The Android platform is found in an increasingly large number of smartphones, and Samsung has entered into the fray with its first offering, the Galaxy i7500, supplied with a snugly fitting protective slipcase.

The physical design of this smartphone is a little lacklustre and there are a couple of irritating design choices. There is a very large navigation pad which sits beneath the screen. Those who argue that navigation pads are not necessary in touchscreened smartphones will be nonplussed by its presence.

We'd have preferred it if a bit more space could have been given to the Home key instead. This is a small raised lozenge on the right side of the navigation pad. As you'll use it a lot, it could have done with being larger. There is an unlock button on the right edge of the casing. Those who prefer their screen lock to be software-based might find using it tedious, particularly because it seems to take differing lengths of time to unlock the Galaxy. The time lag seems dependent on the number of running applications.

However, looking beyond the chassis things start to improve. The screen measures 3.2-inches across diagonal corners. It is sharp and bright, the AMOLED technology helping in this respect. Its 320 x 480 pixels ensure the detail level is high.

In widescreen mode the QWERTY touch-keyboard is comfortable to use and it is responsive enough to screen taps. The slight haptic feedback really helps in this respect.

There is a 5-megapixel camera which produced fair to middling quality shots. The flash is useful, but some fairly standard features are missing. There is no self-timer, for example, and no panorama shot option. Such things are quite standard in smartphones these days, so their absence is notable. You can use the built-in GPS to geotag photos, as well as using it for navigation via Google Maps and with location-aware services.

We are pleased to see a 3.5mm headset slot on the top edge of the casing, so if you don't get on well with the fairly standard quality supplied headset you can use your own earphones instead. We aren't quite sure why the Galaxy lets out a little jingle when you plug headphones in, though. It is somewhat irritating.

Memory is generous with 8GB of built-in storage. You can bulk this out with a microSD card but here Samsung has made a design error, as the slot is only accessible if you remove the battery.

Samsung has not made the most of its implementation of Android. The operating system is open to being tweaked, but despite its penchant for fancy user interfaces in proprietary handsets, Samsung has decided to keep things fairly vanilla here. So, Android 1.5 looks rather staid in comparison to some other Samsung handsets.

Still, there are three main screens through which you can move with a fingersweep, and you can populate these with widgets and add shortcuts to any applications you use regularly. This includes anything you download from the Android Market. As usual, Google Maps and YouTube are pre-installed. Wi-Fi can be used when you don't want to encroach on your 3G data allowance and Bluetooth is also built in. Go light on the Wi-Fi though, as battery life is on the average side and you'll probably need to replenish daily.

Verdict
There are some irritating aspects to the physical design which detract from the Galaxy i7500, and Android has been left sadly tweak-free. This wouldn't be our Android handset of choice.

Company: Samsung

Contact: 0844 871 2241

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