We’ve got two new Android phones that are a bit different than the rest, mainly because of their form factor — a full qwerty physical keyboard — the Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510 and the HTC Chacha.
While the Galaxy Pro B7510 is already available locally, the HTC Chacha might not be out until next month (saw them in SG last week) and both Android phones are aimed at the mid-market and those looking for a physical keyboard.
Still, it’s interesting is these qwerty handsets will gain a lot of traction in the Android ecosystem. I’m sure people will find it odd that the screens are very small — sacrificing screen real estate over a physical keyboard reverses the paradigm shift that happened to smartphones years ago when the iPhone and Androids were first introduced.
 |  |
|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510 | HTC Chacha |
| 800MHz CPU | 800MHz CPU |
| HSDPA 7.2Mbps | HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 384Kbps |
| 2.8″ @ 320×240 pixels | 2.6″ @ 480×320 pixels |
| 512MB ROM, 512MB RAM | 512MB ROM, 512MB RAM |
| microSD up to 32GB | microSD up to 32GB |
| 2GB microSD included | TBD |
| GPS w/ aGPS support | GPS w/ aGPS support |
| 3.15MP autofocus camera | 5MP autofocus camera w/ LED flash |
| Android OS 2.2 Froyo | Android OS 2.3 Gingerbread |
| WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, WiFi hotspot | WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi hotspot |
| 108.6 x 66.7 x 10.7 mm | 114.4 x 64.6 x 10.7 mm |
| 103.4 grams | 120 grams |
| Stereo FM radio with RDS | none |
| 1350mAh battery | 1250mAh battery |
| ~Php12,000 | TBD |
On paper, it looks like the HTC Chacha has a bit on a edge over the Galaxy Pro and while the latter has a slightly bigger screen, the pixel density on the Chacha is more than twice that of the B7510. The Galaxy Pro’s edge is the built-in FM radio tuner while the Chacha has a dedicated Facebook button.
The verdict isn’t out yet since we don’t have a suggested retail price on the HTC Chacha. My guess is that it will be in the Php13k to Php15k range.
But the question remains — does a full qwerty smartphone with small screen still appeal to you?
This article originally appeared at - yugatech
+ comments + 1 comments
Very informative. thank you very much!