Samsung goes big with 5.8-inch Galaxy Player

Samsung has upsized its Android device for playing music, video and games and is edging closer toward Nexus 7 mini-tablet territory.

A big screen may be awkward for a phone you hold up to your ear, but it's nice for movies and games — which likely is why Samsung announced a new bigger 5.8-inch model of its Galaxy Player line.

The company offers smaller versions — for example, its Galaxy Player 5.0 (US$200) with an 800x480 screen. The 5.8-inch version, though, features a higher-resolution 960x540 screen, with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

The announcement arrived just before the IFA consumer-electronics conference in Berlin, Germany.

Anybody in the market for an Android gadget today should be aware that AU$250 will get you the highly regarded Google Nexus 7 tablet, a notch bigger and less pocketable, but with a 1280x800 screen. The Nexus 7 only comes with 8GB or 16GB of memory, though, where the Galaxy Player 5.8 gets 16GB or 32GB.

Other specs in Samsung's new device include a Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, 2500mAh battery, a microSD card, 802.11b/g/n wireless networking, GPS support, a front-facing video camera and a built-in education portal, with multimedia material such as lectures.

Via CNET.com