Samsung to launch QWERTY Android phone in Q4

The Galaxy Apollo to get a QWERTY buddy
The Galaxy Apollo to get a QWERTY buddy

Samsung has confirmed to TechRadar that it will be bringing a slide-out QWERTY device running Android to the UK this year.

The new phone will sit below the Samsung Galaxy S in the Koreans' Android range, with Carey McGregor, senior product manager at Samsung, confirming the new product:

"We've got another device coming through this year, which will be a slider QWERTY device, with a landscape keyboard.

"It won't mirror the Galaxy S (in terms of specs), it will be more mid-range, more along the lines of the Galaxy Apollo."

Samsung Galaxy i5510?

McGregor didn't confirm which version of Android the phone will be running, but it's likely to be Android 2.2 given the release schedule.

As an Android device, it will also use the Galaxy moniker. We've seen the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Q rumoured so far, both with QWERTY keyboards, but given both of these come with high end specs we doubt it will be one of these.

It's more likely to be the Samsung i5510 shown off by Vodafone recently - but it's good news it's coming to the UK soon.

Samsung has been betting big on Android this year, with the Samsung Galaxy Tab the latest to launch - but we're glad to see the Koreans are still fully behind Android phones too.

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.