Disqus
Two days ago we saw a leaked image of an unannounced Samsung device called the “GT-B5330″ hit the internet. Today it’s been made official. Say hello to the Galaxy Chat. It’s an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich device with a physical QWERTY keyboard, a 2 megapixel camera, and a ridiculously depressing 3 inch screen that pushes the now obsolete resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. Other specs of note: there’s quadband EDGE in here, so you can get online regardless of which country you’re in, and there’s also dualband (900/2100 MHz) 7.2 megabit 3G connectivity. WiFi b/g/n is onboard, along with Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, and even Glonass support. The 1,200 mAh battery is supposed to provide you with 5 hours of talk time and 15 days of standby time, assuming you’re connected to a 3G network. As for when this thing will hit the market, you’ll see it in Spain this month, then it’ll slowly trickle out to Europe and Asia. Price? No idea, but we would be shocked to see it for more than 150 EUR.
Should you buy it? That’s a tough question to answer. We have no idea what Android 4.0 looks like on a QVGA screen, and we’re not exactly sure we want to know either. If this thing was HVGA then maybe we’d say it’s a great budget device, but man, Samsung is making it hard for us to recommend the chat. If you need an Android phone with a QWERTY keyboard, then there’s sadly not a lot of choice out there. If you think you can live without being able to type your heart out, then you should check out the Galaxy Mini II. It goes for around 150 EUR in Germany, and while it does run Android 2.3, it has a larger 3.2 inch screen that pushes more pixels, and there’s also a better camera
Watch this space, Samsung likes to refresh their budget portfolio in the summer.
About The Author
Stefan Constantinescu
Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.
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Ajit Singh
