Annother Android - Preview Galaxy i7500 Samsung

The Google phone is now a reality. Well, it’s not that I am waking up late; I just mean more and more phones are now adopting Google’s Android operating system. After HTC started the trend by ditching the Windows Mobile, it is now Samsung’s turn with its latest Galaxy i7500. Though available in India only on the Tata Docomo network for now, the i7500 gives a glimpse of what smart phones can be and will be.

At 11.9mm thick, featuring a 3.2” HVGA (320 x 480) screen with 16 million colours and an AMOLED based display, the Galaxy i7500 looks “uber cool”. The screen is bright, vivid and has brilliant colours. I actually loved playing with it in a dark room.

A large D pad replaces the track ball seen on the HTC Magic. On the front, there are five buttons other than the OK key and the D pad. The End and Receive buttons have a Home key, a Return key and a left Menu button. In fact, I did not like the layout, especially when comparing it to the HTC Magic.
The phone’s plastic finish is nice, but the fingerprint magnet surface tends to be a bit irritating as you keep cleaning it all day long. But thankfully, this Samsung features a 3.5-mm phone jack built into the top. But I did not understand the logic of placing the USB Port right next to it.

On the side are the camera button and a screen lock button seen on other Samsung touchphones. On the back is the 5 megapixel camera and flash.

The interface is the same as the HTC Magic, but I felt the Samsung was much more responsive to touch than the former. Standard Google services such as Google Maps, Gmail, Street View (not usable in India as yet), and the GPS-based Google Latitude, which let’s you know where you are and your friends are, come in-built.

The phone is Quad Band and has WiFi built-in so you can log into a network at home or office till 3G becomes available.

The 8GB internal memory is a welcome breeze and you will need it with the 5 megapixel camera and all that music that most of us carry around these days. The MicroSD Card slot can take cards up to 32 GB.

Overall, the i7500 is an impressive phone. However, if you were to compare this to the HTC Magic, which was available only on Airtel till a few months back, I would personally wait for prices to fall. If I wanted to spend Rs 30,000 on a phone I would still opt for the iPhone, which to a certain degree is more friendly when it comes to the touch and feel interface.

The Galaxy i7500 is priced at Rs 28,990, but available only through Tata Docomo for now.
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The above preview appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday 11th October 2009