After releasing the cheapest Android phone in the country last week, Vodacom announced the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S i9000 today.

The device was delayed earlier this year. Samsung said that the delay was so that they could sure that they were able to adequately support the launch.

“We are very excited to be the first to offer our customers this impressive phone in South Africa,” says Mark Taylor, Managing Executive of Terminals, Financial and Online Services at Vodacom. “Operating on the Éclair 2.1 version of Android, the Samsung Galaxy S sets a new standard for smartphones – and it’s available in stores from tomorrow.”

At 9.9mm, the Samsung Galaxy S claims that it’s the thinnest touchscreen smartphone. Samsung says it was able to achieve this slim size thanks to the Super AMOLED display which measures 4 inches diagonally.

The Galaxy S has Samsung’s Social Hub, a combined stream of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter messages – complete with a desktop widget and the ability to send out an update to one or all services simultaneously.

The handset’s list of features include; a 5MP camera, dual band 3G, 1GHz ARM-based (S5PC111CPU “Hummingbird”) application processor, augmented reality content through Layar Reality Browser, LBS (location based services), 8GB of memory plus an 8GB micro SD card.

The handset will be available at participating Vodacom outlets on Friday, 20 August.

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