Samsung Galaxy Chat: QWERTY packing Android handset rubs salt into RIM's wounds
RIM are ditching their trademark QWERTY keyboards for the first batch of BlackBerry 10 handsets, and Samsung seem to now see that as a gap in the market. How does a candy-bar shaped Android 4.0 handset with a full QWERTY, nestled among the big boys of Samsung’s Galaxy range sound to you?
That’s exactly what the Samsung Galaxy Chat looks set to be. As well as having a 3-inch touchscreen at the top, there’s a hardware keyboard popped just under the screen. Samsung’s proprietary ChatOn messaging app comes pre-loaded, and with Samsung’s Game Hub highlighted in the press release, the teen market seems to be the marketing focus here. If you’re looking to get some work done though, QuickOffice is also pre-installed if they’ve got to get some homework done too.
Measuring just 59.3 x 118.9 x 11.7mm and weighing 112g, it’s a slight little thing, with a 1,200mAh battery serving up 300 minutes of 3G talk time and 380 hours of standby.
Looking more closely at the specs, the phone sports an 850MHz processor, which we’re concerned may not give the smoothest Android Ice Cream Sandwich experience. On the rear is a 2MP camera (no front facing one), while Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G of expandable storage (with as much as an extra 32GB with microSD), an accelerometer and USB 2.0 supported too.
Hitting Spain first this July, a full European roll-out will follow shortly afterwards. Pricing and carriers have yet to be announced.
