Samsung Galaxy Portal i5700: Step into Android
The Samsung Galaxy Portal is the latest Android handset, available now from T-Mobile. Want to know more? Then don't just stand there gawping, click the link! Hurray!
The Galaxy Portal isn't the latest Stargate spin-off, it's Samsung's new Android phone. Here is the first picture of the phone, available now from T-Mobile.
We're glad the Galaxy Portal gets a proper name -- Galaxy Spica if you're foreign -- because it's also called the i5700. That's a reversal of the last Android phone the company made, the Samsung Galaxy i7500, which could get confusing.
The Galaxy Portal is a quad-band phone packing HSDPA, GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. There's 180MB of internal memory and a 1GB microSD card in the box. Samsung claims a very specific 5 hours and 5 minutes of talk time.
The handset is a mere 13.2mm thick, with a 81mm (3.2-inch) screen and 3.5mm headphone jack for your choons. There's a 3.2-megapixel camera, and video support for MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV, and DivX.
Augmented-reality browser Layar is built-in, allowing you to point the phone at the world around you and see information overlaid on the image on your screen. Samsung has created a handy Layar layer that helps you find pubs showing the football match you want to watch. Incidentally, over in iPhone world, Layar is still mysteriously missing from the iTunes App Store.
T-Mobile will be the only operator selling the Galaxy Portal for the next month. If you want a black model, it's exclusive to T-Mobile for the next three months. Sign up to an 18-month combi tariff and you'll get the phone for £70, plus 100 minutes and texts for £13.50 per month. An £18 monthly payment nets you the phone for free, plus 200 minutes and texts.
The Portal runs Android 1.5, but Samsung promises an update is imminent for all Galaxy handsets.