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Samsung goes big with 5.8-inch Galaxy Player

Ahead of the IFA show, the company upsizes its Android device for playing music, video, and games. It's edging closer toward Nexus 7 mini-tablet territory.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
Stephen Shankland
Samsung's Galaxy Player 5.8
Samsung's Galaxy Player 5.8 Samsung

A big screen may be awkward for a phone you hold up to your ear, but it's nice for movies and games -- which likely is why Samsung announced a bigger new 5.8-inch model of its Galaxy Player line.

The company offers smaller versions -- for example, its $200 Galaxy Player 5.0 with an 800x480 screen. The 5.8-inch version, though, features a higher-resolution 960x540 screen, a 16:9 aspect ratio.

The announcement arrived just before the IFA consumer-electronics conference in Berlin, where Samsung will hold a press conference Wednesday. It's not clear how much the 5.8-inch model will cost or when it'll arrive.

Anybody in the market for an Android gadget today should be aware that $200 today also will get you the highly regarded Google Nexus 7 tablet, a notch bigger and less pocketable but with a 1280x800 screen. The Nexus 7 only comes with 8GB or 16GB of memory, though, where the Galaxy Player 5.8 gets 16GB or 32GB.

Other specs in Samsung's new device include a Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, 2,500mAh battery, a microSD card, 802.11b/g/n wireless networking, GPS support, a front-facing videocamera, and a built-in education portal with multimedia material such as lectures.

Via 9to5Google

The new Samsung Galaxy Player 5.8 is a notch larger than phones but a notch smaller than the Nexus 7 tablet.
The new Samsung Galaxy Player 5.8 is a notch larger than phones but a notch smaller than the Nexus 7 tablet. Samsung