Samsung and Nvidia have announced they’re extending their technology partnership from tablets to smartphones, today announcing the Galaxy R smartphone, a new entry in Samsung’s well-regarded Galaxy line that will sports a 4.19-inch display, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and the same dual-core Nvidia Tegra processor that powers Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1. The addition of the Tegra chip should make the Galaxy R smartphone plenty fast for surfing the Web and using Android apps, but also enables the device to tap into Tegra-optimized games in the Android Market’s “Tegra Zone.”
“Samsung’s newest super phone shows off Tegra’s multimedia power, and is a great example of what consumers expect from one of the world’s top phone makers,” said Nvidia’s mobile business general manager Michael Rayfield, in a statement.
The Galaxy R will feature that Tegra 2 chip and 4.19-inch display (with an 800 by 480-pixel native resolution), along with 8 GB of built-in storage (32 GB more available via microSD), 1080p video playback and high-definition video capture—although that seems limited to 720p. The unit weighs 131 grams (about 4.6 ounces) and is just under 1cm thick.
The Galaxy R is currently available in Sweden, and the companies say the phone will be launched soon in northern and eastern Europe, China, the Middle East, and southeast and west Asia. There’s no word on whether Samsung plans to being the Galaxy R to western European or North American markets.
Samsung’s previous entries in the Galaxy smartphone lines have been built around Samsung’s own Hummingbird processors, rather than Nvidia Tegra CPUs.
