The Samsung Galaxy Wi-Fi device that we saw at Mobile World Congress has been confirmed to land in the US this spring. Rechristened as the Samsung Galaxy Player 5, a Wi-Fi only personal media player, Samsung’s answer to the iPod Touch is set to launch in the next few months at an unnamed price. A 4-inch Galaxy Player 4 will also be sold.

The Galaxy Player 5 is essentially a Galaxy S device with 3G calling removed and plenty of media features stuffed in its place. The Android 2.2 media player has Touchwiz UI, 5-inch WVGA LCD-screen, Hummingbird 1 GHz processor, Qik video calling through a front-facing camera, Adobe Flash 10.1, HD video playback, and  DLNA playback to larger devices with Samsung AllShare. The Galaxy Player 4 comes with Skype for WiFi audio calling pre-installed; the Galaxy Player 5 is not listed as pre-loaded, but the test model we saw at MWC had it, so end users may be able to install Skype once purchased. Games and apps will be available through the Android Market.

Is there a market for such a device? Microsoft killed the Zune hardware this week in order to focus on Windows Phone 7, and many Android fans are already satisfied with using their Android phones or tablets for their media needs. The Galaxy Player 5 seeks to hit a middle-ground that may not have enough demand.

The Galaxy Player 5 was displayed at MWC with practically no promotion or fanfare. The Samsung booth attendants and marketing reps I spoke to said that the company was just “getting feedback” before deciding whether to launch the media player or dump into R&D purgatory. Specs were likely to change at a moment’s notice and there was no guarantee the device would ever be released unless the company got a good response. The feedback must have been positive because Samsung is primed to release the Galaxy Player 5 and 4 soon. Be sure to read our previous hands-on impressions and watch the video from MWC.

Samsung Galaxy Player 5 specs

• Android 2.2 Froyo (device capable of 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade, but not promised)
• 5″ WVGA TFT LCD screen
• 8 GB of internal storage, 32 GB of external storage supported
• VGA Front-facing camera, 3.2 megapixel rear camera with auto-focus and Flash
• SoundAlive Sound Engine and stereo speaker present
• Qik VoIP calls and videochat available on Wi-Fi
• Video codecs: DivX, Xvid, WMV, MPEG4, H.264
• Audio codecs: MP3, AAC, WMA, Ogg, FLAC
• Samsung AllShare DLNA supported
• Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, Accelerometer, and WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Android Market and Google Mobile apps available

Samsung Galaxy Player 4 specs

• Android 2.2 Froyo (device capable of 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade, but not promised)
• 4″ SuperClear LCD screen
• 8 GB of internal storage, 32 GB of external storage supported
• VGA front-facing camera, 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus
• SoundAlive Sound Engine and stereo speaker present
• Skype pre-loaded for Wi-Fi audio calls, Qik pre-loaded for Wi-fi videochat
• Video codecs: DivX, Xvid, WMV, MPEG4, H.264
• Audio codecs: MP3, AAC, WMA, Ogg, FLAC
• Samsung AllShare DLNA supported
• Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, Accelerometer, and WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Android Market and Google Mobile apps available

Samsung has the Galaxy S line of phones and its Galaxy Tab 10.1 for people who want a Honeycomb tablet. But some people may want to meet in the middle and have a smaller device capable of playing games, reading ebooks, browsing the web, and consuming multimedia. Before buying an iPod Touch, those people should gander at the Samsung Galaxy S Wi-Fi.

Sporting a black, white, and chrome facade, the Galaxy S Wi-Fi is a work-in-progress device that Samsung is showing at MWC 2011. The Galaxy S Wi-Fi, which I will now abbreviate as GSW, has most of the things that make the Galaxy S phones great, but it’s a personal media player only. It has a Hummingbird processor, 5-inch screen (currently LCD but could be upgraded), a 720p-capable camera, a front-facing camera for video chat, and TouchWiz running on Android 2.2.

This is neither phone nor full-fledged tablet. It’s designed to be the ideal personal media player for people looking for another option to balance portability and size. There is no 3G chip present, but Samsung has included Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to allow for Skype calls, VoIP calls, and Qik video chat.

The Samsung exhibitors I spoke with say that specs are likely to change because this device is still in development and they are seeking feedback. Take a quick look at this hands-on video and see if you’ve got anything to tell them.

What a shocker, another company promises tablets running on Android! The twist here is that Archos is one of the few, almost the only, company that has actually make good its promise of delivering one. (Remember the Archos 5?)

Now the French manufacturer has announced that it will continue the tablet game with a stable of Android tablets and media devices set for release, costing as little as $100 on the lower end.

