Samsung's M8400 features WM6.5, a 3.7in AMOLED screen, WiMAX, DVBT and a 5MP AF camera. Given that configuration and the size, it looks to me more like an updated OMNIA II variant for the Korean market, which also implies we're unlikely to see it outside of Korea. Still it's nice to see Samsung isn't standing pat.

Update – Samsung has issued a statement refuting the original DigiTimes article:

“Samsung is an initial member of Symbian Foundation and continues to cooperate with Symbian Foundation. At the same time, Samsung supports various existing open operating systems including Symbian, Linux, Android, and Windows Mobile. To provide more choices to meet consumers’ many different tastes and preferences, we will continue our ‘multi-OS’ strategy. Our policy is to provide what consumers want when they need.”

Samsung has announced its new open internal mobile OS initiative in Bada (Korean for ocean) and as a result will cease developing its current Symbian variant in order to focus on Windows Mobile, Android and Bada in 2010.  Samsung was one of the few Asian manufacturers to support Symbian development outside of Nokia and actively licensed the early smartphone OS from the Finnish manufacturer for its own line of internally developed smart devices for sale in South Korea, which also featured other Samsung developments such as the TouchWiz user interface.

Samsung will officially launch Bada in December with a press event and beta SDK for interested developers.

Sprint has launched the Samsung Intrepid Windows Phone smart device with international roaming support.

As preiously reported the device features a 2.5-inch QVGA resolution touchscreen display, QWERTY keyboard, 3.2 megapixel camera with video recorder, Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional, stereo Bluetooth, microSDHC expansion slot, Wi-Fi radio, pre-installed SIM card with quadband GSM/EDGE support for international roaming and speakerphone.

The device is available now for $149.99 with a new two-year service agreement, $50 instant savings and $100 mail-in rebate.

Samsung announced that it has developed, as it claims, the first Long Term Evolution modem that complies with the latest standards of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, which were released in March 2009.

The modem, branded the Kalmia, supports download speed up to 100Mbps and upload speed of 50Mbps within the 20MHz frequency bandwidth.

Not long after being launched, T-Mobile has reduced the post agreement pricing on the Samsung Comeback and Highlight phones.

The Samsung Comeback features a large internal landscape WQVGA display with QWERTY keyboard, quadband GSM/EDGE, dual-band 3G access, GPS support, 2.0 megapixel camera with video recorder, speakerphone, microSDHC expansion slot and Bluetooth with stereo audio support.

The Highlight features the TouchWiz user interface, quadband GSM/EDGE and dual-band 1700/2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA data access, 3.0 megapixel camera with video recorder, media player and a microSDHC expansion slot. Additional features include Bluetooth, GPS support via A-GPS and T-Mobile Navigator, accelerometer for automatic screen rotation from portait to landscape with full suppoert for either orientation and speakerphone.

The Comeback is now priced at $74.99 after a steeper $125 instant online discount, while the Highlight is priced at $129.99 after an equally high $150 instant online discount, both with new 2 year agreement.

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Samsung has announced the forthcoming launch of the Samsung SGH-T749 Highlight for T-Mobile.

The phone which was previously reported on by PhoneNews.com features the TouchWiz user interface, quadband GSM/EDGE and dual-band 1700/2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA data access, 3.0 megapixel camera with video recorder, media player and a microSDHC expansion slot.

The Highlight also features Bluetooth, GPS support via A-GPS and T-Mobile Navigator, T-Mobile’s improved web2go Internet services which feature a new touchscreen supported user interface for one finger control, accelerometer for automatic screen rotation from portait to landscape with full suppoert for either orientation and speakerphone.

The Highlight will cost $150 after rebates with new agreement and will be available starting Wednesday.

Update: T-Mobile has launched the phone for $329.99 full retail, or $199.99 before an additional $50 mail-in rebate, bringing the total to $149.99.

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Many anonymous Sprint reps are confirming the existence of the recently unknown Sprint Samsung InstinctQ with the model code of SPH-M900 thanks to the Wi-Fi Alliance outing the most bare  of specifications in an approval document (PDF).

Drawing on past release history, Samsung has reserved the SPH-x00 series numbering for milestone and flagship models and this one is no exception.

