I was poking around the Samsung Mobile World Cogress media site just now looking at Wave's specs and noticed, there at the way bottom of the page, a listing for the i8520, a nameless superphone running Android 2.1. Whoah. Turns out this is the Halo, and Engadget has confirmation from Samsung Mobile reps that this thing is real and will run Android 2.1.
Seriously, this is superphone territory: 3.7" Super AMOLED display at WVGA resolution, 8 MP camera with flash, HD video capture, and DivX/Xvid support, 3.5mm audio jack, 802.11 n WiFi, 16GB of storage and microSD slot ... and ... a built-in projector. Yowza!
And it looks like Halo will run TouchWiz 3.0 atop Android 2.1, giving it a similar look at feel to the Bada OS running on Wave. Makes sense, even if I haven't much been impressed by TouchWiz + Android to date. But TouchWiz 3.0 does look a bit cleaner than 2.x, so there's hope here. Right?
Halo will ship in Q3 of this year, but only in Asia and Europe. Maybe we'll get a US variant later. Maybe.
Specs? Here you go:
| Network | HSDPA 7.2Mbps/HSUPA 5.76Mbps UMTS (900/1900/2100), EDGE / GPRS (850/900/1800/1900) |
|---|---|
| Display | 3.7” WVGA Super AMOLED |
| Camera | 8MP AF w/ Flash (Front : VGA) |
| Video | H.264, H.263, MPEG4, Divx/Xvid, VC-1, 720p@30fps(de/encoding) |
| Audio | MP3, OGG, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, WMA, WAV, MID, AC3 FM Radio with RDS, 3.5mm Ear jack, 3D Sound Effect(Dual Speaker) |
| Value-added Features | A-GPS, Wi-Fi(b/g/n), Specialized Projector UI, Hybrid Widgets, IM, Email, DLNA, Samsung Kies, Push Service(SNS, IM, Email) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth v2.1 / USB 2.0 High Speed |
| Memory | Internal memory: at least 2GB (4Gb ROM / 3Gb RAM + 16GB MoviNAND) External memory: MicroSD (up to 32GB) |
| Size | 123 x 59.8 x 14.9 mm / TBD g |
| Battery Life | 1800 mAh (Talk time: up to 470 mins (On 3G mode)/ up to 850 mins (On 2G mode)) (Stand-by time: up to 530 hrs (On 3G mode) / up to 630 hrs (On 2G mode)) |