Samsung Galaxy Gio Goes Live at SaskTel for $30

After introducing the BlackBerry Torch 9860, SaskTel has gone live with an Android smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Gio.

Unveiled several months ago, Galaxy Gio is a low-mid budget smartphone that was initially launched with Android 2.2 Froyo on board.

In the meantime, Samsung deployed the next Android 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade to the Galaxy Gio, but SaskTel does not mention which platform the smartphone runs at launch.

People of Saskatchewan can purchase the Galaxy Gio from SaskTel for as low as $29.99 with a new three-year agreement.

Other pricing options for the Android smartphone include: $199.99 with a new 2-year contract or $229.99 with a new 1-year agreement.

Those who wish to avoid being tied by a long-term contract can purchase the Galaxy Gio for a suggested retail price of $249.99.

It looks like SaskTel prefers to sell more long-term contracts instead of devices, as Virgin Mobile has a much better deal on the Galaxy Gio, which is available for only $149.99 outright.

Assuming the Galaxy Gio has received its software, than it should be delivered with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) on board and TouchWiz v3.0 user interface.

Furthermore, the smartphone sports a 3-megapixel camera with autofocus, geo-tagging, smile detection and video recording capabilities (QVGA@15fps), as well as HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, including Wi-Fi hotspot capability.

“Show off your style with the Samsung Galaxy Gio's sophisticated form and 3.2 inch HVGA vivid screen. With an Android operating system on SaskTel's 4G Network, the Galaxy Gio is a phone that will keep your life connected,” claims SaskTel on its storefront.

It is also worth mentioning that the Galaxy Gio is equipped with a low-performance 800 MHz Qualcomm QCT MSM7227-1 Turbo processor, 158 MB of internal memory and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).