Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 hands on

By Anndrew Vacca
last updated

Remember the Galaxy Players that Samsung sprung on the world at their Galaxy Tab 8.9 unveiling late last month? Well, we got our hands on the 5-inch model again tonight here in San Diego, and we still like what we see. A refresher: the Galaxy Players are basically Android phones minus the phone. They run the latest version of Gingerbread, skinned with the Galaxy brand's TouchWiz UI. Both the 4.0 and 5.0 come with a single core processor clocked at 1 GHz and 512 MB RAM. The 4.0 has a 4-inch screen Super WVGA Super Clear LCD at 800 x 480 resolution, while the 5.0 has a 5-inch, WVGA TFT LCD display at 800 x 480 resolution. The screens are beautiful, and the 5-inch model is a beast. They'll launch this week (October 16, to be exact); the 4.0 will run you $229, the 5.0 will set you back $269. A video and a few new pictures are after the break.

Anndrew Vacca
Anndrew Vacca
40 Comments
  • um..... No TouchWIZ 4.0? they do know that's the ONLY good verison of the UI right?
  • 5 inches at WVGA....no thanks.
  • Its not that bad, i had a Dell streak for a while, it was fine.
  • Sorry man, the screen on the streak (streak 7) is absolutely awful. The sgs2 screen is nice but even that is pushing it for this resolution...
  • Sweep glass to unlock... are they trying to get sued? Its not a direct copy, but there are so many better lockscreens than that (I wish the Epic I had got the puzzle piece).
  • I agree, the puzzle piece is awesome, they should stick with that, especially for a device like this, which is obviously marketed as a fun entertainment device
  • I agree, the puzzle piece is awesome, they should stick with that, especially for a device like this, which is obviously marketed as a fun entertainment device
  • sued by who? how else are you to unlock it?
  • i agree, there is only so many ways to unlock a screen - sweeping the screen in any direction is absolutely nothing like sliding that little switch on an iphone, if thats what you were getting at.
  • Who says there aren't other lockscreens? I know that my Samsung Fascinate when on stock TouchWiz has two different lockscreens to choose from: This one and the puzzle piece.
  • you still have to sweep
  • Who honestly cares besides Apple? Nobody. It locks your screen. You touch it and let it know you are alive, it unlocks, end of story. I could care less and really don't think it matters if lock screens look similar. It's not a big deal and hardly worth mentioning, but you are right about the fact that Apple might sue them because Apple has the first and best and original smartphone and nobody can make smartphones without copying them.
  • This looks *exactly* like the Galaxy S Wifi 5 I got off of Woot a few weeks back...except it had Froyo. Same device? (It was much cheaper too)
  • My first thought today is, after reading this. (I have been following this device around the world for months) Will Launcher Pro, or ADW EX work on this? NoLED? Apps like this? I would think the APK would have a phone element built into most of them?
  • haven't found anything that hasn't worked on this yet, most likely due to the resolution. Haven't tried ADW but Launcher pro works on the one i have
  • great device, although I don't know why someone savvy enough to want an android pmp would bother with anything other than a phone at this point. and seriously, if he said um one more time in that review i was going to lose it. appreciate the on-site hands on, but really have to work on the 'ums'
  • because i have a 9 year old daught that i dont want to pay for data for , or maybe some people to want to use their battery for music and movies. just saying
  • exactly, plus...with the way the economy is right now I'd be tempted to get one of these instead of a smart phone and I definitely would if I didn't have unlimited data and even then it's still tempting. Wifi nearly everywhere i go these days, aside from when I'm actually on the road, makes this a good choice. said it before and I'll say it again, wish I got two during the woot sale.
  • I was actually thinking that it would be really interesting if a person could have a go at using one of these things to completely replace their phone. 99% of the time I make a call my phone happens to be on a wifi network already. Paying a couple of pennies for a skype call could save $60+ a month. It would be interesting for androidcentral to run an experiment to see what the real world hassles are in trying to completely replace a full smartphone with one of these for a week. -Suntan
  • you can make and receive calls using your google voice number and GrooveIp. Tried and works fairly well although it's not as good as a normal voice call
  • Because paying $550 isn't as good as paying $229? Some people just want a device and not the phone part
  • "great device, although I don't know why someone savvy enough to want an android pmp would bother with anything other than a phone at this point." Easy: If you travel a lot you may want a separate device. If you're an outdoorsman You definitely will want a separate device.
  • the simplest reason is that a phone that doesn't make a phone call costs much less than a phone.
  • Will somebody please ask about the battery life?
  • Battery life is good, can last several hours playing music...haven't had it run out yet.
  • just tossed my daughters on the charger this morning because it was at ~20%. It had not been charged in over 2 days with about 6 hours of screen time and wifi on the entire time. When she does have it on, she's usually playing a game or something. battery life seems very good, or at least better than her DSi
  • Showing a PMP and not showing the media player? At least click on the music player once. I mean that's what its going to be used for.
  • In my opinion, android players are quite unnecessary because you can buy used phones and craigslist and just use them as players, and then you have a backup if you need one. Plus then you can have a more mainstream device and practice root and rom fun.
  • it's not the same thing, the phone has the unnecessary phone inards to deal with (weight) and this has a bigger screen. Not only that but it also has a bigger battery. The 5.0 feels great in the hand and it's light, very light. Size wise, it makes my Evo feel like my old Pre in the hands (again, size wise..not quality wise) and you don't need an extended battery to make it last forever and a day. I'd say my only gripe is the battery is seemingly not "user replaceable" which is a big deal for me but oh well.
  • This device was built for music, games, and video.
    Premium design at close to a third of the price of its super phone counterparts. There is a market for these things, just look at the iPod Touch.
  • that obviously fills the same niche as the iPod Touch. Phones that don't make calls.
  • Hey can I see you scroll the app launcher menu just one more time? Please? I didn't think that half the video was enough. Regardless, great competition to iPod Touch.
  • In the beginning I wasn't too impressed with these but the more articles I see on them, the more I think I would like to get one. I currently use my MoPho as my MP3 player for my ride to (and from) work and even though the battery lasts all day, it would be nice to have something seperate. Not to mention my Otterbox case doesn't always want to work well with the AUX cable.
  • 5 inches is perfect for somebody like me who has big hands.
  • It's a media player, right? So are you going to tell us how much storage they have?
  • Yeah, I keep hearing 4-inch or 5-inch screen, but what about STORAGE? How much internal? Does it support SD or microSD?
  • These are "basically Android phones minus the phone". That means that turning it in to a phone more than doubles the price. Seems fishy to me.
  • No fishiness. Differences between this and the SGS2: no samoled., half the ram, single core vs dual core, probably poorer camera stuff, no radios, LESS demand.. I think the price is just right. However, I really think it should have a samoled display... if I wanted a media player with these specs, I'd buy an Evo or other used phone... I have a bad esn EVO that I got for only $125... win.
  • I love android but this just seems like samsungs version of the iPod touch and they wonder why they keep going to court
  • Has anyone installed a reader app like Kindle or Nook on this yet? I was wondering about text quality, and not knowing was the only thing holding me back from buying one last night. I have a Dell Streak 5 which does have a really good display, but it starts getting pretty heavy during long reading sessions (as do any of the dedicated ereaders). However, I really like the size of the Streak for reading...not too big and not too small. I also have an iPod touch, but the screen is just too small to read comfortably for long periods of time.
    Thanks!