More details on Samsung's u540 for Verizon

Oh, happy day: another midrange clamshell for Verizon! Actually, we already knew about the Samsung u540, but last time we visited it we were a bit slim in the details department; a tipster has since managed to fill out the blanks for us. We don't have a price, but we're guessing that a minimal cash layout (after $50 mail-in rebate) is going to get you tethering capability with an EV-DO radio (albeit Rev. 0), microSD expansion, navigation, 2.1 inch primary display, and all the usual VCAST goodies -- minus VCAST TV, of course. Expect a launch rather soonly.

Samsung F700

One phone that deserves a bit more attention than it has got is the recently unveiled Samsung F700. It features a 5 megapixel auto-focus camera, a full touch screen 2.8″ screen with a resolution of 440 x 240 pixels, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and full HSDPA compabiliy (7.2Mbps).

Full press release from Samsung.
SAMSUNG Unveils Revolutionary Ultra Smart F700The latest multimedia Ultra phone will be shown at 3GSM in Barcelona
Samsung today announced a new addition to its Ultra portfolio with the introduction of Ultra Smart F700. This revolutionary mobile phone will be showcased at 3GSM World Congress, the largest telecommunications event, next week. The F700 features unrivaled design and brings a superior range of multimedia experiences to consumers.
The Ultra Smart is a part of Samsung’s Ultra portfolio which boasts a full touch screen as well as QWERTY key pad. It reflects the recent trend in telecommunications industry of touch screen user interface and, for users who are not yet familiar with a touch-screen-only user interface, it also implements a QWERTY key pad and VibeTonz technology which allows them to feel the buttons accompanied by responsive vibrations. A “Drag and drop” method of touch screen was adopted for easier menu navigation along with music play list control for an expanded multimedia experience. Volume, play lists, brightness of screens as well as other menu control can be controlled utilizing the touch screen.
As speed is becoming crucial for data communications, Samsung has included the latest trends in mobile to the Ultra Smart F700. The Ultra Smart reflects the latest speed of 7.2 Mbps under the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) network. Once the 7.2 Mbps HSDPA network completely deployed, F700 users can download an mp3 song (about 4MB each) in 4.4 seconds. A full HTML browser along with the QWERTY key pad enables easy access to the internet for e-mail and data services.
Using the new F700, business and creative professionals are able to view content on a stunning 2.78″ color display. The device features first class entertainment with a top-of-the-line 5 mega-pixel camera with auto focus and Bluetooth. With 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, it makes it easier to watch videos, listen to songs, share high-quality photos, or catch up on email on the move.
“The introduction of our Ultra Smart F700 reflects the needs of today’s consumers by including features such as touch screen, enhanced connectivity to mobile internet, and access to an array of multimedia content,” said Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunications Network Business. “The Ultra Smart F700 is a good example of how mobile phone will evolve in the future. Samsung will focus on bringing products that reflect and pursue our position as a premium leader”
Samsung F700 SpecificationsStandard: HSDPA 7.2Mbps, EDGE, 900/1800/1900 MHz + 2.1GHzCamera: 5 Megapixel with Auto-FocusDisplay: 262744 TFT (2.78”, 440×240)Features: Full Touch Screen, MPEG4/H.263/H.264/Real MP3/AAC(+)/eAAC+/Real, QWERTY Keypad, MMS / E-mail / JAVA / WAP 2.0, Bluetooth® / USB, Flash UI / Document Viewer, Full HTML Browsing, Offline Mode, BGMMemory: microSD™Size: 104 x 50 x 16.4mm

Samsung SPH-B6700

Over at Akihabaranews you can see a couple of images of the new phone from Samsung - the SPH-B6700. The phone will be available in Korea real soon and measures 8.7×5.4cm which makes it rouglhy the same size as an ordinary credit card. Even though it’s a really small product, it features a 2 megapixel camera, media player capabilities and a DMB TV tuner

Samsung X830

Samsung X830 Review
The Samsung X830 (or the Samsung Blush as the pink version has been nicknamed) is a tiny music player phone with a rotating design. There's no doubt that this is a very trendy, cool-looking phone that is packed with features and is a real head turner. Available in black, white, pink and orange, the X830 is one of the smallest and lightest phones ever. When closed, all you can see is the screen and the click wheel used for navigation and controlling the music player. Swivel the phone open, and you can make calls and have access to a full keypad.
Now it has to be said that rotating design phones are not new, and have a sad history. Motorola introduced the V70 and V80 rotating phones a few years back. They were cool-looking phones and seemed good on paper, but were notoriously unreliable and difficult to use. Sony Ericsson's S700i was more successful, with a better design, proving that rotating phones can work if they are designed well. The benefits of the rotating design are that, like a slide phone, you can make a very compact phone with a large screen, and Samsung have really made the most of this with the X830 - it's a tiny phone! The X830 concept does work in fact, thanks to the introduction of the click wheel navigation. This makes it possible to access most of the phone's functions very easily without having to open the phone, and so the device becomes a very small music player/camera/organiser. The problems start when you open the phone to make a call. Because the X830 is so narrow, the keypad is arranged with a strange layout, with keys in unfamiliar places. With a bit of practice you can get used to this, but the other problem is that the phone becomes very long and thin when fully opened and is cumbersome to hold. This is the price you pay for having such a tiny & trendy phone!
Moving on to the functionality of the phone, we are impressed. Samsung have packed a lot of features into the X830. The main feature of the X830 is the music player. This is a high quality player that supports all of the popular formats including MP3, WMA and AAC. The click wheel and user interface make the player very easy to use. Audio quality is high with 3D surround sound and support for a stereo Bluetooth headset. Amazingly Samsung have packed in a whole Gigabyte of memory, giving plenty of space for storing music without the need to buy a memory card. With fast USB 2.0 connectivity and Bluetooth, putting music onto the phone is quick and straightforward. Flight mode lets you use the music player with the phone offline.
The phone is also equipped with a 1.3 megapixel camera with video recorder, a speakerphone, Java games, 64-voice MP3 ringtones, fast internet access via EDGE and is triband. Battery life is acceptable but not particularly high.
Buy this phone for style, for its tiny size and for its great music player feature. Don't buy it if ease-of-use is your top priority or if you take a lot of photos with your phone.
You can find the best online deals for the Samsung X830 at Shopping.com.





