Samsung Launches 4 New Android Phones, Changes Naming Convention

Samsung has announced four new Galaxy Android-based devices and revised the naming strategy for its whole phone lineup. The four new phones, the Galaxy W, Galaxy M Pro, Galaxy Y and Galaxy Y Pro, are the first to sport the new naming convention and all run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Samsung says the new naming system is easier to understand and it’s meant to accommodate the growing variety of devices it manufactures. From now on, Samsung Galaxy phones using the S (for Super Smart) in the name will be the flagship top-of-the-line devices, R (for Royal or Refined) will designate its premium models, working down to mid-range W (for Wonder) and to the lower end with M (for Magical) and Y (Young).

Samsung phones with a Pro in their name will indicate the device has a QWERTY keyboard, Plus will indicate an upgrade from the existing model, while LTE will mean the phone has 4G connectivity.

To put the new naming convention into practice, Samsung introduced the four Galaxy phones, but gave few details on availability and pricing. (More details are promised at IFA in Berlin in early September.)

The Galaxy W has a 3.7-inch touchscreen (800 by 480 pixels resolution), a 5-megapixel camera and HSDPA connectivity, all running on a single-core 1.4GHz processor. The Galaxy Y has a smaller, 3-inch screen with 320 by 240 pixels resolution, a 2-megapixel camera and an 832MHz processor.

The Galaxy M Pro and the Galaxy Y Pro are both QWERTY smartphones, akin to BlackBerrys. TheGalaxy M Pro is the higher-end device with a 1GHz processor and a 5-megapixel camera, packed into a 10-millimeter body. All four phones run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and use Samsung’s TouchWiz UI and Swype text input.