Android arrives in the Middle East

Samsung have made the first official launch of an Android-powered phone in the Middle East, announcing the I7500 (occasionally known as the Samsung Galaxy) will be available in the UAE and - we guess - across the region.

At Dh2200 ($600), Samsung are certainly pricing this bad boy right at the top of the market, and it will be interesting to see whether they get much traction. Once the market of phone geeks with more money than sense who want to play with Android is tapped out, I'm wondering how many peeps will drop 600 large on something that isn't an iPhone / Nokia / BlackBerry.

Then again, maybe it's awesome and I've got it all wrong. The I7500 / Galaxy has not been out in the wild for long, so there aren't many reviews of it floating around. Generally speaking it has all the features you'd expect (big touch screen, GPS, 5 megapixel cam, Google apps in the operating system), some nice bonuses, like 8 gigs of internal memory.

Read on for a nice long video run-through of the phone, courtesy of Tech 65, and the full specs and press release from Samsung.

PRESS RELEASE ------------------------ Samsung unveils I7500- the first Android powered mobile phone in the Middle East

Samsung sets its leading position in the region's Android market

Middle East, August 26, 2009 - Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a leading mobile phone and telecommunication equipment provider, today unveiled the Samsung I7500, its first Android-powered mobile phone. With a launch of the I7500, Samsung is the first company among the global top three mobile phone manufacturers to unveil an Android-powered phone in the Middle East region.

Mr. Sandeep Saihgal, general manager of mobile phones at Samsung Gulf Electronics commented: "We are pleased to announce that the Samsung I7500 is available in the market. With the launch of I7500, Samsung sets its leading position in the Android, the industry's emerging operating system.

"Samsung is among the earliest members of the Open Handset Alliance and has been actively moving forward to introduce the most innovative Android mobile phone. With Samsung's accumulated technology leadership in mobile phone industry and our consistent strategy to support every existing operating system, I believe that Samsung provides the better choices and benefits to our consumers." Mr. Saihgal continued.

The I7500 is a cutting-edge smartphone, featuring a 3.2" AMOLED full touch screen and 7.2Mbps HSDPA and WiFi connectivity, giving users access to Google™ Mobile services and full web browsing at blazing speeds.

The Samsung I7500 offers users access to the full suite of Google services, including Google Search™, Google Maps™, Gmail™, YouTube™, Google Calendar™, and Google Talk™. The integrated GPS receiver enables the comprehensive use of Google Maps features, such as My Location, Google Latitude, Street View, local search and detailed route description. Hundreds of other applications are available in Android Market. For example, the application Wikitude, a mobile travel guide, allows consumers to access details of unknown sights via location-based Wikipedia articles.

Based on Samsung's proven product leadership, Samsung I7500 comes with latest multimedia features. The large and vivid 3.2"AMOLED display ensures the brilliant representation of multimedia content and enjoyable full touch mobile experience. Along with supporting a 5-megapixel camera and various multimedia codec formats, the I7500 also provides a long enough battery life (1500mAh) and generous memory capacity up to 40GB (Internal memory: 8GB, External memory: Up to 32GB) to enjoy all the applications and multimedia content. The phone also boasts its slim and compact design with mere 11.9mm thickness.

Samsung I7500 is available across major electronics outlets in the Middle East and is retailed at AED 2299.