Well, there’s been rumours about it for months, but today, we’ve finally got to see what the first ever Samsung Android phone looks like. No more blurry photos, and wondering what it’ll be like, because the new phone (called the Samsung I7500, according to The Register) has been outed to the world in all its glory.
Well, alright, granted, compared to some upcoming phones (particularly the Samsung i8910 HD) it’s not that glorious, but it’s still a massive cut above any other Android phones on the market.
And there’s a good reason for that, quite apart form the features, which I’ll get to in a minute. Y’see, HTC have made the only official Android phones so far, with the T-Mobile G1, and the soon-to-be-available HTC Magic. But you may have noticed something about the G1 in particular (although the Magic goes some way to correct this).
It. Looks. Weird.
It’s not as if HTC can’t make a decent-looking phone, either, since the Touch HD, and some of their upcoming phones, look really quite pretty. It’s just with the G1, it seems like Google told them to give it a specific design. Either that, or the reference design was from a 3 year old phone. Either way, it’s not brilliant.
Now consider Samsung, a company who I honestly believe couldn’t make an ugly phone if they tried. They do sleek and sexy rather well, and looking at their new baby, I’d say Android can finally get a phone with looks to be proud of. In terms of features, while it can’t hold a candle to its cousin the Omnia HD, it’s easily the most powerful Android phone out there, with a 5 megapixel camera, 8Gb of internal memory, WiFi and all that gubbins. Plus, presumably, it’ll get the Android Marketplace, so you add on loads of new apps as and when you please.
I’ve always said that it would be other phones that came after the G1 that would make Android a proper contender in the mobile world, and with the Samsung I7500, we’re seeing that happen. As for availability, there’s no word on a UK release date, yet, but considering that O2 Germany say they’re getting it as an exclusive in June, you can bet your life it’ll be an O2 exclusive when it hits Blighty…
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