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Samsung is poised to make a huge splash in the smartphone market this summer with the Galaxy S. The international rollout is already under way across Europe and we should see a few other announcements from other U.S. service providers similar to this week’s AT&T Captivate.
But while the Samsung Galaxy S is aimed as a direct competitor to Apple’s upcoming iPhone 4, it looks like Samsung is hard at work to bring an Android competitor to BlackBerry’s doorstep. Rumors are floating around which seem to indicate that the yet unannounced Samsung Galaxy Q is in the works and will be directly targeted towards BlackBerry users in the U.S. market.
While many Android users don’t consider BlackBerry phones to be in the same category as their all-capable smartphones, BlackBerry has been dominating the smatphone market in the U.S. for quite a few years. The iPhone may be what the media talks about all the time, but it’s hard to find any carrier in the U.S. that does not offer 3-4 different BlackBerry devices.
HTC’s leaked handset lineup from last December hinted that the HTC Salsa could have been the first Android phone with a front facing keyboard. Unfortunately, it’s been nearly six months since we got a speak peak at the phone and it’s specs and will still have no indication that HTC will actually be launching the Salsa.
Motorola’s recently announced FLIPOUT almost fits the bill, but the inclusion of MotoBLUR and the swivel mechanism will most likely deter most BlackBerry users from converting over to Android.
We have no indication of what the Samsung Galaxy Q will actually look like at this point. The hope is that the design and functionality of the handset will be enough to entice BlackBerry users over to the Android platform. Maybe we will learn more June 29th.
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Comment RSS6 Comments
I really don’t think a front facing keyboard is what will bring this handset or any or handset to RIM’s door. The one thing that will make Android a viable alternative to Blackberry is native exchange support!!
TEAM BLACKBERRY! Sorry, I think Samsung should be boycott. XD
This phone will be stuck on 2.2 while the rest of the world gets 5.0.
Friend of mine is looking for a numeric keyboard android smartphone (No Querty)
that’s not quite a Blackberry, but the device goes in that direction at least.
I can understand People wanting blind controls of their devices. Not possible with all the iPhones.
Yeah, people who actually use there phones to make phonecalls tend to prefer an actual front facing keyboard.
I absolutely love my Nexus One so I was planning to get an android phone for my girlfriend’s birthday, then realized she didn’t like those iPhone clones for that very reason, so I’ll probably end up getting her a Nokia E52 (or something else altogether).
The point of an open source OS is to have the choice of the hardware you use, so the more different form factors available the better !
Yeah, but Samsung needs to name their products more creatively. The nonphone version of the Samsung Galaxy Pro is called the Samsung Galaxy Touch. The Motorola Blackberry look alike was called the Moto Q, thus Samsung Galaxy Q. The company is not very original sometimes.
http://direct.motorola.com/hellomoto/q/q-experience/q.html