Samsung Galaxy View now in the US, whether you like it or not

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There was a time when Samsung's portfolio was punctuated by rather unconventional devices. A smartphone with a built-in projector, a 7-inch tablet that can make phone calls, and even a smartphone with a stylus. Although it has mostly settled on a few tried and tested designs, it seems to be trying to shake things up again by just a wee bit. The Galaxy View isn't any tablet you've seen. In fact, it might not be a tablet at all. Whether you buy into the spiel or not doesn't matter. Samsung has just brought the device to the US for real.

The Galaxy View can perhaps be best described as an Android-powered portable TV. The fact that it will offer Live TV broadcast in some markets might help reinforce that image. The size and form of the device is ideal for viewing content but from a distance or, at the very least, on a table. The screen spans a good 18.4 inches and the built-in stand allows you to set up the Galaxy View either like a computer monitor or a slightly elevated tablet. The carrying grooves on that stand hints that it is meant to be carried around, but inside the house, not outside in public.

The specs, however, might be a bit less convincing. The large display maxes out at 1920x1080 Full HD. So no 2K or 4K content for you. It runs on a 1.6 GHz octa-core Exynos 7580 and has 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. The 5,700 mAh battery is promised to last at least 8 hours of continued video binging.

That is why the $599 price tag might be a bit hard to swallow. And that's only for the Wi-Fi model. There's one with 4G LTE support, though there is no news when or even if that will also come to the US. Right now, the Samsung Galaxy View can be bought from online retailers, including Samsung, as well as authorized resellers.

SOURCE: Samsung