Review: Samsung Galaxy i7500
There is a nice ‘caps lock’ feature on the QWERTY keyboard which involves a small green light on the shift key when you double tap it
There is a nice ‘caps lock’ feature on the QWERTY keyboard which involves a small green light on the shift key when you double tap it. it is simple, neat, and useful. And we also like the little smiley icon on the space bar row. In wide screen mode the keyboard is large enough for typing comfortably.
The camera shoots stills at 5 megapixels and has a light which helps if you are fairly close to your subject in lower light conditions. In general we found shots to be reasonably good. A little thumbnail of the last taken photo in the corner of the screen is nice though it doesn’t serve much of a purpose. The built in GPS can be used to geotag photos.
Mains power and PC connection is catered for via a microUSB connector. This will irk if you are used to using miniUSB for these, but over time devices are likely to standardise on microUSB. There is a 3.5mm headset jack on the top edge.
The provided one-piece headset is reasonably good, but it is easy to substitute it for your favourite. Why on earth the handset trills when you remove a headset is a (very annoying) mystery to us.
With a generous 8GB of built in memory and a microSD card slot for adding more, storage shouldn’t be a problem. It is a shame you have to remove the battery to get to the microSD card slot, though.
Android 1.5 was installed on our review sample, and it is the basic version rather than the tweaked one you get with the HTC Hero. This means things like three main screens instead of seven, and, in our book, a certain lack of panache to the look of things.
But the Android goodies are all here such as the ability to place widgets on the three home screens, easy Google Mail setup, Google Maps, YouTube, and the Android Market. The Web browser is great, and with 3G and Wi-Fi both here you can use it both on and off the network. Bluetooth is here too, of course.
There is a lot to really like about the I7500. It doesn’t have much that’s unique on either the hardware or software fronts, but its larger and sharp screen is a real plus point.
Price: contract only
Web: www.samsungmobile.com
Essential Verdict
Performance: 7/10
Design: 7/10
Features: 6/10
Value for Money: 6/10
Overall score: 6/10
Written by Sandra Vogel. Originally published in Smartphone Essentials.
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I love this phone. I use it for over a month and would not change it to anything other…. until it would not be Android based as well
Version 1.5?? Even the G1 has 1.6 over T-Mobile now. That’s a strange choice. A co-worker showed me the Droid and that is now, in my mind, the standard by which other Android phones will be measured. No search button? Less than version 2.0 (try a voice search like “Navigate to 123 Main Street…” on it!)? I’ve made a personal decision to shy away from any phone without a QWERTY keyboard, too – I really, really don’t like the virtual keyboard.
There is no mention which processor this phone uses unless I skimmed right over it. How does it rank in speed with the current Android phone releases? What is the battery rating? Anything much lower than ~1400 mAh will usually mean recharging the battery at least once a day under normal usage. Any news on what carriers are contracting for the phone?
The USB connection I can live with, having the standard earphone jack is a great plus (compared to my G1), and that is some tremendous built-in memory. Very good that it includes a light for the camera as well and a good choice on the screen technology.
Anyway, some good observations on the phone.