Features of the Samsung X830 include:
1.3 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom
Video camera (MPEG4 format)
Display: TFT, 262k colours, 128 x 220 pixels
Music player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+ and WMA formats)
3D surround sound
MP3 ringtones / 64 voice polyphonic ringtones
Speakerphone
Voice memo recorder
Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS
Java games
Personal organiser
Caller ID (Text/Photo)
WAP 2.0, GPRS Class 10, EDGE
Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB 2.0
Memory: 1 Gbyte flash memory
Flight mode
Triband
Size: 84 x 30 x 20 mm
Weight: 72g
Talk time: 5 hours
Battery standby: 230 hours

PhoneAday Rate: ۞۞۞۞
4 points

Samsung D900

Samsung D900 Review
The Samsung D900 puts the WOW! in WOW! FACTOR. Seriously, a phone this exceptional doesn't come along very often, perhaps not since the Samsung D500 in 2004.
You can tell we love the phone, so let's get on with the reasons why. Firstly, this is the world's slimmest slider phone. Samsung have really perfected the slide design, and the D900 is silky smooth. The physical appearance of the phone is unbeatable, with a lovely magnesium surface coating and a small but functional keypad making the phone very tactile and easy to use. The LG Chocolate and the Samsung E900 may look cool with their touch-sensitive keypads, but you can't beat the ease-of-use of a conventional keypad. At just 13mm thickness, the D900 even beats the Motorola RAZR in the thinness charts.
Looks aren't everything however, so let's move on to the next reason for choosing the D900 - its 3 megapixel camera with autofocus. This is simply the best camera currently available in any phone after the Sony Ericsson K800i. It gives results of amazing clarity, and what is really astounding is that Samsung have fitted their best ever camera in their thinnest slider phone! We are in awe. The video camera is also of high quality and records in MPEG4 format. The display on the D900 is very finely detailed with outstanding clarity and does full justice to the camera. Some reviewers are mistaken in believing that videos cannot be viewed in full screen, but they can - just press 1 to switch to full screen mode.
Next the music player. This handles a good range of formats - MP3, ACC, ACC+ and e-AAC+ - and has very good sound reproduction with 3D virtual surround sound and a digital power amplifier. The player is easy to use with playlists of up to 30 tracks. You can use the stereo headset supplied by Samsung or a wireless Bluetooth headset. The built-in memory is 70 Mbytes, which is enough to get started, but if you're serious about using the phone as an MP3 player you can buy a Micro SD card - a 512 Mbyte card costs around £15. The only real downside on the music front is that there's no radio included.
The phone has all the usual features that you'd expect - messaging, email, MP3 ringtones, speakerphone, Java games, etc, etc. The full spec is listed below. There are a few bonus features - a document viewer for viewing MS Office files, offline mode for use when listening to music on a plane, a TV-Out connection for viewing images directly on a TV screen, and EDGE for fast internet access. Connectivity is via Bluetooth or fast USB. The user interface is very nice and friendly, with a new menu design featuring a black background - very smart. Battery life is good. One gripe is that you can't use an MP3 for the SMS alert sound (same with all Samsungs), but good news - you can select vibrate and ring simultaneously.
2006 has been an exciting year for phones, but the Samsung D900 has got to be a serious contender for phone of the year. It's the best in its class, bar none.
You can find the best online deals for the Samsung D900 at Shopping.com


Features of the Samsung D900 include:
3 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and 4x digital zoom
Video camera (MPEG4 format)
Display: TFT, 262,144 colours, 240 x 320 pixels
Music player (MP3, ACC, ACC+, e-AAC+ formats) with 3D sound and digital power amp
64-voice polyphonic ringtones / MP3 ringtones
Voice memo recorder
Integrated handsfree speakerphone
Messaging: SMS, MMS, email (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, SSL, TLS)
T9 predictive text
Document viewer for MS Office, PDF and HTML files
Mobile printing via Bluetooth (PicBridge™)
Java games (Forgotten Warrior, Freekick, Arch angel, Cannon ball) plus downloadable games
Flight mode
Personal organiser functions
Memory: 70 Mbytes plus MicroSD memory card slot
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, TV-Out
WAP 2.0, GPRS Class 10, EDGE
Quad band
Size: 104 x 51 x 13 mm
Weight: 93g
Talktime: 3.3. hours
Battery standby: 260 hours