
Those keeping a close watch on the Google Android front shall be over the moon to hear of Samsung’s latest product announcement, the I7500.
(And to those observers forever presenting an impatient attitude towards this subject, let me say that “all good things come to those who wait” - with this “wait” being all but unreasonable.)
According to their press release, the product will sport a couple of notable hardware differentiators, including a 3.2-inch AMOLED display (HVGA @ 320x480 px), built-in 5-megapixel AF camera (with LED photo light), 8GB internal user memory _plus_ optional support for up to 32GB via its external memory slot, and a form factor at only 11.9mm thick.
Compared to the two Android-enabled handsets released by Taiwanese maker, HTC, thus far (that is, the G1/Dream and the Magic), Samsung has put the I7500 in a rather unique position - as a product that offers more than just the “Google phone” experience. The outstandingly vivid-and-bright properties of Samsung’s own AMOLED display technology, along with their renowned imaging capabilities, are two very good reasons to make the I7500 _the_ “Google phone” to get - albeit the higher price tag, which will be most certain on its slated June release in Europe.
The I7500 is a tri-band 3G/UMTS (900/1700/2100 MHz) handset with quad-band GSM support, and supports HSPA data access (7.2 Mbps down, 5.76 Mbps up) plus Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) where available. On software, it will be pretty much standard-issue Google apps (or of what’s founded on the G1/Dream and Magic), along with those outstanding (and very powerful) mapping features when used in tandem with the on-board GPS receiver. And according to the press release, we shall see the Google Latitude feature/service available with the I7500, being a little something that’ll make the overall user experience that much more interesting!
There is obviously much potential for the Android platform, given its infancy - and Samsung has certainly done their bit in (possibly) making the product more fun to use, whether its for work or for play. June isn’t all that far off - and I can’t wait to see how Samsung manages to enrich the overall user experience (of the I7500) in their own unique ways.