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Samsung Galaxy Core is a dual-SIM low-ender with Jelly Bean

A new Samsung handset brings Jelly Bean on a budget, as well as the option of having two SIM cards.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
Joe Svetlik
2 min read

The Galaxy S4 only recently hit shop shelves, and now Samsung has followed it up with a low-end alternative, the Galaxy Core. The phone leaked a couple of weeks ago, but has only just been made official.

While its specs might not hold a candle to the S4, it does come with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, bringing Google Now and Google's Advanced Voice Search. Its dual-SIM tech also helps it stand out from other budget blowers, letting you switch between two numbers, for business and pleasure. It comes in a single-SIM variant as well, if you don't want to splash out on a second line.

The Galaxy Core has a 4.3-inch screen (remember when that was considered big?), with a resolution of 480x800-pixels, so it's not going to look great next to the likes of the S4. Inside is a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of memory, and 1GB of RAM. On imaging duties is a 5-megapixel rear camera.

The Core also pinches a few of the S4's features. Smart Stay knows when you're looking at the screen and keeps it lit until you look away, so no more prodding to keep it awake. Smart Alert lets you know about missed calls and messages as soon as you pick up the handset. Thanks to Motion UI, you can activate common functions like refresh or mute just by waving your hand. You can also speak to control the phone using S Voice.

The dual-SIM version of the Galaxy Core will be out this month, with the single-SIM following in July.

Take a Samsung handset to a pool party, and you'll have a lot more fun than your iPhone-owning fuddy-duddy parents. That's according to Samsung's latest ad for the S4, anyway.

What do you reckon of the Core? Are there better budget Jelly Bean blowers out there? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.