No iPhone 3G S for Verizon (yet), but the Omnia 2 will be here later this year.
(Credit: Samsung)Verizon may not have the iPhone 3G S, but the sequel to Samsung's popular iPhone pretender, the Omnia, will be coming to Verizon later this year, Samsung announced at an event on Monday in Manhattan. As for the exact timing of the Omnia 2's launch, that's still up in the air, as Samsung reps said that Verizon had a tight leash on what info could--and couldn't--release at this time.
But here's what we know, and it looks pretty good:
- 65K WVGA AMOLED Display (3.7-inch, 480 x 800--largest AMOLED display yet in a phone)
- Advanced R-type Touch Screen
- Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional (upgradeable to WM 6.5)
- 5-megapixel CMOS camera with autofocus and face-detection, plus geotagging and a photo editor
- Video recording at 30fps@720x480, plus video editor (trim video, audio dubbing, live dubbing, add subtitle)
- Audio supported: MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WMDRM, OMA DRM 2.1, plus FM radio
- Video supported: DivX, XviD, H.263, H.264, WMV9, MPEG4
- A-GPS with Navigation (3D Map)/LBS
- TouchWiz 2.0 UI with Mobile Widget/3D Media Gate
- Multitask manager/3D Interactive Games
- Bluetooth Stereo Headset (A2DP)
- WiFi
- 2GB/8GB/16GB of internal memory (3 different models)
- microSDHC expansion slot (up to 32GB)
- Up to 10 hours (3G) talk time
- Up to 430 hours (3G) standby time
- Dimensions: 4.65 x 2.36 x 0.47 inches (HWD)
Let us know what you think of the new Omnia 2, Omnia Lite and Omnia Pro, which has a slide-out keyboard.
Update: Samsung Omnia 2 coming August 23
On Sale Now: $199.99 - $549.99
View the latest prices for Samsung Omnia II (Verizon Wireless)
My first cell phone was an Ericsson CF688 on AT&T Wireless (original incarnation). I got it in roughly 1998. I bought this model instead of some of the flashier ones because it was small. I modified it with a new antenna and smaller battery to make it pocketable. I loved that phone.
Not many years before that, though, portable phones were large. We all remember the brick "Zack Morrison" phones, but do you remember the ads? They were fantastic.
Oobject has put together a collection of some of the best, with my favorite embedded above. Is it just me, or does that seem like a pretty good plan in that ad?
(Credit:
TmoNews)
There are phones with cameras, and then there are cameras with phones, and a new badboy reportedly making its way to T-Mobile seems to be the latter. This touch-screen Samsung beast features an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with flash and what appears to be optical zoom.
That would make the camera on this phone better than my normal point 'n' shoot, which I adore.
This would also probably be the highest-resolution in a camphone available in the U.S. as a subsidized handset. Since T-Mobile's 3G is finally becoming available all over, look for that as well.
TmoNews, an unofficial T-Mobile blog, says the phone is expected to be named name "Memoir." It's not meant to take on the iPhone--T-Mo has the G1 for that--but for people who want to keep a decent camera with them at all times and don't want to carry separate hardware it could be a great choice.
(Credit:
Pantech)
The Pantech Slate, which AT&T claims is the world's thinnest QWERTY mobile phone, officially met the public when AT&T started selling the handset Wednesday. No word from AT&T yet how many units it has sold, but when your other selections include the iPhone and Palm Centro, we can't expect this tiny unit to be a door buster.
The Slate has a 1.3-megapixel camera, 2.5G (Edge) connectivity for data, and Bluetooth. It's not for everyone, and we can't really call it a smartphone, but for people who text often, it's a great deal at $50 after $50 MIR and a two-year contract.
Sun Microsystems Chairman Scott McNealy said he was misquoted in a South Korean newspaper earlier this week as saying Sun and cell phone maker Samsung Electronics are working on an iPhone-killer.
McNealy, who stopped in New York Thursday on his way back from South Korea to deliver a speech at the World Business Forum, said that the newspaper must have misunderstood a translation of what he had said.
