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CeBIT 2006. Samsung introduces the new leading model

Samsung seems to have a soft corner for positioning itself as the pioneer in certain technical fields. To tell truth, many of the revolutionary devices have been presented by this company in particular, though due to high expenses, size and complicated manufacturing process, these models frequently don’t hit the shelves of retail stores at all. Such handsets, created for the European market, are the ones armed with a camera providing resolution more than 5 Mpix – these phones from year to year wander from one exhibition to another, though haven’t been released yet. Over the last few months the company has seriously reconsidered its strategy in order to make its announcements more practical in the near future, aiming not only at PR and building the image of a manufacturer, which offers only all-new solutions, but also at being instantly efficient. At this year’s CeBIT, maybe only Samsung and BenQ have saved some temper from the 3GSM Congress, as stands of these two manufacturers attracted our entire attention.

At the press-conference one could see beautifully designed letters 10M 8G, laid with roses – in fact, it wasn’t a coincidence.

Interpreting these abbreviations is a simple task – 10M stands for 10 Mpix, since exactly a matrix of this type is incorporated into model B600. This handset is intended for CDMA 2000 1xEVDO networks and therefore not aimed at the European market, and appears to be a piece of exotics. The manufacturer puts emphasis not only on the camera module, but on a specially developed system for increasing quality of taken pictures in the conditions of pure illumination. Moreover, light-emitting diode backlight system, announced in this phone, is integrated into a mobile device for the first time. The handset also has a space television receiver onboard (Satellite DMB standard). Among other specifications, there is a QVGA-display with the diagonal measuring 2.2 inches, capable of displaying up to 16 mln colors. The other technical characteristics of the device are similar to the current top-models of the company; a noteworthy fact – the handset uses MMCmicro memory cards. This type of external storage will soon become widely-spread in GSM-devices as well. On the Korean market B600 will be released in June at the price of 750 USD

In its turn, 8G refers to 8 gigabytes, as it’s the new storage size of model Samsung i310, which will replace i300x, equipped only with 4 Gb of built-in memory. оснащенной 4 Гб памяти. Out of the innovations, we should note that now it is powered by Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone operating system (in the previous models the developers didn’t have time to apply it). Also the camera got changed, as it features 2 Mpix matrix now, among other specifications, the device traditionally supports Bluetooth And A2DP profile, which lets listening to music in wireless headset. Those, who still consider the built-in storage too small, are at liberty to use microSD memory cards.

The approximate price of the model, scheduled for the release in October, is 600 Euros – obviously, this handset isn’t targeted at mass audience.

The company managed to gain a number of rewards for its new products’ design – to be precise, these were two iF Design Awards in 2006, granted to the sliders manufactured by Samsung - D500 and D600. The RedDot Award was conferred on Samsung P300, which, actually reminds of a calculator in many respects. The review of this device you can find here>>>

The company is increasing number of products made in the form-factor of slider – one of the newcomers, introduced on the exhibition, is Samsung Z400. According to the developers’ intentions, this device should become something like D600, but for the third generation networks. The major differences lie in a slimmer design – the new handset measures 97 x 48 x 18.4, and weights 107 grams. The phone has a 2 Mpix camera incorporated, as well as TV Out, Picsel Viewer, however what really spoils the overall impression is amount of the built-in memory, which equals 30 Mb – it’s a consequence of firmware size increase. On the whole, the model is of a certain interest, though its positioning raises doubts, since the company hasn’t announced the price yet. But it seems that it will vary from 280 to 300 Euros, and in that case the handset is going to be a really interesting solution.

Model Z550 is presented as an analogue to Z400 with more built-in memory onboard, EDGE support and two stereo loudspeakers. In all other specifications these two handsets are almost twins with some minor differences. As to associations with the current line-up, one could remember such devices as Samsung D800 and Samsung D820, though the difference between them is even bigger than between the abovementioned phones.

And now, we can finally start describing the new top-model of Samsung product line, model D870. It may sound strange, but this device doesn’t represent the third generation, as it operates in standard tri-band GSM networks and has EDGE support onboard. As a matter of fact, the developers have taken all the pros from D600, and added a 3 Mpix camera, integrated support for all most popular audio codecs (MP3 / AAC / ACC+ / AAC+ (e)), capabilities of switching MP3 player to background mode. The company places main emphasis on the product’s form-factor and on its slimness, since the handset is only 13 mm thick. The phone measures 103.5х51х13 mm and weights 93 grams. There are also 80 Mb of the built-in memory and a slot for MicroSD memory cards. By tradition, the developers applied Picsel Viewer, and provided support for all main Bluetooth profiles, including A2DP.

In this very handset, the company decided to partially change the interface’s appearance; in fact this is becoming a new tendency in all lately announced phones. Even though the adjustments are not striking, they are rather pertinent, and several functions can give a lot of positive experience while working with the handset. For example, a number of devices are equipped with a possibility of choosing which way the numbers will be entered in – this may be the hand-written type (goose-quill on parchment with corresponding sound effects), or numbers in appearance of mosaic, put together from stickers. It’s good to see that the company gradually increases ergonomics of its platform.

In D870 among unusual we will note business cards scanner – you need only to take a picture of a card in order to let the device recognize it in a minute and match information stated on this card to corresponding fields in the phonebook. Nevertheless the function can be properly performed only in conditions of good illumination and stable hands, otherwise the recognized symbols are informational garbage Taking into account that it’s a standard phone, rather a smartphone, appearance of this function looks very promising. At present it’s incorporated only into D870 and Z710 (UMTS-clamshell is similar to D870 in many respects).

The company is planning to release D870 in the begging of this summer at the price of 420-440 Euros. At the same time, I got an impression that the device will obtain proper conditions and functionality only by the end of August – beginning of September. And I will be happy if my prediction will never come true. By the way, photos taken with the help of Samsung’s 3 Mpix camera will be featured in a separate article on our page in the beginning of the next week, and for the time being you can check out two samples below.

Model Samsung E900 is some kind of D870 analogue with a 2 Mpix camera, absence of several business-functions and a more common menu’s appearance. The device will be positioned as a fashion handset with all consequences following from this.

Z710 is just another clamshell, which adopted all Samsung’s technologies, available at present. Should you seek for a phone with 3 Mpix camera featuring CCD module – this is what you’re looking for. Need a radio module and a very good MP3 player – they are at your service here. You are desperate for the third generation? No problems, here it is. We can list all the specifications for ages, that’s why in order to make the things shorter, we will say that the review of this phone will be available on out site the next week.

And for a start we offer you some photos taken with this phone – actually they are not of high quality, as it could be expected from a CCD-matrix. But there is a secret, which will be revealed in our upcoming review.