Coming some seven months after the release of the original Samsung Galaxy S and just a couple of days after the announcement of its successor, the Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung have announced what looks like their answer to the iPod Touch: the Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 Smart Player.
It may look on paper like the original Galaxy S with call-making functionality stripped out, and in most ways it is – but that’s no criticism. As we said in our review of the Galaxy S back in July, the black-as-night Super AMOLED display and crisp audio playback of the original really are stunning – it’s possibly the finest smartphone candidate around to be remodelled as a dedicated PMP.
Like it’s predecessor, the Galaxy S Smart Player runs Android 2.2 FroYo, which brings with it full access to the web and the Android Market over WiFi. This should mean that whichever apps worked on the Galaxy S will work on the Smart Player. However, if what you’re really after is a cut-price Galaxy S smartphone, Samsung have at least partly obliged by confirming that Skype calls over WiFi will be supported.
Our only serious quibble with the device is the exclusion of that gorgeous AMOLED screen, criminally replaced on the Smart Player by a 4-inch LCD display. We’re sure it’ll still make for fine video watching and web browsing, but robbing us of the super-contrast, black-as-the-night AMOLED screen that so charmed us on the Galaxy S on a device now dedicated to media consumption… for shame, Samsung.
The Samsung Galaxy S Smart Player will be out in the second half of the year.
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Posted by Richard Wordsworth
