Samsung Galaxy V Philippines Price Php 4,999, Specs, Features : Can It Win Against Affordable Phones by Local Brands?

I was walking around SM San Lazaro CyberZone last Saturday - checking out which gadgets kids are getting these days and asking sales staff of various stores which products are selling like hotcakes - when I chanced upon this tarpaulin ad in front Electroworld.

Apparently, Samsung Mobile Philippines has just released a new entry-level smartphone -- targeting young, budget-conscious consumers who are looking for their first smartphone or a reliable Dual SIM secondary phone.

Samsung Galaxy V

Priced at Php 4,999, Samsung Galaxy V appears to be the 2014 refresh of the Korean Giant's best-selling Samsung Galaxy Y and Samsung Galaxy Young handsets from the past three years. Interestingly though, looking at its specs, the smartphone doesn't seem to offer all that many improvements when you compare it to its predecessors -- especially in terms of innards.

Samsung Galaxy V

Dual SIM Dual Standby Samsung Galaxy V features a 4-inch 480 x 854 pixels TFT display panel, 3 MegaPixel fixed focus main camera with LED flash, VGA front cam for selfies, VGA video recorder, a 3G HSPA+ support and a 1,500 mAh Li-Ion battery pack. As for its internal hardware, the device runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system skinned by TouchWiz UI with a 1.2 GHz single core processor, handles multitasking with 512 MB of RAM, and has 4 GB of built-in storage that's expandable via microSD card slot.

So should you get it? If you're a big Samsung fan and you've always wanted to upgrade from your feature phone to a smartphone by the Korean company but your budget has always prevented you from making it happen, Samsung Galaxy V could very well be the handset you've been waiting for. But if you want to get the most value for your Php 4,999 - at least in terms of technical specifications - then you might want to check out stellar lower midrange releases by local brands like MyPhone Agua Rio, Cherry Mobile Omega Icon, or Starmobile Up that all have a 5-inch display, a Quad Core processor, and an 8 MegaPixel main camera.