Confirmed: the I7500 is Samsung's first Android phone

By on Apr 27, 2009 at 10:39 AM
News April 27, 2009

It’s kind of funny how a phone can phone can appear out of nowhere as a solid rumor and then become official within 24 hours, but that’s exactly what has happened with Samsung’s first Android-powered smartphone, the I7500. Samsung and O2 Germany have both officially announced the device slated for a June release. The specs were also spot on:

  • Android 1.5 OS
  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, tri-band UMTS/HSPA
  • 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A CPU
  • 3.2-inch HVGA capacitive OLED touchscreen display
  • 5 megapixel camera with LED flash
  • Wi-Fi
  • Bluetooth
  • GPS
  • 8GB internal flash memory
  • microSD slot
  • 3.5 mm stereo jack
  • Metal case, 11.9 mm thick

Official pricing was not made public, but we have no reason to doubt yesterday’s rumored price of €300 ($397 US) considering that the rumor was bang on about everything else. Anyone else dying for the I7500 to make an appearance Stateside?

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18 Comments

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  • Rey

    Wow and i still cant believe the Magic is not released yet, this blows away the magic IMO

  • Steven

    Would be nice if the 1700/2100 was Band IV, but I doubt it. Here’s hoping a US version is announced soon.

  • celz

    so is sprint getting this.. sprint has been long rumored to get a samsung android in june.. and this the only one..

  • Kimberly

    What makes Android a better OS than Windows ?
    I’ve heard alot Android and i’m just curios as to the preference to Android i’ve been noticing .

  • aleis

    android sucks compared to windows.
    its not alot of apps.
    but what makes it “better” is just like what makes the iphone better, CAPACITIVE SCREEN!

  • adammm

    Has Samsung ever made a good capacitive screen? I’m a CDMA guy, and the Glyde still gives me nightmares.

  • StevenGlansburg

    well my TV remote is more useful (and reliable) than Windows Mobile, so I wouldn’t say it’s just the capacitive touch screen

  • Anon

    @Kimberly: Automatic memory management, capacitive touch screen support, finger-friendly interface, open standards, open to developers without Apple’s restrictions. Mostly the benefits are on the nerdy end, but once the software catalog expands it will be a real competitor.

  • aleis

    windows mobile has a very good infrastuctures.
    it just not easy to use. and thats because of its resistive screens.
    it will easily beat out all the others because, it isnt an app out that it cannot do.
    skype, streaming media, you name it.
    its just not a good experience cause you have to hit the screen two and three times!!
    but once a capacitive screen device comes out for winmo (and it`ll be too late by then but…) no other phone will be able to compete.

  • cracka

    Agreed, Anon.

    And Windows Mobile has much bigger problems than capacitive screens. That said, I do think MS is starting to come around (by necessity), so there’s definitely hope for 6.5 & later…

  • Onyx

    windows mobile is power hungry, non-finger friendly, crashing and bugging OS. My blackjack and XPERIA were both cool little devices but junk; can’t use WM for my primary phone and rely on it. I haven’t used Android as a primary phone but I’m looking forward to it. I image it is better tho.

  • Mankato

    @Steven.

    This phone covers T-Mobile’s 1700MHz.This just might be T-Mobile’s Samsung Android phone.

    http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/27/samsung-i7500-oled-handset-powered-by-android-dreams/

  • http://www.rigsinmotion.blogspot.com Cingulair

    WinMo is just a memory hungry, buggy, non-reliable mess. My wife and I have had it with their unreliable crashing and freezing. I never had to hard reset a phone as much as with WinMo. It is almost impossible to do a reliable upgrade with WinMo also.

    After using Nokia s60 and the iPhone OS, I have no need to turn back. WinMo has a nice UI but, it almost feels like you’ve been tricked. Once, the bugs start to surface.

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).

  • steven

    A tipster told me this phone will appear on Verizon and Sprint by September 2009

  • Joe the Plumber

    HVGA is so mid last year. Does android not play well with VGA or WVGA?

  • DJV

    WinMo is terrible! It is too resource intensive for the processors used in the existing handsets. If MS wants to compete then they should mandate the use of more powerful processors by hardware manufacturers.

  • mike

    i’ve had 3 winmo devices since 2003. (treo, motorola q, and currently omnia). while none was perfect and the capacitative touchscreen phenomenon of late hasn’t been adopted yet you are nuts to say winmo is crap and buggy. android is insanely limited and open source offers very little benefit to 95% of users. The iphone can’t run myriad programs/apps i run everyday on my winmo like sirius and slingbox. and i run multiple apps simultaneously unliuke the amazing iphone (though it’s touchscreen is freakin awesome). i also prefer to have complete control of my device and not a manufacturer controlling what i may alter or download as with apple. also battery life has grown by leaps and bounds across all platforms in the last 2-3 years. to each his own but winmo may not be the prettiest OS but it’s a workhorse with more access to useful features than any other.

  • branon

    How do you (BGR) know that the screen is capacitive?

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