Samsung's i7500 Android phone shows up in another, more epic hands-on video

Sure, we already got a pretty decent look at Samsung's first Android device -- the i7500 -- just a few short days ago. Tech 65's video, however, gives the phone a much more in depth once-over, and while the software is still not in its final state, it's looking pretty smart over all. If you've forgotten, the quad-band GSM, tri-band 7.2Mbps HSDPA (900/1700/2100MHz) handset boasts a 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 pixel AMOLED touchscreen, WiFi, GPS, a 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of storage with MicroSD expansion for up to 32GB more, and a standard 3.5mm jack. Hit the video after the break, but fair warning: this video does not have any awesome hair metal.

[mitch @ May 10th 2009 10:19PM]

bout time!

[Sébastien @ May 11th 2009 3:27PM]

And... regular MiniUSB charger !!!! Hurray

[Setnev @ May 10th 2009 10:20PM]

Woot! A 3.5MM Jack on an Android phone. Freakin finally!!

[dafrety @ May 10th 2009 10:26PM]

I know. Why couldn't HTC have done this? What has 3.5mm done to them?

[Nirmal @ May 10th 2009 11:41PM]

3.5 mm jack would have screwed a slider's(HTC's) size.More acceptable on a candy bar fullface

[ragetek @ May 11th 2009 12:45AM]

thats bs Nirmal,.. the n97 is a 16mm thin full landscape slider and it HAS 3.5mm...
the first android htc g1 was 17.1mm and they did not add 3.5 mm why? gimme a break... htc was just dumb in not adding it..
But way to go samsung, very promising phone for sure!!

[dark.link.hx @ May 11th 2009 1:05AM]

3.5mm jack Welcome To The Android Family lol

[Shinigami @ May 11th 2009 1:25PM]

Should sound like this:
Another Android phone! Freaking finally!

[a ham sandwich @ May 10th 2009 10:24PM]

now its up to the carriers. adopt this already for the love of god! tmobile's making the rest of you look pathetic!

[Jack @ May 10th 2009 10:32PM]

I love Verizon dearly, but hate them at the same time. Their service is flawless but a little pricey. They have a decent range of phones and a decent price. But, Verizon is restrictive and I don't think they could go open source. Too open, you know? It seems to me Verizon is the creepy old science teacher whose life is only in the classroom whereas T-Mobile is the cool Social Studies teacher who coaches sports.

I want android though! Bleh!

[Bufsabre @ May 10th 2009 10:36PM]

@jack actually verizon said last year that starting this year linuxmobile (thats not android although alot of people try to say theyre the same) would be their platform of choice on mobile phones. although nothing has come from it as of yet, unless you count the krav which is linux based

[Jack @ May 10th 2009 11:08PM]

@bufsabre

Really? I hope they count those phones as normal phones because I'm sure as hell not paying 60 dollars a month extra for data and so I can send pics.

[Game_playa @ May 10th 2009 11:37PM]

Holy shit! MY OLD Social Studies teacher(3 years ago) was the baseball and football coach! And your science teacher description fits perfectly!

[se30chris @ May 10th 2009 10:27PM]

I like what I see.

[~~Tito~~ @ May 10th 2009 10:27PM]

Its going on T-Mobile because of the HSPDA freq.

[JS @ May 10th 2009 10:35PM]

Too bad the resolution isn't even WVGA like the Touch Pro 2 or even VGA like the Diamond. Browsing is going to be a pain on it with the zooming and side scrolling.

[crawdad689 @ May 10th 2009 10:45PM]

The resolution is the same as the iPhone, and it's slightly smaller, so the pixels are more dense. Not to mention it's freakin' AMOLED!!!! :-)

It's gonna be a tough decision, what phone to get next!

[digitallysick @ May 10th 2009 10:47PM]

Loving it so far, please hurry up!

[TareX @ May 10th 2009 10:50PM]

This phone trumps the HTC Magic in every way, but it's still ugly...

Either way, I'm waiting for those G1v2 specs to surface.... looking for a certain T-word...

