Blackberry's first touchscreen device and bold competitor to the iPhone will be available from Verizon for $199 starting November 21. The Storm features a 3.25" hi-resolution display, a 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, 1GB of internal memory, an internal motion sensor, and both quad-band GSM and CDMA radios, including 3G data on both network standards. The famous Blackberry messaging capability is present, along with the ability to edit Microsoft Office documents on the device, and turn-by-turn GPS with Verizon's VZ Navigator software.
Blackberrys are often the weapon of choice of business users to communicate and stay organized, deployed by the thousands at companies around the world. They've traditionally been a bit short on multimedia capabilities and the fun factor, things the Storm looks to address. But will the Storm stand up to the iPhone 3G and other well-rounded and highly-capable smartphones? We've got our test unit in hand and are working on our in-depth review and scientific testing as you read this. While you wait for that, we've got some first impressions for you...
Fancy the Samsung Instinct but strapped for cash? Then you can try participating in a new contest by Samsung USA. Just come up with a haiku which talks about” the sense of touch, sight or hearing “ of the Instinct and you may just get lucky. Go to UseYourInstinct Twitter account for more information.
Sprint confirmed today that the Samsung Instinct will be available on June 20th for $129.99. Although Sprint has not been confirmed before we've heard numbers ranging from $200 - $300, which indicates that Sprint may be moving to cut the price in order to better compete with the new $199 iPhone. Like the iPhone the Instinct is a touch screen phone with advanced capabilities, although it does not run a smart phone operating system. We expect to get our review phone in shortly and we'll have our usual thorough review up shortly thereafter, so keep an eye on the site.
As expected Sprint's main event today featured the Samsung Instinct (article). The Instinct is a new touch screen device, meant to compete with the iPhone. We picked up a couple of screen shots and some video for you, which you can see after the break.
We took a close look at the Samsung F480 at the Showstoppers event last night. Our impressions were, interesting but not ground breaking. We like Samsung's new touchscreen interface with widgets and the screen seems to be fairly responsive, albeit not as responsive as an iPhone (review). It is a litte better than what we saw from the LG Prada (review) and HTC Touch (review), however. We asked if the widget system used on the phone would be opened up for third party applications and the only answer we got was not at this time. We did like the look of the five megapixel camera with auto-focus, image stabilization and face detection. We even got the face detection to work. Video after the jump.
AT&T is going to be picking up the LG VU come the beginning of May. The touch screen handset is similar to the LG Prada (review) but supports AT&T's 3G network and has an updated web browser. It also sports a 2 megapixel auto-focus camera and AT&T's mobile TV service with an extendable antenna. When we reviewed the Prada we remarked that we found it's touch screen interface to be fairly responsive, but that was in the days before the iPhone (review). We'll see if LG has improved the experience with the VU when we get one in for review in the near future.
At Barcelona, Spain Sony Ericsson unveiled two new touch screen based phones, the G700 and G900. The new cellphones claim to be an amalgamation of style and functionality as Sony is calling them “Touchscreen organisers”.
The G700 will launch in Silk Bronze and the G900 will launch in Dark Red and Dark Brown. Both are UMTS 2100 and GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 phones that will be available in selected markets from Q2 2008.
ASUS and iRiver announced the "iRiver GSM phone" at the CES whose sole rival would be you guessed it, the ubiquitous iPhone. Its quite apparent that iRiver wants to play their cards right and not fall in the trap of “contract phone”.
The "iRiver GSM phone" will be an unlocked GSM 3G phone and would feature a 3-inch, 480x272 touch screen and a Linux OS. Other features would include; a two-megapixel camera with camcorder, an Adobe Flash player, GPS and mobile TV.
"It would be ridiculous for the phone to be 2G or 2.5G at this time," said iRiver spokesman Owen Kwon. Kwon added that the phone will be "more affordable" than the iPhone.
The HTC Touch Dual sans Wi-Fi finally made its European debut. Lack of Wi-Fi comes as a surprise since one saw it appearing on the Japanese version. Running on the Windows Mobile 6 Professional OS, one also comes across the TouchFLO interface on the smartphone.
Measuring 107 x 55 x 15.8-mm, one finds support for WCDMA/HSDPA 2100MHz and GSM/EDGE 900/1800/1900MHz. Other specs include; a 400MHz Qualcomm MSM7200 processor; 256MB flash and a 2.6-inch QVGA touch-screen.
HTC today unveiled their lineup for the fourth quarter of 2007. In addition to a version of their Touch device with a slide out keyboard/keypad called the Touch Dual they have also added the HTC S730, an update to their small candy bar smart phone with a slide out QWERTY Keyboard. The S730 adds 3G support and a faster processor compared to its predecessor the S710. The third phone unveiled was the HTC P6500. This is a larger handset with a 3.5 inch touch screen and includes enterprise focused tools like a barcode and fingerprint scanning capabilities.
The Touch Dual is interesting because it will be coming in two variants, one with a standard phone keypad and another with a "suretype-esque" QWERTY keyboard. It will also be sporting an updated version of HTC's TouchFlo technology, which allows you to more easily interact with the touch screen using just your fingers. Unfortunately it is still a Tri-Band GSM device and only supports the European/Asian flavor of 3G. We have to admit we find this a little annoying. HTC has been a leader in creating phones that support global GSM and 3G standards and they seem to have abandoned this with the Touch Dual.
