For the most part of this year, Rogers used to be the only carrier who had Android phones as part of their line-up. Fortunately though, the whole Android scene in Canada sort of leveled out with Telus joining in on the fun with their HTC Hero and, if this latest bit of news holds true, Bell won’t be far behind. According to Mobilesyrup, Bell will announce their first Android phone offering, the Samsung Galaxy, next week on December 10. The Samsung i7500, as it’s otherwise known, comes with a 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen, 5-megapixel autofocus camera complete with LED flash, WiFi, 3.5mm jack, and supports up to 32GB memory via microSD card. The silver lining with this Samsung Android phone is that it only runs on Android 1.5. It’s not exactly an old ragged version of Android, but with Android 2.0 now official, Android 1.5 is now considered outdated already.
Apart from that small hitch, we’re pretty pleased with its specs. Hopefully, Bell’s pricing for the Samsung Galaxy will be equally enticing as well.
benner says:
The Galaxy only runs Android 1.5. Every forum I can find is full of angry Galaxy owners complaining about their outdated OS on what was supposed to be a flagship phone. Samsung has so far remained silent on the issue despite what appears to be a deluge of emails asking for better support. There is even an online petition by Galaxy users asking for an update to Android 2.0. I, for one, wish I had bought a Hero. Android 1.5 has too many shortcomings and until the phone is updated, cannot recommend buying one. So far, the whole community is relying on a person who calls himself Drakaz to support the phone with his own homebrew updates. If he decides to buy another phone, we will be left with nothing. Seeing as the Bell contract is for 3 years, you may find yourself VERY unhappy with your phone in only a few months when you see what your friends can do with their phones, Many app developers are no longer issuing updates for 1.5. A lot of cool new stuff (Google Goggles) don’t work on 1.5 at all.
tired says:
Well, Rogers HTC phones are ALL stuck on 1.5 as well. I don’t know what is wrong with us. We insist on being behind every other modern and not so modern country in mobile. We are expected to pay some of the highest rates anywhere, and inflated device prices, and then be satisfied with OS’s that are old the day they launch. Then, the carriers refuse to comment. It’s almost as if they themselves don’t know anything about these devices. I don’t get it.