Samsung I7500 Galaxy review: A hitchhiker’s guide

Author: admin  //  Category: Samsung

Introduction

Android is set on grabbing the number two spot in the smartphone market by 2012 and the Samsung I7500 Galaxy might be the type of phone to get it there. Perhaps less for the Galaxy at this point, and more for the Samsung, but we’ll see about that.

Samsung I7500 Galaxy screenshot Samsung I7500 Galaxy screenshot
Samsung I7500 Galaxy official photos

The I7500 Galaxy is a “Google experience” phone, and has the intrinsic advantage of having the search giant’s infrastructure behind its back. For one, YouTube and Picasa integration sure add value to the 5-megapixel camera.

And as to people who spend their time digging around the Internet for oft hard to find information, we really appreciate the improved search widget. And that thingy is about to get better - Android is a bit like Google’s other projects, a perpetual work in progress that keeps getting new features and polishes the occasional rough edges.

The I7500 Galaxy is the company’s first take on Android but if we put the OS aside, it should be a solid Samsung touchscreen with all the gadgetry we’ve got used to in smartphones. Of course, the Android platform still has a few issues to address and get some annoying limitations out of the way. Let’s see what this here Android by Samsung can do for you and where it might fail.

Key features

  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
  • 3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 5.76Mbps
  • Android OS v1.5 (codenamed Cupcake) without customizations
  • 3.2″ capacitive AMOLED touchscreen of HVGA resolution
  • Qualcomm MSM72000A 528MHz CPU, 128MB RAM
  • 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, geo-tagging, YouTube and Picasa integration
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver
  • Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and turn-to-mute
  • Digital compass for automatic navigation of maps
  • Standard microUSB port for charging and data
  • microSD card slot with microSDHC support
  • 8GB internal storage
  • Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
  • 3.5 mm audio jack

Main disadvantages

  • No smart dialing
  • Camera features are a bit outdated
  • No videocalling
  • No multi-touch gestures
  • No Flash support in the web browser (coming soon via the Open Screen Project)
  • No DivX/XviD video support or a third-party application to play that
  • No FM radio
  • No TV-out port
  • No voice dialing
  • Somewhat limited 3rd party software availability
  • No Bluetooth file transfers (not without rooting)
  • No tethering (not without a custom ROM)

Samsung I7500 Galaxy photo Samsung I7500 Galaxy photo Samsung I7500 Galaxy photo
Samsung I7500 Galaxy live shots

Samsung have established a strong presence in the touchscreen market. Their usual weapon of choice is TouchWiz, which brings PocketPCs and feature phones closer together, projecting a consistent brand image.

With the Galaxy, they’re stepping out of their comfort zone - a new OS and a new interface. TouchWiz for Android is yet to come (and in the case of I7500 never is more likely than later).

To make sure it does well, Samsung have equipped the Galaxy to match to specs of the top Android phones available on the market. And it sure needs every bit of ammo if it’s going to challenge the well-entrenched HTC Hero. The I7500 Galaxy can take it on spec for spec and even win a few rounds.

But that’s on paper, and we guess you’re curious to see the real deal. Jump to the next page for this Einstein’s worth of a question: what is the Galaxy made of?

Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica gets official, packs 800Mhz CPU

Author: admin  //  Category: News, Samsung

Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica, or Galaxy Lite, if you prefer, is official as it gets. Not only is the I5700 the fastest gun in the Android crowd with its 800MHz CPU, but it’s also cheaper than the original Samsung Galaxy.

But let’s start from the basics - the Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica has been sitting in our rumor mill section for a while now and it seemed to be the baby brother of I7500 Galaxy, which we reviewed just recently. The “Galaxy Lite” certainly seemed to suggest it.

The CPU is interesting because the original Galaxy ran the 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A processor. But with 800MHz the Spica beats even the Acer Liquid, which until now held the crown for speediest CPU in the Android world - a 768MHz Snapdragon. Liquid still has a lead in RAM - 256MB - versus the 128 of both Galaxy phones.

Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica (aka Galaxy Lite) Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica (aka Galaxy Lite) Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica (aka Galaxy Lite) Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica (aka Galaxy Lite) Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica (aka Galaxy Lite)
Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica (aka Galaxy Lite) is official

The rest of the features are very close to those of I7500 Galaxy, save for the lack of internal memory and the camera. Galaxy Spica comes with a 3.2MP camera and support for microSD cards up to 32GB instead. The display is the same size at 3.2″ (though the press release is mum about whether it’s AMOLED and capacitive or not) as is the battery of 1,500mAh. The I5700 is a “Google experience” phone, so it’s connected to Google’s services.

The Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica will be available in Russia in November for 1,4000 rubles (320 euro or 480 dollars). There’s no word on availability in other locations but it shouldn’t be long now.

Samsung B5310 CorbyPRO and B3210 CorbyTXT preview: First look

Author: admin  //  Category: Samsung

Introduction

When the Samsung S3650 Corby was announced hardly anyone saw it as something more than a nice looking handset that comes on a really attractive price. As it turns out though that event was the birth of a whole new family that promises to change the way we look at touchscreen handsets.

So several weeks later we made sure that we won’t repeat the same mistake and paid all the due attention to the second wave of Corbys announced. Luckily, we were able to attend the official announcement event held in Milan and got a chance to see the new devices live right after their official announcement.

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The Samsung Corby event, held in Milan

Quite as the rumors suggested, what we saw was the first public appearance of two new Corby handsets. The Samsung B3210 CorbyTXT and Samsung B5310 CorbyPRO have quite similar design to their brother, but their designation is completely different. They are also placed either side of the original Corby in the ranking of the company’s mobile phone portfolio.

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Samsung B5310 CorbyPRO

The Samsung B3210 CorbyTXT will address the needs of heavy texters on a very tight budget while the B5310 CorbyPRO will hardly come as cheap but introduces a lot of high-end features to the family, while still retaining the signature colorful and youthful appearance.

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Samsung B3210 CorbyTXT

The distinct youthful appeal is what unites the Corby family but each of its members has plenty of character of its own. That last two additions show that Samsung see enough space available on the market for budget QWERTY handsets to justify their development. Judging by the popularity of the LG KS360 they might be quite right.

The larger of the two Korean manufacturers is playing catch-up this time, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t going for the win. The Corby family new members have a lot of potential and LG will have a hard time retaining its market supremacy against them.

So now that you know what to expect you can join us on the next page to see what kind of first impression the Samsung B5310 CorbyPRO makes. It looked pretty nice on that official presentation at least.

12MP 3x optical zoom Samsung M8920 shows up again

Author: admin  //  Category: News, Samsung

We just came upon another leaked photos of what seems to be the successor of the Samsung Pixon12. This time however it’s the Korean version of the monster cameraphone dubbed Samsung SCH-W880. The information about the specs list is still pretty scarce but the camera alone to make us drool.

Four months ago the first evidence of the existence of a Pixon12 successor with optical zoom popped up in the net. It was a picture of the Samsung M8920, which sported 3x optical zoom and HD video recording.

Samsung SCH-W880
Samsung SCH-W880

We now have some good news for our Korean buddies who will also be getting a piece of the action. It appears that Samsung is planning to launch a Korean version of the 12MP handset that should go by the name SCH-W880. The visual differences to the European model are almost non-existent or at least as far as the back panel is concerned. The camera zoomlens the xenon and LED flashes and the grip are all there. We do notice however that there are no Wi-Fi/GPS marks on W880, suggesting that those features might missing in this version.

Samsung M8920
The first photo of Samsung M8920

We haven’t got confirmation of any of the other specs of the device, but those leaked shots should help make the waiting for the official announcement more easily bearable.

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