Samsung i7500. Googletastic

Written By: Martin on July 7, 2009 One Comment

It’s always nice when you get to ignore stuff. So often (far, far, far too often) these days phones are released that have barely anything to distinguish themselves from a hundred other handsets already out there. Phone A might have a megapixel or two more than phone B. Phone B might have a slightly more contrasty screen than phone C. Phone C is endorsed by Jim Carey. But every now and then it’s our privilege to announce a phone with something, well, something new. And the Samsung i7500 is just that, being as it is (pretty much) the first phone to be released featuring Google’s new Operating System, Android.

First, a caveat: we know the Android-packing HTC Magic is already out, but HTC are so niche a manufacturer the vast majority of day-today users out there won’t even have heard of its existence, so we’re happy to claim the i7500 as the first mass market Android phone. And just what’s so good about Android? Well, nothing that, initially seems that remarkable. It just gives you easy, very fast access to everything Google do. So that’s Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Calendar, Google Talk and a whole bunch of other apps via the Android Market. But what is remarkable is just how good all these things are. If you’ve not yet converted to Gmail, or Google Calendar, you might not realise this. But for those who find their lives are pretty much Google-centric, this is pretty darn exciting.

And the Samsung i7500 does a whole bunch of other phone-like things – takes very decent pictures, let’s you plug your 3.5mm headphones in and all that jazz – but frankly, who cares! (Sorry, read this Samsung i7500 review if you do actually care). This is all about Google for us, and we couldn’t be happier that that’s the case. Have a little look at this prototype in action for a hint of what’s to come: