Two new handsets based on Google’s Android operating system are set to rock the Australian handset market — the LG GW620 (pictured above), which was released yesterday, and the Samsung Galaxy S, set for release very shortly.

The GW620 is sported as being “social networking savvy and stylish to boot” with a Social Networking Manager (SNM) feature that offers ease of use of popular social networking sites such as Twittter and Facebook. said “The LG GW620 is our first Android phone and we’re very proud of its social networking capabilities,” said LG Electronics general manager of Mobile Communication, Nathan Dunn.

The new LG handset features Android OS 1.5, a 320×480 pixel 3″ display, a 5 megapixel camera and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The phone is available at Crazy John’s on a $299 prepaid and Telechoice dealers on a $29 cap plan.

The story broken by Android Australia, had picked up on AllPhones listing the anticipated Galaxy as “coming soon”. Delimiter contacted a Samsung PR spokersperson on the release date of the phone, who said only “stay tuned”, with another adding an announcement could be expected very shortly.

The Galaxy has the 2.1 version of the Android O/S, is 9.9mm thin and features a 1GHz Samsung chip, 8GB or 16GB of internal memory and up to 32GB of expandable memory, a five megapixel camera.

A specialty of the device is its 4 inch Super AMOLED 480×800 pixel display. The Galaxy was released in Europe last week after receiving 1 million pre-orders, was revealed in Korea today.

“It will be a new turning point for Samsung’s mobile handsets,” JK Shin, the company’s president for mobile business, told reporters. “The phone was released in some countries with a much more heated response than previous smartphones.”

Image credit: LG

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5. Huawei plans first Android phone for Australia

1. nix
   Posted 08/06/2010 at 6:45 pm | Permalink | Reply

   I would love to have the LG GW620 – but only if I could upgrade to a later version of Android without penalty from the operator.

   • Renai LeMay
     Posted 09/06/2010 at 10:36 am | Permalink | Reply

     The operators are increasingly focusing on enabling software updates to the Android platform, but at this stage it’s really important to look at each handset vendor’s individual policy and how they do it. HTC, for example, I believe to have a pretty good policy, whereas some of the other vendors who haven’t pushed as hard into the Android market don’t necessarily do the updates that well yet.

     There is also the matter of the hardware itself — not all of the lower-specced Android phones will be able to handle the new updates, for example.

2. dan
   Posted 08/06/2010 at 7:00 pm | Permalink | Reply

   This information is incorrect, Journalism fail.

   • Jenna Pitcher
     Posted 08/06/2010 at 8:06 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Hi Dan. Thank you for your comment.

3. PointZeroOne
   Posted 08/06/2010 at 7:14 pm | Permalink | Reply

   The Galaxy S has Super AMOLED screen at 480×800 8Gb or 16Gb internal and up to 32Gb expansion from MicroSD. Also it will be running Android 2.1 (Eclair).

   I think the specs you have talked about is for one of the othet Galaxy android phones that Samsung has released.

4. PointZeroOne
   Posted 08/06/2010 at 7:19 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Just noticed as well, its not a 3.2″ screen on the Galaxy S its a 4″ screen

   • Jenna Pitcher
     Posted 08/06/2010 at 8:18 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Thank you, PointZeroOne! Details will be updated.

5. Paul..
   Posted 08/06/2010 at 7:55 pm | Permalink | Reply

   i think you’re mixing and matching new phones with old specs. Why would they bother releasing a phone with Android 1.5 now?

   • Jenna Pitcher
     Posted 08/06/2010 at 8:36 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Hi Paul, Thanks for the point but I might add that the LG was released with 1.5.

6. Renai LeMay
   Posted 08/06/2010 at 8:14 pm | Permalink | Reply

   I’ll take a look at this and fix if necessary.

7. Renai LeMay
   Posted 08/06/2010 at 10:21 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Hi everyone, I fixed the errors, I think they were pretty small ones. On a personal note I am looking forward to checking out the Samsung Galaxy S particularly and seeing how it stacks up against the HTC Desire.

8. Robotic Buttocks
   Posted 09/06/2010 at 1:16 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Galaxy S does sound like a great phone. It will be good to see a good UI / OS on a Samsung handset.

   • Jenna Pitcher
     Posted 09/06/2010 at 1:32 pm | Permalink | Reply

     The display sounds darn special, too.

9. PointZeroOne
   Posted 09/06/2010 at 3:06 pm | Permalink | Reply

   I’m looking forward to the Galaxy S it does sound like a great device ^_^