Samsung Galaxy Portal: Another affordable Android phone

The 13.2mm thick Galaxy Portal, also known as the Galaxy Spica outside of the UK (and i5700 if you want to know the actual model number) is an affordable Android phone that sits below the Galaxy, which was released in the autumn of 2009 on O2.

Although customers on other networks can bag the Galaxy Portal in white from February 18th, the black version remains exclusive to T-Mobile for a further two months.

The handset will launch with exclusive embedded content using the Layar (augmented reality) app. This includes the 'Samsung Football Pub Finger' that will show nearby pubs showing football matches - simply by pointing the phone at them.

The phone also has a 3.5mm headphone jack and DNSe 2.0 audio enhancement, for a great multimedia experience. On the back of the phone is a 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera. 3.2 is also the size of the TFT (320x480 pixel) touchscreen display.

With so much on offer to Android users, and the ability to multitask, Samsung has seen fit to include a large 1500mAh battery to ensure it won't fall flat by mid-afternoon.

The Galaxy Portal is available now on a £20 a month, 18-month contract.

Vital Stats

From release, the i5700 will ship with Android OS 1.5. The 3G phone supports HSDPA at 3.6Mbps, but not HSUPA. It also has GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 with microSDHC slot for up to 32GB of storage. It measures 115x57x13.2mm.

More info: www.t-mobile.co.uk