Samsung i7500 Galaxy Android phone finally goes on sale in UK

O2 finally brings the Samsung i7500 to the UK
O2 finally brings the Samsung i7500 to the UK

The Samsung i7500 Galaxy, the Koreans' first Android-based handset, has finally gone on sale in the UK.

O2 has started listing the handset on its website, and comes with a pretty hefty price tag as well.

The new phone, which was the subject of many rumours regarding a delay to its UK sale (something O2 flatly denied to TechRadar), will cost up to £245 on an 18 or 24 month contract.

However, it has come a lot later than the anticipated UK release date of end of July / beginning of August.

Marquee signing

Users can get it free, although they will have to pay around £40 per month for the privilege of owning an Android handset from Samsung.

This is another big-hitting handset appearing on O2's books, joining the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS, and will be accompanied by the Palm Pre later this year.

Some believe the appearance of such 'marquee' phones signals the end of the iPhone's exclusivity in the UK, although such rumours have yet to be confirmed by O2.

But users will likely be faced with something of a quandary when deciding which phone to buy, as the Samsung Galaxy i7500 is feature-packed with a 3.2-inch OLED screen, a 3.5mm jack, the latest Android OS and s super slim chassis of just 11.9mm.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.