What is currently known about the Instinct Q is that it will feature a Wi-Fi radio and Bluetooth, with Sprint reps confirming other details such as the form factor which will be a wide aspect horizontal slider with a large touchscreen display and sliding QWERTY keyboard running an unknown version of Android.

Other sites have also claimed that the M900 would feature QChat and a 3.0 megapixel camera but that has not been confirmed by PhoneNews.com.

At this point, it is not clear whether this is the same device revealed by PhoneNews.com in May, or an altogether different device entirely. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the as yet unseen Samsung Dash is similar in description to the InstinctQ, but features BREW 4.0 instead of Android according to the most recently available roadmap.

PhoneNews.com will follow up with more details as they become known.

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, Verizon Wireless, CDMA

We're hearing a couple interesting tidbits of information from the same ultra-reliable tipster with regard to the Samsung Strut -- an LG Lotus-esque QWERTY clamshell that would fill a form factor gap in Verizon's lineup (albeit a form factor that didn't really exist a few months ago). First off, the tipster tells us that he's starting to see accessories flow in that specifically list Strut compatibility; this doesn't necessarily mean anything since none of the accessories are exclusive to the Strut, but it's interesting nonetheless. On the flipside, he also tells us that the Strut firmware in Verizon's system is nearly a frickin' year old, which is pushing the boundaries of a phone that the carrier would still be planning to release. At this point, it's entirely possible the phone got canned at some point along the way -- but it's also possible it'll launch any day now. Anyone super excited about it either way?

Samsung Strut still coming to Verizon? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joining the Dash 3G, T-Mobile is set to launch another touch-oriented handset in the Samsung SGH-T749 Highlight.

Image courtesy of TmoNews

The Highlight will have a similar featureset as the Behold with a large touchscreen display, microSDHC expansion slot, A-GPS support, 3G support, Bluetooth with stereo audio support, media player, USB port, 3.1 megapixel camera with video recorder, and HTML browser.

Pricing details are not available at this time.

This is an unboxing and first impressions video of the AT&T Samsung Jack, a Windows Mobile Standard 6.1 smartphone that is an upgrade from the Samsung Blackjack II. Ignore the fact that this new phone has the same name as the Blackjack II in Canada - at least, that's what Samsung and AT&T are hoping you'll do. As of June 2009, the Samsung Jack can be bought from AT&T for $99 with a two-year contract.

The Samsung Jack is a 3G GSM phone - it's a quad-band phone, giving you EDGE data and voice anywhere in the world, and for 3G is has 850/1900/2100 frequencies. That's an extra 3G band than most phones have, so AT&T is claiming that you'll have 3G access in 65+ countries around the world. The Jack has a 528 Mhz CPU, 256 MB of RAM, 256 MB of ROM, GPS, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), a QWERTY keyboard, and a microSDHC slot. Samsung has said this phone is upgrade-ready for Windows Mobile 6.5, but no real comittment has been made regarding offering the operating system. Check out the video, and if you have any questions, post 'em and I'll do my best to answer.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog.

Do you enjoy using new hardware, software and accessories, then sharing your experience with others? Then join us on the Thoughts Media Review Team! We're looking for individuals who find it fun to test new gear and give their honest opinions about the experience. It's a volunteer role with some great perks. Interested? Then click here for more information.

Samsung Mobile announced at CTIA WIRELESS 2009 in Las Vagas the upcoming availability of the Samsung Mondi, advanced mobile WiMAX enabled handheld device. The touch screen Mondi is designed for use with the Clear mobile WiMAX service from Clearwire.

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, EV-DO, CDMA, US Cellular

We had an inkling that Samsung's SCH-r470 was headed for US Cellular, and without getting all melodramatic, we'll just inform you that it is. The surprisingly stylish flip phone, more enjoyably called the TwoStep, features a 1.3 megapixel camera, a multimedia player, stereo speakers, a microSD card, Bluetooth, Burnt Orange / Red / Purple hues and a battery good for up to three hours of talk time. Anxious to get your mind around prices and specs? Tough luck.

Samsung's SCH-r470 TwoStep now official on US Cellular originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 11 Jan 2009 09:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Following up on last month’s rollout of the third major Samsung Instinct firmware update, Sprint has announced it has begun to roll out the promised Mobile Work Email Calendar Update for Instinct users that use the aforementioned application.

