Virgin Mobile gets Four new Android Smartphones

Virgin in the UK have announced that they are releasing four new Android smartphones.

The four new devices include the LG InTouch Max, Samsung Galaxy Portal, Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 and the HTC Desire. Although four are being announced by Virgin, it is expected that more will follow this year.

The first phone listed is the LG InTouch Max that is based around social networking for those users who enjoy connecting with people on Facebook, Twitter and other various networks. The phone it’s self will be free when purchased on a £22/month contract. With this contract buyers will get 250 minutes of talk time along with an unlimited amount of text messages and unlimited mobile internet access.

Next up is the Samsung Galaxy Portal that leans more towards those who need a GPS type device. The Galaxy comes supplied with an Augmented reality application that lets you visually search for locations based on what the camera sees and your current location. The phone is also available on the same contract as the above phone costing £22/month for 250 minutes, unlimited texts and data.

The HTC Desire is next that is in the final stages of launch here in the UK on other networks such as T-Mobile. The phone it’s self is similar to the Google [GOOG] Nexus One and allows access to email, mail, social networks and is capable of capturing fairly good quality images with it’s 5 megapixel camera. The HTC Desire also uses HTC’s own Sense User interface on top of Android making for a very good browsing experience for those using the handset. It does lack the noise cancelling functionality of the Nexus One though, but if you can live without that feature it is a very good phone from what we have seen. Unfortunately prices are not known, but T-Mobile do offer the handset free for a £35/month contract. I expect Virgin will come in slightly cheaper than this.

Finally we have the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Android phone that we have been waiting many months for. The X10 is Sony’s first jump in to the Android market and from what it looks like and performs like (prototype models tested) it looks set to be another good selling device.

Prices for the X10 are not known just yet although we expect Virgin to announce them very soon.

Via: Zath