By Daniel Ionescu, PCWorld    Aug 27, 2012 8:06 AM

Samsung introduced today an iPod Touch competitor with a 5.8-inch display, named Galaxy Player 5.8. The new device is the latest in a line of similar Samsung players with screen sizes ranging from 3.6 to 4.2 and 5 inches.

At first glance, the new Galaxy Player looks a lot like the Galaxy S III smartphone from Samsung. But the main difference is the screen, which measures one inch above the smartphone, at 5.8 inches in diagonal with a 960-by-540-pixel resolution. In comparison, at 3.5 inches, the Retina display on the iPod Touch has a similar resolution, meaning Samsung’s Player has a much lower pixel density.

The Galaxy Player 5.8 comes with Android 4.0 layered with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface, 1GB of RAM, 16GB or 32GB storage options, microSD expansion slot, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, and a 2500mAh battery.

What’s notably missing from the Galaxy Player 5.8 compared to the iPod Touch is a back camera. The Player has a front-facing VGA camera, just like the iPod, but no camera on the back. Samsung also didn’t identify the processor inside the Galaxy Player 5.8 or reveal its price or expected availability date.

It will be interesting to see what price tag Samsung attaches to the Galaxy Player 5.8. If it costs more than $200 or $250 (the Player 5.0 start at $200), then the Galaxy Player 5.8 won’t pose many advantages for anyone looking for a media player compared to Google’s Nexus 7 tablet. The Nexus 7 has a bigger and higher-solution display, more suited for media watching, and starts at $200 for the 8GB model ($250 for 16GB).

Republished from PC World. (View original version.)