by the strap. The plastic tip is protected by a screw cap - if you want to use the stylus, you have to "stick" unscrew. A smaller portion of the stylus will stay stuck to the phone itself, other you will use.

The first thing after start up the phone I recommend to calibrate the display. Before I made it, the reaction to the touch was quite inaccurate and unreliable, after calibration, as if by magic, everything turned well, and I was quite surprised the other hand, as well as resistive screen phone can be easily operated with your finger. True, it's not as comfortable as a capacitive display, on resistive you must do little more push.

The display is 3.2 inches diagonal and 240 x 400 pixels (WQVGA)). Probably the same with the same screen resolution and diagonal model is GigaByte S1205. Standard Definition of resolution in common Android communicator is a little different - 320 x 480 pixels, so you have to reckon with the fact that not all applications (or is it mainly concerns games) will be correctly displayed.

Backlight can be adjusted in the settings, but the most recommended option is to keep the intensity on automatic.

Technical parameters

The communicator is used G1317D Gigabyte CPU ARM 11 Qualcomm MSM7225 chipset-1, which is clocked at a frequency of 528 MHz. The routine work with the phone is quite sufficient, with games but it's not so famous, the specification does not contain any special graphics chipset module, 3D games are slow. You run it, yes, but the framerate is so low that they do not give a reasonable play. In 3D games I tried, such as popular SpeedX 3D, there are framerate estimates ranged around 2-5 frames per second. For 2D games I tried Angry Birds this game on low detail was playable, but not a lot of complex levels. Normal game (such as logic), which is placed such emphasis on performance, can be played without problems. But it is possible that this low performance of graphically complex games are given by the real-time recalculation of the resolution, who knows whether the game developers allow the native resolution of 240 x 400, but I think they not.

Operating memory (RAM) is available as specified by a total of 256 MB, the system can see available 156 megabytes of free memory, for the applications is about 70 megabytes free. Its similar values, like other Android communicators with 256 MB of RAM.

ROM memory (internal memory for applications and store data) is generally 512 MB, of which, however, some takes a system, available to users is 202 megabytes. However, G1317D run on Android version 2.2 (Froyo), can be many applications and games moved to the microSD card, thereby saving precious internal memory. Moving can be done either directly in the management of applications, or using any software such as App2SD.

Of course there is the possibility to expand the storage memory by cards, supported are microSD up to 32 GB. In the phone will you find the card with a capacity of 2 GB.

Communicator can be operated in GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz and 3G networks 850 / 900 / 2100 MHz. Supports both slow data transmission GPRS and EDGE, and HSDPA high speed internet.

An interesting feature of the communicator is to support two SIM cards active at one time, but there are some restrictions - in slot 1 can be used for both GSM and 3G network, in slot 2, but can only use the GSM network. For more information about dual-use look to a separate chapter of review.

In addition to mobile network, communicator has Wi-Fi (802.11 b / g) and Bluetooth (2.1 + EDR).

For navigation purposes with the communicator, an integrated GPS (A-GPS) module, such as "navigation" software you can use the preinstalled Google Maps, or invest in some professional navigation software.

Furthermore, the communicator has integrated electronic compass, accelerometer (orientation sensor phone), proximity sensor detects if phone is near to your ear and turns off the phone screen, and finally a light sensor, which provides for automatic backlight control.

Many users will certainly enjoy the presence of FM radio. To listen you must have the headphones connected, it also serves as an antenna.

Battery

And how is the integrated replaceable Li-Polymer 1260 mAh battery? Official specifications speak for 6.5 hours talk and 115 hours on standby. In normal use, manage without charge with an overview of 2-3 days. The communicator can be charged with AC adaptor (included), or via a USB cable that plugs into your PC or laptop. Charging via the adaptor but is much faster, since the charger can deliver up to twice the current than the current USB port.

Two SIM cards in practice

On Gigabyte G1317D the communicator you can be avaliable for both the SIM cards. But if one of them has a call, then the second SIM card will be at the same time inactive, you hear his message carrier "called person is not available ...". We cant even call ourselves the second number.

What applies to the call, applies to data transfers. Thus, if is the active call on first SIM card, you can not transfer data through the second, the transfer will resume at the moment of end of the call.

The indicator signal for each card is in the standard status bar Android operating system. Stack of the signals is also numbered 1 and 2,when dialing a number at the bottom of the screen displays two white headphones, again labeled 1 and 2.

Android 2.2

Software environment consists of Android version 2.2 (Froyo), finally it is embedded in it the possibility of installing games and applications on the memory card. The environment is a slightly edited by GigaByte, we meet with modified launcher, the most significant change is different bottom bar on standby display. Thanks to the openness of Android, of course, you can install a completely different launcher that will suit you or it, you will not lose the support of two SIM cards, they function properly in all launchers tested by me.

The menu includes all standard applications, which are used in Android, bonus applications are not many, so when you look around the menu, I see only the application Social Network Broadcasting. It is an application that can simultaneously integrate all known social networks and services (Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, Flickr, YouTube, Plurk).

Keyboard

The keyboards in the system are pre-installed two, one is standard, as Android is already in the base, the second is the keyboard GuoBi. This is the default, it's layout is similar to normal keyboard. I tried it, but I did not suit me, in my opinion, much better is standard Android keyboard or Smart Keyboard Pro, you can buy it on the Android Market.

Camera

Although the phone's body is sufficiently broad to make it to seamlessly fit the lens with autofocus, finally got just a tightly focused lens (Fixed focus), it is obviously in order to achieve the lowest cost of phone. The sensor has a resolution of 3 megapixels, on a quick snapshots and video recording is fine. Pleasing is the presence of quite strong LED flash, but even without it G1317D can take decent pictures in low light.

The quality of photos taken by me is pleasantly surprised, when we consider that it is a fix focus, so the photos are sharp as possible and crisp, colors are not saturated. Although I have one comment on colors - in the very bright environment (outdoors on the sun), bright colors are blown, in this case, you can set the camera to reduce the exposure of one or two degrees. From recent models of GigaByte communicators with fixed focus has G1317D best pictures (sharper), better than the previous dual-SIM GSmart S1205. Photos taken G1317D, you can see in this chapter of review.

The absence of autofocus has one little advantage - when you start shooting, you can start taking pictures immediately, no need to wait for focusing :-).

You can switch to video recording mode, the choice is VGA, CIF, QVGA and QCIF. Saving is done either to MP4 or 3GP. Sample video recorded by Gigabyte G1317D communicator, you can see in this chapter too.

Multimedia

Your favorite songs are stored in MP3 or AAC, you can listen to music through an application that serves as a music player, and also the organizer for your music collection. If you are not satisfied because of the simplicity, you can download from the Android Market dozens of other music players.

The communicator can play not only audio but also video. It must be saved in a supported format, it is the same as in the recording, MP4 and 3GP. For smooth playback, it is better to convert the video resolution of 400 x 240, which is the native display resolution.

If you have not just on the card video, no problem. The menu includes YouTube, which will take you through the vast amount of video content portal of the same name.

Conclusion

Gigabyte G1317D is a decent Android communicator from lower middle class. As a reason for his acquisition is the primary support for two SIM cards, a typical user will appreciate the complete Czech localization, and most reasonable price. Compromises must be - a big screen is a resistive, non-standard resolution sometimes bring complications in some applications and games, the camera does not has autofocus. But if you compare price / performance of this phone, you certainly will be satisfied.