[Setnev @ May 11th 2009 2:57AM]

The Samsung i7500 gets its looks from a lot of the Samsung slider phones that T-Mobile offers, so seeing this branded T-Mobile is a definite possibility. I smell Samsung Houdini as shown previously in the "leaked T-Mobile roadmap". That roadmap gains more credibility everyday, and if it were true, I have a very tough decision to make when I upgrade my Gen 1 G1. Choosing between the redesigned G1v2, the myTouch 3G, or the i7500 (aka the Houdini) is going to be a tough decision.

[Eric @ May 10th 2009 10:52PM]

The touch response looks really laggy in the video. Is the G1 like that?

[Brazell @ May 10th 2009 11:13PM]

The previewer says it's because of the early software/hardware.

[Jonathan @ May 10th 2009 11:13PM]

Why do Android phones have so many buttons. There is no need for an ok button. There's no need for direction control. Absolutely no need for answer or decline keys. Too many buttons.

[vitriolix @ May 11th 2009 8:07PM]

I like buttons.

[Jonathan @ May 11th 2009 12:15AM]

I don't mind them if they serve a purpose. Here, all the buttons duplicate the functionality of the touchscreen and just make the area under the screen bigger, making the phone look odd (for some) and making the phone uneven sideways for horizontal typing, much like the G1's chin.

Don't put buttons for the sake of putting buttons!

[d889 @ May 11th 2009 1:39AM]

seems like the simple reason of being able to still use the phone without actually the touchscreen ... idk, maybe if you have gloves on or something?

[Setnev @ May 11th 2009 3:18AM]

Android requirements are that the phone at least 5 hardware buttons and a control device such as a analog stick, trackball, D-Pad, etc. Its about redundancy that sets Android phones from the rest of the smartphone market. If the iPhone freezes and locks up to even where the hardware buttons dont work, you have to let the battery die before you can use it again (yes fanboys, it does happen, and it happens to both the EDGE and 3G model, my parents have both and its an issue). Every phone needs buttons and when/if the touchscreen fails to respond (and that's on any device), you'll be thanking yourself for those hardware buttons. Now as far as my G1 goes, the most commonly used buttons are the Menu, Home, Back and End button. The touch screen cannot emulate those keys for what they are used for. The touch screen cannot be used to unlock the phone, wake the LCD, or bring up App Menu while in an App (Menu Button function), the LCD cannot turn off the backlight, end a call, or lock the phone(End button function), the LCD cannot return to a previous screen or back out of an application(Back Button), and the LCD cannot return you to your desktop(Home Key). The only key i could not see a use for is the Send Key which i rarely use.

[HereAndNow @ May 11th 2009 4:50AM]

@Setnev

"Android requirements are that the phone at least 5 hardware buttons..."

I'm sure Android could be modified to use "soft" buttons on the touchscreen. As for the trackball, it may be nice to have, but you can still navigate without it.

As smartphone vendors become more savvy with Android, I suspect we'll see more hardware variations than we see today.

[Jonathan @ May 11th 2009 9:00AM]

Well thank you SetNev for elaborating.

[chefgon_ign @ May 11th 2009 9:13AM]

I agree that the "Send" key is pretty useless, but I like all the other buttons. The "End" key is really just a standby button. I suppose it also hangs up phone calls, but that's a secondary feature for it since you'll use it to lock the phone about a hundred times more often. Having a hardware "Back" button is extremely useful, and the "Home" button is necessary so you don't have to hit "Back" a hundred times to get to the home screen. The Menu button is just required for android, every program expects it to be there to pull up the options.

Trackball or D-Pad are not absolutely required, but I find them extremely helpful for web browsing. If you're on a page with really small links that you can't hit with your thumb, you can really quickly pick one with the trackball instead of going through the hassle of zooming in until they're big enough.

[iDavey @ May 11th 2009 4:20PM]

Has anyone forgotten about the Huawei Android phone....
How will that one function, unless there are some hidden buttons somewhere...

[vitriolix @ May 11th 2009 8:09PM]

Having used the G1 for 6 months since launch, I can say that having the trackball for selecting links on web pages, quick selection of text to copy paste, and even scrolling while reading emails is awesome. I almost never use my finger on the screen for those interactions.

