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Samsung Galaxy i7500 is the first mobile phone that the South Korean handset maker released to the market with the Google Android operating system installed on it. The handset is a rather attractive one, and voices around the Web point out that it is the best Android-powered device available on the market until the HTC Hero will arrive.

One of the first carriers around the world to release the handset is Bouygues Telecom, which put it on sale starting yesterday with a price tag of €89 ($125) upon the signing of a two-year contract agreement and after a €50 Web discount. Those who would like to purchase the handset free of contract will be able to do so as well, yet they will have to pay €429 ($605) for the phone.
Currently, the Samsung Galaxy is the third mobile phone to reach the shelves running under the Android operating system, and is the only such device from the South Korean phone maker. The company has been already rumored to plan releasing other Android phones in the near future, including a Samsung InstinctQ.

The Galaxy i7500, in case some of you might have forgotten, comes to the market with a 3.2-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display that boasts a 320 x 480-pixel resolution and support for 16 million colors, as well as a 5-megapixel photo snapper, 8GB of internal storage space, Wi-Fi, an HSDPA connectivity, a GPS receiver, and others more.
Another Samsung handset that could come to the market with Android is the SGH-T939 Behold2, which has been recently approved by the WiFi Alliance, and that is now suggested to run under Android while heading straight towards T-Mobile's lineup. There are no further details on the device, it seems, yet it shouldn't be too long before it will surface into the wild. However, until that happens, you can go for the Galaxy, which can be seen at Bouygues Telecom here.

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung announced not too long ago a new device that would be added to its Windows Mobile-powered device lineup, while also being included in its Omnia series, namely the Samsung Omnia II. The new handset comes to the market as the successor of one of the best selling, touch-enabled mobile phones running under Microsoft's operating system, the original Samsung Omnia smartphone.

As anyone can easily imagine, the new device comes with a wide range of improvements over the previous version, not only in what the hardware it packs inside is concerned, but on the software side as well. For starters, we should mention the Windows Mobile 6.1 platform that will come on the device, but that will be upgraded to the future flavor of the OS, 6.5, which is expected to land on the market sometimes in September this year.

The new mobile phone also includes an ARM 1176-based S3C6410 mobile application processor at 667 MHz, along with quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, tri-band UMTS/HSPA (900/1900/2100MHz) with HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps, and HSUPA up to 5.76 Mbps connectivity options, as well as WiFi b/g and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR.
The Samsung Omnia II also sports a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen display that boasts a 480 x 800-pixel resolution and the Advanced R-type tactile feedback feature, as well as aGPS capabilities and an FM radio with RDS. A 5-megapixel CMOS auto focus photo snapper is also present in the package,

offering users the possibility to record videos at 30 fps with up to a 720x480-pixel resolution. The camera also comes with geo-tagging, face detection, smile shot and dual power LED, and is coupled with a secondary front-facing camera that enables video calls.
The Samsung Omnia II measures 118 x 60 x 11.9 mm, though we should admit that the design is a rather attractive one. The phone includes 2, 8, or 16 GB of internal memory, as well as a microSD memory card slot for additional storage space. The device should land on the market sometimes towards the end of the summer – beginning of fall, but, until you will be able to grab it from a store near you, check on the entire photo gallery available here.

Samsung Galaxy i7500 is the first Android phone to come from another mobile phone maker than the Taiwan-based HTC, and it seems that the device is able to impress a lot, as the hype around its recent launch in France and Germany was quite high. According to the latest news around the Web, the phone is also heading towards Italy, and some images with the Italian version have already emerged into the wild, it seems.

The handset, as many of you might already know, comes to the market with an AMOLED touchscreen display that boasts a 320 x 480-pixel resolution, while also including a 5-megapixel photo snapper, as well as Wi-Fi and HSDPA connectivity, not to mention the GPS receiver it packs inside. The specs of the device also show the Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, the USB 2.0, 3,5 mm jack, 8GB of internal memory space and a microSD memory card slot for additional storage space, a 1500 mAh battery, and the Android 1.5 Cupcake operating system.
Compared with the first two Android devices on the market, the HTC Dream and HTC Magic, the new Samsung Galaxy i7500 seems to be the king of the hill, though it'll face a powerful competition from the HTC Hero when the handset will also come to the Italian market. However, until that happens, we should note that the Samsung Galaxy i7500 is expected to sport a price tag of 399 Euros outright at the local service provider Wind.
At the same time, you might also want to check on the videos below to see how the phone gets unboxed and how the software it bears looks like. One thing that strikes with the Samsung Galaxy is that it doesn't seems to feature the “Google Experience” that we all know to be available with other Android-powered devices. According to Engadget, this means that the phone won't have the firmware updates sent to it over-the-air, and that users will need to perform the updates via a USB cable.
One way or the other, the device still looks great, and those that would like to learn more about the upcoming Italian launch should head here.

It's always nice to hear what mobile phone makers plan to bring to the market in the future, so as to prepare ourselves to make upgrades for our existing handsets, or to switch to another manufacturer, leaving the brand that we are already using aside. And when it comes to choosing a better device, it seems that one great option in the not-too-distant-future will be LG Electronics, a company that recently announced plans to climb up to the second position on the handset market by 2012.

Given the fact that Samsung is the one that currently holds the top 2 place, LG will have to face the maker in its endeavor, which means that we're about to witness a battle between South Korean mobile phone vendors. Gearing up for the war, LG puts on the table some of the weapons it plans to use, and announces that a “Black Label” phone is coming our way this year, and that the device will be able to compete against the mighty iPhone easily.
This is the first time the company announces such a device, and the turn of events will be rather interesting to witness, though we should mention that others have also claimed to be able to take the iPhone down, unsuccessfully. In addition to this Q4 launch, LG Electronics is also readying a third iteration of its Prada device, yet no word on its availability has been said so far. Undoubtedly, if the company is set to gain one position in the top during the following two and a half years, the device will come soon enough to make a stand on the market.
The smartphone area seems to be another point of interest for the South Korean company, and we'll see new Windows Mobile and Android phones released into the wild, some of which will probably come before the end of the ongoing year. Moreover, it seems that the maker is also determined to move to the ultra-high-end market, and a future premium line of handsets will help it do so. Phones “similar to Toyota’s Lexus and Nokia’s Vertu” will be included in the lineup, though it is rather uncertain whether these device will prove of real help for LG.
Of course, one would easily say that the company is fooling itself when saying that it will manage to take Samsung's position, yet we should consider the possibility that a really great LG phone will hit the market soon. And if users are knocked down by this device's performance, looks and price, then everything is possible. For sure, Samsung won't sit with it hands crossed and will release competitive solutions too, so competition will become tighter for LG, all for the benefit of users, we hope.