Samsung welcomes a new member to its Galaxy family, the Galaxy W, with a 7-inch HD display to fill the gap between smartphones and tablets.
The new addition to the Samsung Galaxy family blurs the line between phones and tablets. Samsung officially announced the Galaxy W packed with a 7-inch HD display in its home market, Monday. Despite the wide screen, the Korean tech giant promises the best grip for various operations including phone calls.
The Samsung Galaxy W is bigger than the company's flagship Galaxy Note 3 phablet and also its biggest smartphone model, the Galaxy Mega 6.3. The new addition is not to be confused with one of its 2011 model smartphones, which carries a similar name. The new Galaxy W is completely different in terms of size, features and design.
Samsung Galaxy W's official announcement follows series of leaks in recent days. Just last week, the purported image of the Galaxy Mega 7.0, which is called the Galaxy W in South Korea, was leaked online via Ortud forums. The leaked image also carried some specifications confirmed by the tech giant in its Korean press release, Monday (Google Translated).
According to Samsung, the Galaxy W is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB RAM, 16GB internal space with expandable options up to 64GB and a 8-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front facing camera. The 7-inch 720p display supports various operations such as landscape mode, multi-window, split screen and pop-up play. Run by a 3,200mAh battery, the Galaxy W is based on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and not the latest Android KitKat version.
The handset availability is limited to the South Korean market under a sole carrier SK Telecom, the country's largest mobile carrier. Samsung is offering three color options for the Galaxy W, black, white and red. The smartphone, however, will not come cheap as it carries a 499,400 won ($487) price tag. But it supports long-term evolution advanced (LTE-A) network. Any chances of the smartphone coming to the United States anytime soon appear slim.
