Samsung overhauls Galaxy range

26th August 2011

Samsung's ever increasing range of Galaxy smartphones is getting a bit difficult to understand, so Samsung have decided to overhaul their naming convention, and at the same time they have previewed four new handsets.

In future, Galaxy models will be named in the following way, from high-end devices down.

• S (Super Smart): Very high-end devices.
• R (Refined): High-end devices.
• W (Wonder): Upper mid-range phones.
• M (Magical): Mid-range phones.
• Y (Young): Entry level smartphones.

In addition, the handset may be a "Pro" (with a QWERTY keyboard), "Plus" (an upgraded version) or "LTE" (for an LTE compatible handset).

We've tried to think up a way of remembering S.R.W.M.Y. but the best we could do was "Samsung Really Wants My Yak".

Samsung have also previewed four new Android handsets using the new naming convention. The Samsung Galaxy W has a 3.7" screen and a 1.4GHz processor, and as the name suggests this is an upper midrange phone that is probably all most people need. The Samsung Galaxy M Pro is a QWERTY equipped messenger with an optical trackpad and enterprise support. Another messaging phone is the Samsung Galaxy Y Pro, an entry level device that is still quite powerful. The final one of the four is the Samsung Galaxy Y which has a 832MHz processor and is aimed towards the lower end of the market.

Remember though that "entry level" is relative when talking about Android devices. Any one of these Galaxy smartphones is likely to be pretty impressive. We don't know when these new Galaxy phones will be out or how much they will cost, but our best guess is that these will be in the shops by Christmas.