The Galaxy Portal isn't the latest Stargate spin-off, it's Samsung's new Android phone. Here is the first picture of the phone, available now from T-Mobile.
We're glad the Galaxy Portal gets a proper name -- Galaxy Spica if you're foreign -- because it's also called the i5700. That's a reversal of the last Android phone the company made, the Samsung Galaxy i7500, which could get confusing.
The Galaxy Portal is a quad-band phone packing HSDPA, GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. There's 180MB of internal memory and a 1GB microSD card in the box. Samsung claims a very specific 5 hours and 5 minutes of talk time.
The handset is a mere 13.2mm thick, with a 81mm (3.2-inch) screen and 3.5mm headphone jack for your choons. There's a 3.2-megapixel camera, and video support for MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV, and DivX.
Augmented-reality browser Layar is built-in, allowing you to point the phone at the world around you and see information overlaid on the image on your screen. Samsung has created a handy Layar layer that helps you find pubs showing the football match you want to watch. Incidentally, over in iPhone world, Layar is still mysteriously missing from the iTunes App Store.
T-Mobile will be the only operator selling the Galaxy Portal for the next month. If you want a black model, it's exclusive to T-Mobile for the next three months. Sign up to an 18-month combi tariff and you'll get the phone for £70, plus 100 minutes and texts for £13.50 per month. An £18 monthly payment nets you the phone for free, plus 200 minutes and texts.
The Portal runs Android 1.5, but Samsung promises an update is imminent for all Galaxy handsets.
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Comments 11
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suzzz1 20 July, 2010 16:21
To save contacts to sim download app from android market......called....contact2sim....hope that helps.
Does anyone know of upgrade to android 2.1 yet?????
suzzz1 20 July, 2010 16:23
To save any tune as ringtone....dowload app called....tonepicker.......it allows any downloaded tune to be used......
Anonymous 2 August, 2010 19:04
how do i log out of my facebook on this fone? help mee pleaseee :( :(
Anonymous 13 August, 2010 10:02
press the back arrow and then menu for the option to log out change settings ect
Anonymous 16 August, 2010 12:33
i have this phone... i can't use earphones when I make calls and i5700 mic as my microphone... even my old Nokia E63 can do that... frustrating...
Anonymous 8 November, 2010 17:35
how can I get the keyboard up to delete my messages when I call my voicemail ?
Anonymous 17 November, 2010 12:55
its a good phone
Anonymous 6 December, 2010 10:59
It's perfect
Anonymous 11 February, 2011 22:44
pretty good phone, just hope samsung will release an upgrade for froyo 2.2
Anonymous 6 March, 2011 10:53
Can someone please help I can't download apps from the market it just gives me a notification that says download failed.
anonymous 27 March, 2012 20:00
I have been told I can have a l
ead to connect to my pc as no landline in my house, 5 days later still casnt download samsung kies and cant get any internet on home pc. FED UP