Samsung announced today its first Google Android-powered mobile phone.
“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.
The Samsung I7500 will be powered by a 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A processor and Google Android (version 1.5). It will come with quad-band (850/900/1800/1900MHz) GSM/GPRS/EDGE and tri-band (900/1700/2100MHz) HSDPA/HSUPA connectivity, a 3.2-inch AMOLED HVGA (320 by 48) touchscreen display, 8GB of internal memory, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, built-in GPS, a 5MP camera with auto-focus and LED flash, a microSD card slot (supporting cards up to 32GB), and a 1500mAh battery. On the software side, it features the full suite of Google services, including Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Calendar, and Google Talk. It will measure 115 by 56 by 11.9 millimeters.
The Samsung I7500 will be available in major European countries starting in June, 2009. O2 Germany has already issued a press release [Google translation] confirming that it will carry it exclusively. Price will be announced closer to the street date.
There is no word yet on North American availability.