Samsung has unveiled a new low-budget variant of its popular Galaxy lineup of smartphones. The Galaxy Core Advance came out on Monday complete with Google's Android 4.2 Jelly Bean mobile operating system rather than the more updated 4.4 KitKat version of the software.
According to The Inquirer, the Galaxy Core Advance will hit store shelves in early 2014 aimed at consumers who want a smartphone experience without breaking the bank. This is made evident by the phone's aging specifications for the handset, which include a 4.7-inch 480x800 TFT LCD display, a dual-core 1.2GHz processor 8 GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 64GB, a 5MP rear-facing camera, a VGA front-facing camera, a 2,000mAh battery and 1GB of RAM. The phone will also support 3G and WiFi, with the company opting against adding 4G LTE in order to keep the device's price down. In addition to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, the South Korean tech giant will skin this model with its own custom Touchwiz user interface.
According to reports, the Touchwiz interface makes the Android operating system almost unrecognizable along with offering several custom apps such as S Voice, S Translator and Group Play.
The Galaxy Core Advance, in addition to being for the budget-conscious, is also apparently aimed at an older customer base with the phone's description saying: "[The] Galaxy Core Advance also provides convenient usability functions and enhanced accessibility features for disabled and visually impaired users."
The description continues saying, "Key usability and accessibility features include Optical Scan that automatically recognizes text from an image and reads it aloud to the user, Light Sensing technology that uses the device's camera to sense light direction and brightness, and Instant Voice Recorder that offers simplified access to make quick voice notes."
Although it's likely the low-cost variant in the Galaxy family, no word on the device's price has been announced yet. For now all that is known about the device is that it is expected for a release in 2014.
