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Incoming: Samsung Galaxy Chat combines QWERTY keyboard with Android 4.0
BlackBerry users looking to shift platforms might want to check this out: Samsung just announced the Galaxy Chat, a smartphone that features a relatively rare combination of a full QWERTY keyboard (to satisfy the aforementioned BB users) and Android 4.0 to ensure an updated smartphone experience.
Despite the updated Ice Cream Sandwich OS, it’s still primarily designed to be a messaging phone. Unlike recent Android 4.0 smartphones, the Galaxy Chat features a comparatively small 3-inch touchscreen display with a QVGA (320 x 240) resolution.
The rest of the phone’s components point to a smartphone that targets the entry-level / budget market, with 4GB of internal storage (plus a microSD slot for expansion), a 2-megapixel rear camera, and a 1200mAh battery. Again, it’s not something you’re going to want to go for if you’re looking for a mobile game machine, but if the “Chat” part of its name appeals to you, this phone should make for a fairly cheap way to get your Android 4.0 kicks.
By the way, the phone also features a ChatON messaging app – basically Samsung’s version of BBM – that can be enabled with a dedicated button.
Pricing hasn’t been announced, but the Galaxy Chat is due out first in Spain later this month, followed by Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, China, Southeast Asia, and Southwest Asia.
