Following yesterday's news that O2 Germany plans to release the Samsung I7500 Google Android smartphone, the German carrier officially announced the Samsung i7500 today.
In addition to the form factor and design with mere 11.9 mm thickness, it primarily stands out by its simple and intuitive use. The Samsung I7500 combines an expandable Android platform with first-class equipment including quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE at 850/900/1800/1900 MHz as well as triband UMTS/HSDPA 7.2 Mbps/HSUPA 5.76 Mbps at 900/1700/2100 MHz, a brilliant 3.2" touchscreen display and a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and GPS.

"The Samsung I7500 offers our customers the best internet experience based on the Android platform provided by Google", says Lutz Schüler, Managing Director Marketing and Sales for Telefónica O2 Germany. "The Samsung I7500 kicks off a series of exciting devices for the mobile web which we will launch in the next couple of months. There is something for everyone: from beginners to heavy users. And, we put our focus on strong brands, simple use and design."

Classic applications from the PC world can be comfortably accessed by one click on the big touch screen when users are on the move. Thanks to the open platform of the Google operating system, users are able to optimally customize the device to their own requirements. A variety of applications and services is available in the Android market. The contact to friends is guaranteed by integrated and freely available Web 2.0 applications like Facebook, Flickr and Instant Messaging. Customers are always up to date anywhere they go due to the automatic synchronization of emails, contacts and appointments of Google accounts. All other popular email accounts can also be accessed.
The integrated GPS receiver enables the comprehensive use of Google Maps: local positioning, detailed route description and simple navigation. The application Wikitude available in the Android market allows customers to access details of unknown sights via photos on the web. The combination of a camera, GPS and an web browser turns into a personal and interactive guide.

As the first Android mobile phone, the Samsung I7500 offers a 5 megapixel camera with LED Flash. The big 3.2" AMOLED display ensures the brilliant representation of photos and videos and reduces the battery power due to the energy-saving technology. The battery has generous dimensions (1500 mAh) and ensures that users enjoy long calls and access to the web. The device also includes WLAN (802.11 b/g) and Bluetooth 2.0. Supporting various multimedia codec formats the I7500 is a multimedia all-rounder. With ist memory capacity of up to 40 GB it offers enough space for pictures, music and videos.

The Samsung I7500 is the first Android mobile phone provided by a leading brand manufacturer and will be exclusively available from O2 as of June 2009 in all O2 Shops, the specialized trade or on the internet from June 2009. The device can be combined with all tariffs and data packages.

UPDATE: Also Samsung just sent out its press release without giving any further information except that the Samsung I7500 will be available in major European countries from June, 2009. No word yet about a possible North American launch, even if the I7500 supports T-Mobile U.S. UMTS frequency.

Cheers ~ Arne