These days, teenagers holding on to their smartphones while tapping away on their keypads is a familiar sight. When they’re not bopping their heads to music flowing through their earphones, or playing games, they’re chatting on social networks and downloading applications.

All these thrills can come with a hefty price tag. Samsung offers the best of both worlds with its latest gadget.

The Samsung Galaxy Y, the brand’s first Android smartphone, lets the youth explore to their heart’s content without burning a hole in their pockets—or rather, that of their parents. The 98g smartphone, powered by an 832 MHz processor and HSDPA module up to 7.2 mbps, runs on an Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system that lets teens browse websites, check e-mail and play various media smoothly and quickly.

Its 2-megapixel camera, 3-inch LCD display and 240 x 320-pixel QVGA resolution allow shutterbugs to take quality photos and videos and show them off to their friends via social networking apps easily available through the Android Market, which offers over 150,000 apps.

More icing on the cake is the TouchWiz user interface, which allows users to customize their own menus to further express themselves.

With the Galaxy Y’s convenient size, stylish teens need not worry about their clothes bulking up, and can effortlessly strut in their skinny jeans and body-con dresses. For only P5,990, teens can solve their entertainment blues in a jiffy. To show just how form and function can go hand in hand, campus celebrities flaunt the latest Samsung gizmo, and prove that big things do come in small packages.