Samsung Galaxy Chat coming soon with Qwerty, ICS

Samsung has a new phone aimed at satisfying avid texters -- the Galaxy Chat looks like a BlackBerry, but it's powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Chat, which recently leaked under the GT-B5330 moniker, has a 3-inch touchscreen and a full Qwerty keyboard, ideally making it easier to rattle off missives to your mates.

To aid you in your social endeavours, the Galaxy Chat comes pre-loaded with ChatOn, which is Samsung's own-brand instant messaging app, and lets you fire off messages to other people using ChatOn, regardless of the phone or operating system they're using. Handy stuff.

Don't expect this phone to blow your socks off in the performance department, as the Chat's processor is clocked at a mere 850MHz. The screen resolution is also very low at 240x320 pixels.

In other words, the Chat may serve for keeping in touch and sending messages, but I can't see it excelling in terms of web browsing, watching video or playing games -- despite the Android 4.0 software that's on board.

There's a 2-megapixel camera placed upon the Galaxy Chat's rump, and the phone is 11.7mm thick, weighing 112g. It's not nearly as slim or massive, but in terms of style the Chat has definitely been raiding the Samsung Galaxy S3's cupboard.

The Chat comes out in Spain this month, with the rest of Europe to follow. No UK pricing or dates have been mentioned, but I'll let you know as soon as I hear something.

Would you sacrifice a large screen for a physical keyboard? Tell me in the comments or on our Facebook wall.