Scott McNealy
"I never said that," he said. "I'm not really sure where they got that. I think it was a translation problem."
When pressed further during an interview with CNET News.com, McNealy remained tight-lipped on any news.
"We haven't announced anything," he said.
Indeed, the company has not announced any official partnership with Samsung, but a representative for the phone maker told the Associated Press after the misinterpreted quote circulated yesterday that the companies are working together.
It makes sense that Sun would be working with Samsung. And it wouldn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to figure out what they could be working on.
Sun, which already provides a stripped-down version of Java for billions of cell phones sold around the world, announced in May a more robust version of its Java software called JavaFX Mobile. It's geared toward small devices like smartphones that have more processing power than the average cell phone. Unlike the Java Micro Edition, which today runs on billions of cell phones around the globe, the JavaFX Mobile software is most similar to the Java Standard Edition (SE) software that runs on standard PCs.
With this more powerful software, Samsung and its partners could develop applications for cell phones that more closely resemble those running on PCs. This means Web surfing and interactive cell phone games would look more like what people are used to on their PCs.
Apple has already attempted to do this with its iPhone, which allows people to shrink and magnify Web pages so that the pages render on the screen just as they do on a regular computer.
Even though McNealy denies he said Sun and Samsung are working on an iPhone-killer, there is still a very good chance that something is cooking between the two companies. Any plans are likely still in the initial stages of development, so stay tuned.
Dropping your iPhone in the toilet might actually be an improvement.
(Credit: iSkin)iSkin's latest antibacterial case made for Apple's iPhone reminds us that a product's coolness is no defense against deadly bacteria. In fact, studies have shown that cell phones happen to be one of the filthiest objects imaginable--dirtier than a toilet seat, computer keyboard, or the bottom of a shoe. There's just something magical about the combination of spittle and your text-crazy hands that make mobile phones a germ's best friend. The antibacterial iSkin Revo case for the iPhone is due out this month with a price of $39. Until then, think twice before passing your iPhone around at a party.
Sanyo SCP-7050
(Credit: Sanyo)There aren't too many rugged cell phones out there that are built to withstand harsher climates. For those who favor the great outdoors, the brand new Sanyo SCP-7050 from Sprint may be right for you. The rugged rubberized exterior of the phone is built according to military standards and is stated to withstand the effects of dust, shock, and vibration. And if you have a penchant for grand adventures, the SCP-7050 even comes with a built-in GPS that works very nicely with Telenav Navigator to give you turn-by-turn directions to your destination. Hand an extra unit to your buddy, and you can talk to each other via Sprint's Ready Link Push-to-Talk service as well. Sure, the phone is fairly basic without a lot of fancy multimedia features, but why bother with that when you're mingling with nature? You can go ahead and read the full review of the Sanyo SCP-7050 for all the details of this durable phone. It'll available for $149 after a two-year service agreement with Sprint.
Helio Ocean
(Credit: Helio)Yours truly is currently stuck in SFO for a mind-boggling eight hours, but that won't stop me from telling you about the latest in cell phone news. One of the hottest news items this morning is the release of the uber-sexy Helio Ocean, which is that Helio-branded QWERTY phone we mentioned in late February. This triple-decker wonder slides up to reveal a number keypad, and a separate layer slides sideways to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. At 0.86-inch thick, it certainly isn't the thinnest phone in the world, but we're willing to forgive its bulk for all that added functionality. The screen looks to be a winner--it's a 2.4-inch QVGA display with 262,000-colors--and its features look mighty impressive too. They include EV-DO support, a full HTML browser, 200MB of internal memory, a microSD card slot, a 2.0-megapixel camera with digital zoom and built-in flash, an MPEG-4 video recorder, stereo Bluetooth, a music player that supports MP3, AAC, and WMA, built-in GPS, access to Helio's full stable of broadband services like MySpace Mobile, Helio Music, and Buddy Beacon, and POP/IMAP email support that can be integrated with Exchange and ActiveSync servers. Sure to be one of the big ticket offerings from Helio, the Helio Ocean will be available later this year for around $295.
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