Archos plans to deliver products as small as a personal media player with a 4.3-inch screen, and a tablet with a 10.1-inch screen. Each will run a custom version of Android geared towards consuming media content, playing games, browsing the web, and reading ebooks. Here is more information on each product.

ARCHOS 28 internet tablet

Available in September at 4GB, with a recommended retail price of $99.99.

Designed to be portable media player and described as a “flagship product of the range.” It also supports email, web browsing, games, and more (through Wi-Fi). Includes music, video, and photo apps customized by ARCHOS. Supports several media formats/codecs. It has a 2.8-inch resistive screen and an 800 MHz processor.

ARCHOS 32 internet tablet

Available in September at 8GB, with a recommended retail price of $149.99.

See ARCHOS 28 and imagine larger capacity/features. This version also has a camcorder and easy sharing to networks. It also has a 3.2-inch screen, hence the “32” in the title.
———————–
Each device below supports 1GHz processor, WiFi-n, Adobe Flash 10.1, and Android 2.2.
———————–

ARCHOS 43 internet tablet

Available this fall at 8GB with a recommended retail price of $199.99.

Includes the aforementioned media features and has a 2 megapixel HD camcorder for video recording and taking photos. There’s a 4.3-inch resistive screen.

ARCHOS 70 internet tablet

Available this fall with a recommended retail price of $274.99 (8GB) and $349.99 (250GB).

This one seems more deserving of the tablet moniker. The ARCHOS 70 has a built-in webcam for VGA video calls, WiFi, and supports tethering TO A PHONE via Bluetooth or USB. It has a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen, mini-HDMI, and USB ports.

ARCHOS 101 internet tablet

Available this fall with a recommended retail price of $299.99 (8GB) and $349.99 (16GB).

The Granddaddy of Them All. The 101 features a 10.1-inch screen, Flash 10.1, 720p HD video playback, HDMI TV output, accelerometer and 3D open GL (supports gaming on TV using device as gamepad), a webcam for video calling, Bluetooth or USB tethering TO A PHONE, and support for the AppsLib apps store.

Anyone who had their eyes on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet ought to take a gander at this new set of specs revealed in a leaked firmware obtained by Samsung-Firmware. The leaked build happens to be running Android 2.2, sports a resolution of 480×800, a 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, Swype, GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.

Also present are a 3.1 megapixel rear camera and a 320 x 240 front-facing camera. That’s is slightly disappointing, as are the other specs, given that the Tab was originally thought to have a 1.2 GHz processor, and a higher resolution would have been better for its 7-inch screen. Some argue that the device actually has a higher resolution, so maybe these specs aren’t accurate after all.

Where will the Tab end up? According to Engadget, you could be tapping away on a device tied to Vodafone UK. An anonymous person sent in a screenshot of the Galaxy S appearing in Vodafone’s system on contract, so look out for more information to emerge in coming weeks.

We reported a leak last week about the Archos 32 media player (part of the Gen8 series) and its amazing codec support, hardware specs, and low, low price tag. It looks like a new FCC filing and user guide are making this attractive device closer and closer to reality.

Many of the specs reported still stand; 3.2″ capacitive touch screen, Bluetooth, WiFi, 3.5mm headphone jack, and GPS but we are still unsure if the device will have a camera built in. From the pictures there is a small circle on the back near the headphone jack, but Engadget is apt to point out that it may just be the external speaker. Even more convincing is the fact that the user guide says nothing about a camera. This is sort of disappointing, but one has to remember for a $149.99 price tag, there has to be some features or components cut from the mix. Archos is also planning on making available a 720p-capable HDMI dock but of course, in the classic Archos fashion, they are creating proprietary connectors for data and charging.

Regardless, the Archos 32 looks to be quite compelling and may just replace some “desenter’s” iPods. The fact that you can have your media supported as well as the ability to obtain apps from the Market puts these devices in direct compitetion with Apple’s iPod touch.

Via [Liliputing, Engadget]

Last Friday, Best Buy CTO Ralph Stephens tweeted the image of a tablet with Best Buy’s “Rocketfish” branding. CrunchGear remarked how it looked a lot like the HP Slate, and a few readers have asked if I think the tablet would be a Windows device like the Slate was slated to run, or possibly Android.

Android all the way.

Ben Hedrington, a web strategist for Best Buy, tweeted a link in response to that story revealing that we should “be looking for a little green robot on that Best Buy tablet screen… http://bit.ly/aoepgY #Android” which is pretty much all the proof you need.

Hedrington also posted a link showing that Best Buy employees have been exchanging ideas on a company-produced tablet since February. Though several people saw it as a communication tool for employees, others pitched this as a consumer device. The status of idea was updated to “coming soon” last month, and Hedrington later tweeted that the tablet is designed for consumers and in-store use.

