Samsung Galaxy Portal lands in the UK
It's taken its time getting here, but Samsung's cut-price follow up to the i7500 has finally been released in the UK courtesy of T-Mobile.
Samsung has launched the Android-powered i5700 Galaxy Portal smartphone in the UK.
The Galaxy Portal is already on sale elsewhere in Europe as the Spica, and is a more affordable alternative to Samsung's first Android phone, the Galaxy i7500, which was launched in September.
The candybar-style i5700 is slightly chunkier than the i7500 at 13.2mm thick, but otherwise looks all but identical to its more illustrious stablemate.
It's powered by an 800MHz processor and features a 3.2in capacitive TFT with a 320x480-pixel resolution. A 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus is also on board, and there's assisted GPS, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot supporting cards of up to 16GB.
High-speed HSDPA internet is present and correct, while networking is taken care of by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the USB 2.0 connector.
The new arrival may come with Android on board, but until Samsung rolls out an update it's only version 1.5 a by-product of the fact that the Portal isn't a new handset, even if it is to these shores.
Along with the associated Google software on board, you also get the Layar augmented reality app for a visual guide to your surroundings and Samsung Football Pub Finder, which gives you info on venues in your vicinity showing live football.
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Samsung claims battery life of 650 hours on standby and 11 and a half hours of talktime.
The Galaxy Portal is available in black and white, and is exclusive to T-Mobile until mid-February though the black version will stay exclusive for a further two months after that. The cheapest deals to get the handset free start at 18 per month over 18 months, which gives you 200 minutes and texts a month.
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