Tis the season of designer phones. It is now Samsung’s turn to go the designer route as the company announced its collaboration with designer Giorgio Armani recently. Samsung and Armani unveiled the Armani-Samsung during a Giorgio Armani fashion show in Milan, Italy.
The phone will feature a 3MP camera, MicroSD Card, a 2.6 inch LCD touch screen with a vibration effect and will be bundled with a stereo Bluetooth headset and a Giorgio Armani leather case. The Armani-Samsung device is expected to launch in November and should retail for around 400 Euros ($563).
“This powerful partnership will match great design with leading technology to ensure performance is as impressive as appearance," said Yun Jong-Yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics.
The Samsung SGH-F700 aka the Croix will be available in Europe beginning early November on Vodafone's 3G broadband (HSDPA) network. Vodafone users will be able to fully make use of the phone’s 3.6 Mbps HSDPA capabilities and experience fast access to the Internet.
"We are proud to introduce this new type of innovative multimedia handset. Not only have we considered the latest technology, but also the usability to enhance the user's multimedia experience," said Geesung Choi, President of Samsung's Telecommunications Network Business. "This multimedia driven handset is designed for consumers who wish to stand out from the crowd, showcasing unrivaled performance, advanced functionality and world-class design."
The uber-hip Samsung F700 smart phone just got rechristened to Croix, which means “Cross” in French. No it doesn’t denotes any religious preference and the name is indicative of its cool four-directional touch input. he mobile phone includes a slide-out QWERTY keyboard with a 5-megapixel cameras and HSDPA connectivity. Pretty neat stuff but do you think it can dethrone the iPhone as predicted by certain mobile pundits?
Looks like the almighty iPhone has some competition. The new LG U990 or “Viewty" (yes, that left us flummoxed too) is already been touted as an “iPhone killer”, however for now we reserve our judgments.
The swanky new touch screen phone has a 5MP camera to its credit and Schneider Kreuznach optics. However that’s not where the goodness stops as the handset also supports 3G HSDPA, has 170MB of internal memory, a 240 x 400 touchscreen and a music player. Details are scarce, but this one will stay on our radar, so keep watching this space.
We've seen some great inventions come out of China, like the Great Wall, General Tso's chicken and don't forget that perennial favorite, paper. Now comes two devices looking to outdo the pen and ink style paper with full-face touchscreen mobile phones... but don't quite make it.
First, the first full-touchscreen Hello Kitty phone to our knowledge. Not only does it have the fatty touch screen, but it also rocks special LEDs on the side of phone that utilize persistence of vision to create messages. A standard 1.3 megapixel camera and MicroSD support make sure the phone is at least average, other than the nameplate. Hate to break it to US-based fans of Kitty and company, but this phone, even if imported, won't work on any US bands of GSM; it's a dual-band 900/1800 GSM phone.
Second on our trek of imported phones is an iPhone clone that doesn't look half bad. We don't really care to elaborate on the specs, and a picture is worth a thousand words, so check out the video below.
Blackberry's first touchscreen device and bold competitor to the iPhone will be available from Verizon for $199 starting November 21. The Storm features a 3.25" hi-resolution display, a 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, 1GB of internal memory, an internal motion sensor, and both quad-band GSM and CDMA radios, including 3G data on both network standards. The famous Blackberry messaging capability is present, along with the ability to edit Microsoft Office documents on the device, and turn-by-turn GPS with Verizon's VZ Navigator software.
Fancy the Samsung Instinct but strapped for cash? Then you can try participating in a new contest by Samsung USA. Just come up with a haiku which talks about” the sense of touch, sight or hearing “ of the Instinct and you may just get lucky. Go to 
As expected Sprint's main event today featured the Samsung Instinct (
We took a close look at the Samsung F480 at the Showstoppers event last night. Our impressions were, interesting but not ground breaking. We like Samsung's new touchscreen interface with widgets and the screen seems to be fairly responsive, albeit not as responsive as an iPhone (
AT&T is going to be picking up the LG VU come the beginning of May. The touch screen handset is similar to the LG Prada (
At Barcelona, Spain
ASUS and iRiver announced the "iRiver GSM phone" at the CES whose sole rival would be you guessed it, the ubiquitous iPhone. Its quite apparent that iRiver wants to play their cards right and not fall in the trap of “contract phone”.
HTC today unveiled their lineup for the fourth quarter of 2007. In addition to a version of their Touch device with a slide out keyboard/keypad called the Touch Dual they have also added the HTC S730, an update to their small candy bar smart phone with a slide out QWERTY Keyboard. The S730 adds 3G support and a faster processor compared to its predecessor the S710. The third phone unveiled was the HTC P6500. This is a larger handset with a 3.5 inch touch screen and includes enterprise focused tools like a barcode and fingerprint scanning capabilities.
The uber-hip Samsung F700 smart phone just got rechristened to Croix, which means “Cross” in French. No it doesn’t denotes any religious preference and the name is indicative of its cool four-directional touch input. he mobile phone includes a slide-out QWERTY keyboard with a 5-megapixel cameras and HSDPA connectivity. Pretty neat stuff but do you think it can dethrone the iPhone as predicted by certain mobile pundits?
We've seen some great inventions come out of China, like the Great Wall, General Tso's chicken and don't forget that perennial favorite, paper. Now comes two devices looking to outdo the pen and ink style paper with full-face touchscreen mobile phones... but don't quite make it.