Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica is available, brings DivX to Android

The Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica (or Galaxy Lite if you prefer) is officially available and it's got some multimedia muscles to flex. It is the first Android to come with DivX support and it features the DNSe 2.0 sound engine.

The Samsung Galaxy Spica runs the Cupcake version of Android (v1.5) and it trades away a few things it's big brother, the Samsung I7500 Galaxy, had. Namely, the screen is the same size and resolution, though it's TFT instead of AMOLED, the 8GB built-in storage is gone (though the I5700 supports up to 32GB microSD cards), the camera has been bumped down to 3-megapixels (down from 5), and the 3G connectivity is a tad more limited - dual-band 3G with up to 3.6Mbps.

On the upside, the I5700 Galaxy Spica has an 800MHz CPU, which makes it the speediest CPU in Android-land, so we're quite surprised at its mid-range aspirations. In fact, it carries over many of the other features from the original Galaxy, Wi-Fi, GPS, tight integration with Google services (Gmail, Market, etc.), 3.5mm audio jack and a 1,500mAh battery.

The DivX support is a great addition to the Android video player, which we found lacking so far and it's big plus for everyone who doesn't have the time (or skills) to transcode videos. For current Android phone owners, this app - yxflash Player from MobileSoft - claims to play DivX, so you might want to give it a shot.

The Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica is now available in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The carriers still need to update their sites, but the phone should be available in their online shops soon. O2 Ireland for example scored an exclusive deal to offer the Galaxy Spica, though it's not up on their site yet.