As reported previously, the update enables access to Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, 2003, or 2007 accounts and IBM Lotus Domino accounts with full daily or monthly views, appointment view, and full configuration of reminders and potential event conflicts.

The update also enables full editing capability of existing appointments, acceptance or decline of meeting requests, and creation of new single-date, multi-date or all-day appointments along with deletion of appointments and meetings.

All changes made are automatically synchronized with the desktop calendar without having to manually synchronize.  The update is available at no extra charge and is available by going into the Email client, with the service being extended to other Sprint non-smartphones in the near future.

The launch by Samsung in the UK this week of what it claims is Europe's first 8 megapixel camera phone is being seen as an attempt to highlight shortcomings in the iPhone.
A number of other handset vendors are preparing to launch similar high-end camera phones in time for the Christmas period.

Samsung has accepted Nokia's offer to buy out its stake in software firm Symbian, and Nokia now has acceptances from all Symbian shareholders to sell their shares.
Nokia said in June it would buy out other shareholders of UK-based smartphone software maker Symbian and make its software royalty-free to other phone makers in response to new rivals such as Google.

Smartphone sales in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) market reached 12.57 million units in the second quarter of 2008, representing a 28.2 per cent on-year growth, according to market research firm Canalys.
While the results signal the second biggest quarter ever in volume terms for “converged” devices, the growth was the lowest level recorded in the past 18 months.

Samsung has launched the i8510, its first 8-megapixel camera phone, which comes with autofocus features, face recognition, image stabilizer, and flash.
The smartphone uses the Symbian v9.3 operating system and features on-board software that allows users to edit and personalise photos.

We run down every angle of Instinct. The iPhone competitor has the right features, but how does Instinct stack up against the competition? Read more to find out…

First Impressions, General Phone Functionality

The first question on everyone’s mind is, does the touch screen work? While iPhone has arguably the best touch screen in the industry, its competition has failed to meet that standard. From the good in HTC’s Touch, to the bad in LG’s Prada, to the downright ugly in Verizon’s Voyager… simply saying a phone has a touch screen doesn’t say much at all.

Thankfully, Instinct has a good touch screen. In fact, of the non-PDA touch phones out there, Instinct is the best. Is it as good as iPhone? No, it doesn’t have multi-touch, and it isn’t as accurate, but we haven’t found a touch phone that comes closer.

After the first touch, Instinct starts to get interesting… it’s not a typical Sprint phone at all.

BREWed to Perfection?

After suffering the horrors of the Verizon User Interface, seeing that Sprint had touched every corner of the device’s interface at first made our blood pressure rise. When carriers start messing around with the interface of a phone, the result usually is a device that gets a lot of low scores all over the place from us.

What Sprint has done though is made every application and service provider create custom, BREW-based versions of their applications to run on Instinct. In case you don’t know, BREW is a competitor to Java, the application platform Sprint uses. Java is open to anyone for application development, BREW isn’t.

What does this all mean? It means you get a consistent application experience. Everything just works. And, it does a few things even better than iPhone. For example, each time you launch an application… it automatically checks for a software update for the app. Rather than make folks wait for a firmware update, Instinct has the edge of being able to update every phone, all at once, simply when people open the application. That’s how it should be. Even Apple makes you load the App Store to check for updates, as well as wait for firmware updates to patch their own applications.

The interface is well-polished. Sprint’s uiOne efforts have paid off in this device, creating an interface that actually is better than what a typical Samsung phone has. There’s consistency without any hinderances. And, the lack of being hindered is key, because that is the main objection to Verizon’s User Interface.

Things get better, despite being in BREW, you can still run all the free Java applications out there as well. And, thanks to earlier devices like UpStage, Instinct’s Java apps work fine with the touch screen.

Live > Google?

Instinct is one of the first phones to feature integrated Windows Live Search for free location based directory searches. Unfortunately, this is not something that you can pair up against Google Maps or Apple Maps. Live Search on Instinct only allows for directory listings, and map viewing from there. It’s not as complete an offering as Live Search for Windows Mobile, but it does have the same excellent voice recognition.

Sprint Navigation however, makes up well for this. There’s no question here, Instinct is a better GPS phone than iPhone or iPhone 3G. Live, 3D, voice-cued GPS navigation… and it all works with traffic data too.

