The Samsung Galaxy i7500 is the Korean company’s first stab at an Android handset and it is a mixed bag. The look and feel of the handset is a joy, and while the OS works well, Samsung hasn’t made the most of its own interface. Find out how we got on with the Samsung Galaxy i7500 in our full-on review…
The Samsung Galaxy i7500 has a superb 3.2-inch screen, with AMOLED technology delivering 320 x 480 pixels and superbly bright, sharp and clear imagery is an absolute stunner. We can’t fault the major specifications, either, with Wi-Fi, GPS, an accelerometer, HSDPA, 5-Megapixel camera and Bluetooth all in the mix. And we like the 8GB of built in memory too.
But all is not entirely rosy. The fingerprint magnet chassis is something of a drawback for starters. Motorola has not tweaked the Android interface as HTC did with its Hero, so what you have here are three home screens and a fairly plain looking user interface. No social networking wizardry, no clever own branded widgets to supplement the Android ones. This seems odd given what Samsung does with its own TouchWiz interface.
An unlock button on the right side of the chassis seems to need more or less pressing at different times which is irksome, and the Home button on the front of the chassis is a bit small while masses of room has been given to the D-pad.
There is an odd riff that plays when you remove headphones from the conveniently located 3.5mm slot (on the top of the handset). Oh, and you have to take the battery out to get to the microSD card slot. It’s a whole lot of little niggles, and together they point to a smartphone that is good but not great.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy i7500 has a superb screen, but there are a lot of small niggles that we found irritating in everyday use
Best features
Fabulous screen
5-Megapixel camera
Not so good
Can’t hotswap SD cards
Irritating Hold button
Android apps and look not augmented by Samsung
Closest rivals
Nokia N96
Mobile music fans will dig this Symbian smartphone’s mammoth 16GB onboard memory to stockpile a wealth of tunes and its integrated 3.5mm jack to plug headphones straight in.
HTC Touch Diamond
This Windows Mobile powered touch phone has the multimedia chops to match its stylish design, including a 3.2megapixel camera, built-in GPS and 4GB of internal memory.
Sony Ericsson W980
Sony Ericsson’s flagship music phone is incredibly compact but still manages to feature the latest Walkman music player with dedicated touch controls and 8GB of storage.
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