An official BestBuy tablet makes sense since the retailer is launching its own 4G mobile data service called Best Buy Connect (side note: one BB employee actually pitched the tablet as the “Best Buy Connect”). It’s not a bad idea to have a powerful device ready to run on that new service in conjuction with Clearwire, Sprint’s WiMax partner.

Image via Crunchgear

After yesterday’s surprise Android tablet being available at Kmart, it only seems natural to follow it up with another tablet story. The nice thing about this one is that this tablet has better specs and a cleaner look and according to MobiFlip this device will be available later this year.

The Interpad tablet will feature Android 2.2, 1Ghz Tegra 2 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 16GB of internal flash memory, 10-inch capacitive touchscreen, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, USB 2.0, and HDMI-out. Something that has been glossed over is that the Interpad will host a huge 3900mAh battery which could prove to be comparable to the iPad’s stellar battery life. Of course, using all this fancy gear is like a constant battery-suck, so it could end up being average (3-5 hours?). The Interpad will be priced around €399 (around $518) and there may be another higher end model with 3G and camera for €500 (around $649).

Something else of note is that the device mock-up appears to have the Android Market logo on board which is becoming quite perplexing. Google has said that Android tablets will not be able to ship with the Android Market installed but this is the second clue in the last two days where Google may just be changing their mind. If this is the case, Android apps are going to have to be slightly tweaked to support larger screen resolutions which isn’t really that big of a deal.

Anyone out there holding their breath for this bad boy or will it go the way of the Adam?

Via [AndroidGuys]

The Dell Streak ships with Android 1.6 but it won’t be limited to that firmware version forever. Dell has confirmed that it plans to deliver an over-the-air update to Android 2.2 (Froyo) later this year

What Dell doesn’t currently plan on delivering is a version of the Streak compatible with T-Mobile 3G. Though the Streak has been connected with AT&T for some time, many hoped that Dell would also offer a version of the device compatible with T-Mobile. A Dell blog post has put the kibosh on those plans, saying “At this point, we do not have plans for supporting T-Mobile’s 3G network; Dell Streak will not be certified for T-Mobile operation overall.”

The Froyo update “will come later this year.” according to Dell. New colorways for the Streak, namely New Cherry Red, are also on the way. The Dell pre-sale opportunity is open for registration, including accessories. The device will go on sale tomorrow.

[Thanks, Kat]

Something just seems fishy about this one, yet it won’t keep me from calling my local Kmart every hour this week. According to an Engadget tipster, the company Augen is set to release a 7″ Android tablet running Eclair (2.1) this week at Kmart of all places. The tip was found in a Kmart weekly circular for the shockingly low price of $150.

The tablet is supposed to sport 2GB of internal memory, WiFi, and 256MB RAM. What’s really interesting about this is that the Augen tablet is said to include the Android Market. Yeah, like where you can download all the Android apps and run them on a cheap tablet. This seriously sounds too good to be true, but Engadget has contacted Augen and they have said that “the device should be hitting shelves later this week.”

If this story comes to fruition it will be one of two things.

1. This will actually be a cool, cheap tablet device that didn’t get properly marketed. Seriously, who has heard of Augen?
2. This thing will be a cheap hunk of slow garbage.

Personally, I think it’s going to end up the latter, but even so I am crossing my fingers and praying that this thing is legit. Anyone willing to wait in line at Kmart with me until this thing makes its way off the truck?

Via [Engadget] [Examiner.com]

It’s been a weird and somewhat welcomed phenomena with the current surge of larger and larger Android devices. The EVO was the first with a 4.3″ touchscreen that got some people wondering if it was too big. After playing with the device we found that 4.3″ in a sleek design may just be a sweet spot. Then there was the Dell Streak at 5″. Some screamed bloody murder that it was over the top while others accepted its massiveness. Today, we have finally seen the device that is just too big to be a phone but is a phone: the OlivePad.

Coming in with a massive 7″ capacitive 800×480 touchscreen, the OlivePad that is slated for India is just too big to be a phone but supports voice calls. You either have to have a massive head or use a Bluetooth headset (which it supports) to look normal using it. We have hit the point where it isn’t a question anymore of being “too big” or not.

Other than that, the OlivePad has some pretty impressive specs other than the older Qualcomm MSM7227 which is clocked around 600Mhz. It runs on GSM/WCDMA, includes a back 3MP camera, a front-facing camera, 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, USB socket, WiFi, and a 3.5mm jack so you can rock out with your ridiculously large device. The OlivePad runs Android 2.1 and no mention of any updates. It will be priced around Rs.20000 to Rs.25000, which is around $425 to $530. No word if this thing will ever come to the US but there is some talk of Europe possibly receiving it in the future.

So, is this a tablet or a phone? A tablet, right?

Via [Engadget, fonearena]