NEWS
Samsung's i7500, the company's first mobile phone to use the Android operating system, will be launched on O2's German network in June, the operator announced on Monday.
Meanwhile, also on Monday, Vodafone Spain made a surprise announcement that it is launching HTC's Magic handset, the second Android phone to reach the market after the T-Mobile G1 (also made by HTC).
Samsung's Android handset combines the Google-led mobile platform with a five-megapixel camera, GPS and a 320x480-pixel, 3.2-inch Active Matrix OLED (Amoled) touchscreen. At 11.9mm thick, it uses a 1500 mAh battery and includes a 3.5mm headphone socket. The HTC Magic has a 320x480 3.2-inch LCD screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera, is 13.6mm thick, has a 1340 mAh battery, but no 3.5mm headphone socket.
Based on current information from manufacturers, the i7500 will be the first non-HTC manufactured Android phone on sale. The device uses a 528MHz Qualcomm chipset and has 8GB of internal memory, with a micro-SD slot for up to 32GB of add-on memory.
The browser included in the i7500 will, according to O2's statement, be "Chrome-Lite". Android's browser has never been explicitly named, but is based on the same WebKit framework as Google's desktop browser, Chrome.
The pricing for O2 Germany's release of the i7500 has not yet been confirmed officially. Contacted on Monday, neither O2 UK nor Samsung itself had any details available on UK release dates or pricing. Vodafone Spain's pricing for the HTC Magic is from €19 to €199 on monthly tariffs from €62 to €21.
Other manufacturers scheduled to bring out Android handsets include Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Acer.