[iKurt 5D @ May 10th 2009 11:17PM]

The OSX on the iPhone is actually more responsive. The design of the Samsung is not refined as the iPhone, so I'm pretty sure that this will not be better than the iPhone... it doesn't have as many apps available for the iPhone either.

[TareX @ May 10th 2009 11:26PM]

As an Android enthusiast, I have to agree. There is no point in buying a full touchscreen device (other than the Touch HD) if it's not an iPhone.... and that's even before the new iPhone is revealed this summer.

The real iPhone killer will be a qwerty Android with a Tegra chipset inside... unless Apple adopts a low power chip more impressive than Tegra (which I don't see happening).

[cedrikfd @ May 10th 2009 11:35PM]

When the iPhone came out, there was no apps at all. Android is relatively new.

That being said, Canada please??
On Fido (no chances though, "no frills"...) or Rogers (would prefer Fido ALL THE WAY, but would probably switch over to Rogers for that phone or get one and unlock it).

[Phineas J. Whoopie @ May 10th 2009 11:47PM]

Well, the point of buying a non-iPhone, even one without a keyboard, is to avoid having your digital life ruled by what the man in the mock-turtleneck thinks is best for you.

Some of us prefer open-source and background apps and MMS and seamless free email and contact syncing over DRM-laced music tracks and non-replaceable batteries and no expansion slots and someone's pay-per-view vision of iLife.

And guess what....competition is actually a good thing. The next iPhone that bearded, unwashed college students sleep in line for will actually be better off because of Android.

[rcarm @ May 10th 2009 11:18PM]

There's always no awesome hair metal. =(

[joe @ May 10th 2009 11:49PM]

THANK YOU SAMSUNG! THANK YOU TMOBILE!! WOW!!!!

[wolverinejoe80 @ May 10th 2009 11:50PM]

i'm due upgrade, so i guess i'll wait till this comes out! this is exactly what i need! thank god i didn't buy G1!

[oakie @ May 10th 2009 11:56PM]

my only wish is a slide out keyboard. other than that, this looks to be my first android purchase to keep. the htc designs are just way too fugly. let's hurry up and kick this thing out into the wild, t-mobile.

[digitallysick @ May 10th 2009 11:58PM]

iKurt 5D is an unsuccessful troll, im waiting for engadget to block his whole ip range It would be worth it

[AlDeezy @ May 11th 2009 12:05AM]

I am really liking this phone, att need to jump on the android bandwagon, or I'll have to jump back on to t-mobile's ship.

[ddub @ May 11th 2009 12:31AM]

my 2 cents.

a step in the right direction but hasn't peaked my interest nearly as much as Palm's new OS. I haven't had the best experience with samsung phones. I've never had anyone ever mention android to me. In any conversation. It's just not a draw in my peer group. But hey there's still time to impress.

[helfrez @ May 11th 2009 1:59AM]

Is it too much to ask for SOMEONE to release a damn Android phone with ATT 3G frequency. I am getting tired of waiting on the mythical device. I said I would never own an Iphone, but all of the blackberry offering on att are piss poor EDGE, except for the defunct Bold, so I may end up gritting my teeth and biting the bullet. I really want an Android device, but it appear that I'll have time for another 2yr cycle before an Android ATT 3g compatible device hits a shelf. Anyone seen specs on a device with the right freqs anywhere? It could pick up one of these TMo units unlocked, but it just feels silly buying a "smartphone" with only EDGE speed in 2009.

[nick @ May 11th 2009 2:44AM]

The obvious solution is to switch service providers. Thats what the execs at T-mobile had in mind by being the exclusive carrier of android phones.

[AlDeezy @ May 11th 2009 7:22AM]

At&t is not part of the Open Handset alliance, you'll have to switch to either T-mobile or Sprint.

[jonshipman @ May 11th 2009 9:32AM]

And T-Mobile roams on at&t so for at least edge coverage the two will be the same.

[Sven @ May 11th 2009 2:02AM]

how adorable

[nick @ May 11th 2009 2:42AM]

The phone looks pretty big to me. I keep Waiting for a full qwerty to slide out but it never comes.

[darkmax @ May 11th 2009 3:02AM]

Samsung is now putting the 5mpx camera as the minimum on its phone? About time.