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Samsung Galaxy Y Duos and Y Pro Duos pack two SIMs each

The Samsung Galaxy Y Duos and Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos are Samsung's first dual-SIM Android smart phones.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
Richard Trenholm
2 min read

Hello hello. Mobile mobile news news. Why are we saying everything twice twice? Because the Samsung Galaxy Y Duos and Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos are Samsung's first dual-SIM Android smart phones dual-SIM Android smart phones.

The Duos phones get their two-faced name because they each hold not one but two SIM cards. Two SIM cards?! Has the world gone mad? Actually having two SIM cards in one phone is pretty useful, in the right circumstances. On an everyday basis it lets you combine your work phone and your personal phone into one, without having to carry round your personal, super-stylish Samsung Galaxy S2 in one pocket and your chunky, clunky, IT department-mandated BlackBerry in another.

The Y Duos is Samsung’s first full touchscreen smart phone with two SIM slots. The Galaxy Y Duos is a 3.14-inch phone in an 11.98mm frame, with an 832MHz processor inside. It's powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread and is garnished with all the usual Samsung bumf: TouchWiz interface, Social Hub, and ChatON, which lets you send free messages to people with any phone.

The Y Pro Duos is Sammy’s first qwerty-packing smart phone with two SIMs, with a 2.6-inch display atop the physical keyboard. The built-in Polaris office app lets you work with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files while out and about. And Samsung’s Find My Mobile Service lets you lock the phone should you lose it, trace it on a map or remotely wipe its contents if it looks like you're not getting it back.

A second SIM is handy when you're a bit of a player -- one number for the wife, and one for the girlfriend. Hey, don't hate the player, hate the game.

Dual-SIM phones really come into their own when you're travelling. Taking your own phone overseas can be a serious drain on the wallet, but procuring a cheap SIM when you arrive means your friends and family can't get hold of you so easily. With a dual-SIM phone, you can set the phone to make calls and use data on your foreign SIM, and still receive calls and texts from the folks back home.

In January 2012 the Duos duo rushes to Russia, and the rest of the world will follow. No word yet on whether they're coming here to Britain, but it would be interesting if they did: they'd be among the first dual-SIM phones to go on sale here.

Would you use a dual-SIM phone? Tell us what you'd do with a Duos in the comments or on our Facebook page.