14 DAY TRIAL // As expected, Bell and Virgin Mobile have just debuted the Samsung Galaxy Gio Android-powered smartphone.
It appears that the handset will be available for free with a new three-year agreement, or for $149.99 without contract.
The phone's low price comes as a nice surprise as most Android fans were expecting the Galaxy Gio to hit shelves for around $250 outright.
Furthermore, according to both carriers, the Galaxy Gio will be delivered with Android 2.3 Gingerbread out-of-the-box, instead of Froyo.
Although it is dubbed as a mid-entry Android smartphone, Samsung Galaxy Gio is even cheaper than an entry-level Android device, which makes it an excellent alternative to LG's Optimus One handset.
The mobile phone is equipped with a Qualcomm QCT MSM7227-1 Turbo processor clocked at 800 MHz and packs 158 MB of users’ memory.
However, those in need of more storage can add a memory card via the included microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).
It's unclear for the moment, but Samsung is likely to deliver the Galaxy Gio along with a 2GB memory card in the sales package.
The phone also sports an average 3-megapixel camera with autofocus, geo-tagging, smile detection and video recording capabilities (QVGA@15fps).
The Galaxy Gio has a 3.2-inch multi-touch capacitive display with 16 million colors support and 320 x 480 pixels resolution, as well as accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate and proximity sensor for auto turn-off.
The handset does not feature a secondary front-facing camera for video calls, instead it offers HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, including Wi-Fi hotspot capability.
According to the manufacturer, the phone's 1350 mAh Li-Ion battery should provide users with up to 610 hours (up to 460 hours for 3G) of standby time or up to 11 hours (up to 7 hours for 3G) of talk time.