Samsung unveils the i7500, its first Android powered mobile device

Samsung has today unveiled the i7500, its first Android-powered mobile phone. While many Android operated devices have been rumored from the manufacturing giant this year, the i7500 is the first to be officially confirmed by the company. The device is completely touch-screen, with a 3.2” AMOLED screen. It will also be the first Android device to come with a touchscreen QWERTY keyboard.

Software features:

Running on Android 1.5 OS, the i7500s access to Google services is really being pushed by Samsung. It boasts integration with pretty much every Google service, including Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calender and IM – as well as location-based services like Google Maps and Latitude. It will also have access to third party software through the Android Market application download service.

Hardware features:

Along with the now-standard touch screen on smartphones, the i7500 has a lot of connectivity options. It’s mobile web connectivity is pretty beefy, with 7.2Mbps HSDPA and WiFi connectivity. It’s also GSM, GPRS, EDGE and Bluetooth compatible. It has a 5-megapixel camera, a headphone jack and 8GB internal memory (with the option for 32GB more through SD cards). Oh, and GPS.

Samsung claims the device will be available in Europe from June.

Source: Korea Newswire

From the release:

“Samsung is among the earliest members of the Open Handset Alliance and has been actively moving forward to introduce the most innovative Android mobile phone,” said JK Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Mobile Communication Division in Samsung Electronics. “With Samsung’s accumulated technology leadership in mobile phone industry and our consistent strategy to support every existing operating system, I believe that Samsung provides the better choices and benefits to our consumers” he added.

What we think?

Ah, it finally begins. We’ve had months now of people promising Android devices – and I for one am hugely gratified that the first one is a cracker (that means it’s good!). The two features that elevate it, for me, are the recent AMOLED screen and the price. AMOLED is essentially an incredibly bright display that doesn’t require backlighting. It’s thin and light, and saves a huge amount on battery usage. Now then – the price. Ubergizmo claims that this device is going to retail at around 300 euro. Which is incredibly cheap for a device with this feature set. Take a look at the recent devices announced by HTC and how much they cost. If those prices are accurate, which one would you rather buy?

As far as functionality goes, this really is “just another” smartphone. They’re all pretty samey these days – but the price is right on this model. Getting the same set of features out for much, much cheaper really is the next big step in getting the consuming public to start buying more smartphones.