B&O's 'Serenata' music phone unveiled
(Credit: Bang & Olufsen )
As promised by the annoying countdown clock on its teaser site for weeks, Bang & Olufsen and Samsung jointly unveiled their "Serenata" mobile phone today. And though it's been described as a successor to the much-discussed "Serene," you wouldn't know it by its design and features.
The Serenata is much more focused on music with built-in "hi-fi speakers," a docking station and 4GB of storage, far more than most other phones on the market. Particularly useful is a specific button that toggles back and forth from phone to music, which is then controlled by a navigation wheel and 2.4-inch color LCD. We're not sure about its claims to produce a quality bass through a "psycho-acoustic phenomenon" but if it starts to shatter your windows, a pair of ergonomic earphones are included.
Oh yeah, the phone part. The Serenata does away with traditional buttons and keypad, making calls with its "sensi-touch display" instead. In addition, its receiver speaker has been placed at the top of the phone to "make the sound of speech as authentic as possible," though we wonder if Samsung's designers just ran out of room after cramming in all the music features.
Finally, true to the serene theme of this line, the Serenata's "organic rounded shape alludes to pebbles shaped by ocean waves." We don't make this stuff up, honest.
