Available
now 17th
June 2010
The Samsung Galaxy 3 (or Galaxy Apollo)
is a midrange Android smartphone, designed to be cheaper than high-end
handsets, while still retaining enough features to make it
desirable.
There are two slightly different models here - the
Galaxy 3 I5800 is the one that most consumers will see worldwide,
the Galaxy Apollo I5801 variant will initially be available exclusively
on the Orange network and it comes with a variety of coloured cases.
A fairly conventional looking design, the I5800
comes with a 3.2" 240 x 400 pixel touchscreen, a 3 megapixel
camera, 3.5G support, GPS, WiFi, an FM radio, 3.5mm audio socket,
Bluetooth and microSD expandable memory (with a 1GB card included
in the standard sales package).
The
camera isn't particularly high resolution, but it does have autofocus
and includes Samsung's usual trickery of panoramic stitching, smile
detection, continuous shooting and many other features which should
make it fun to use. On the other hand, the video capture rate of
320 x 240 pixels and 15 frames per second is a bit useless.
This is an Android 2.1 handset, so it can do pretty
much everything that other comparable Android handsets can do. In
addition, Samsung have added their TouchWiz interface and something
called the Social Hub which integrates social networking
sites. Also, the Galaxy 3 and Apollo can play back DivX movies in
addition to all standard multimedia files.
The very large 1500 mAh battery can power the I5800
for up to 7 hours talktime and 21 days standby time on 3G which
is impressive. On 2G the talktime is an astonishing 15 hours, but
not many people will want to run this 3.5G phone in 2G mode.
The Samsung Galaxy 3 is due to be available from
July onwards in Europe and Asia, the Galaxy Apollo should be available
at about the same time. Samsung didn't give any guidance on pricing,
but our best bet is that the I5800 and I5801 should retail for about
€250 SIM-free including taxes.
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