Best of the rest…

Text messaging, visual voicemail, and the like all just work. Even they automatically check for updates too. You don’t have to wait for a firmware update for Sprint to improve visual voicemail, and you don’t have to ask for it either.

Voice quality, on the phone or Bluetooth, is excellent. Better than iPhone, and edges out iPhone 3G. While iPhone 3G has an improved earpiece, microphone, and speaker, Instinct doesn’t require juggling the device around the ear.

We did not test phone-as-modem in our review. Others have reported sluggish speed over Bluetooth, but perfect EV-DO Rev A speeds when using USB.

And, the camera is excellent. It’s a shame that iPhone 3G didn’t rise to the occasion, but Samsung certainly made sure that Instinct’s camera works twice as good as Apple.

Email. This is an interesting one. The experience is different from iPhone. But, it works quite well for reading. The Mobile Email is integrated at the OS level, auto-checks, and plays nice with IMAP. It’s a super-charged version of the Mobile Email app for other Sprint phones. It’s nice, at times a little sluggish. Where it misses though, is that it has all the same problems iPhone had before its 2.0 software bump. Namely, it’s a pain to mass-delete email, and has poor push functionality.

While the email app does feature push support, it’s actually a bit annoying. We just turned it off. This is compounded by the fact that Instinct, like iPhone, lacks any spam detection software. So, you can be constantly nagged by spam.

We did not test Instinct’s new Exchange/Outlook integration, the successor to PCS Business Connection. However, reader reports are that it works well.

One bad thing… well, two bad things.

Unfortunately, there is one huge problem with Instinct. And that’s the lack of an App Store. Yes, Instinct can run Java applications. But, Instinct is more powerful than what Java J2ME really was designed for. As such, the applications out there, for the most part, can’t come close to the technical excellence of Apple’s App Store.

What’s worse, is that this appears to be more of a business decision, than a technical one. Instinct’s counterpart in Korea, does have an App Store… and one that allows for AU-MIC OS apps to be written and submitted, just like iPhone OS apps on Apple. (Instinct is powered by the AU-MIC Operating System).

We’re not entirely sure why they did that. But it does make us want to have an iPhone 3G in our pockets instead.

And the other bad thing…

One would think that a phone designed to answer iPhone, would have a solid web browser. Be it Opera, Picsel, or someone else… it does not make sense that Instinct has as bad of a web browser as it does.

It’s really bad. The TV ads show someone ordering something online. We don’t think that’s possible, unless it’s a circa 1990s web site. The phone chokes on desktop web sites, while it does play quite well with mobile web sites.

Worse, Samsung tried to innovate in areas that don’t even make sense. They attempted to use the camera as an optional accelerometer for scrolling web pages simply by moving the device. One, it doesn’t work. And, two, the web browser is so poor that you couldn’t benefit from the functionality to begin with.

Conclusions

While I don’t think the flaws in Instinct will be fixed, I’d love to be proven wrong. There’s nothing preventing an App Store with a firmware update. There’s nothing stopping Samsung from “updating” the web browser with a whole new one. But, let’s be realistic; these are selling points that Samsung can use to make you buy another Instinct.

Can we suggest Instinct? Sure, with reservations. The first being, don’t think it’s an iPhone. It isn’t, though it comes close (and surpasses the device) in many aspects. Second, don’t expect it to have a good web browser. Unfortunately, the best web browser on Sprint right now… is an HTC Mogul slinging Wi-Fi to an iPod touch. And, third, be happy with the functionality that comes out-of-the-box, you won’t be getting more.

And, if you’re on SERO, or a grandfathered Sprint plan, Sprint’s artificial (and truly, technically, needless) plan requirements (that you must use a Simply Everything plan), make us suggest a PDA or Smartphone instead. It’s certainly not worth the added $480/year in needless plan costs. For that money, you can buy an HTC phone without a contract.

That said, this phone may help Sprint get back on track. It’s a good phone that needs some work. It remains to be seen if Sprint will do the right thing and push through to make those improvements happen. As usual though, we encourage buyers to take a device for what it is, not what it can be. And, right now, Instinct is the king of answers-to-iPhone… but it is no iPhone.

Pros: Best non-smartphone on Sprint, great GPS, great camera, great unified offering, EV-DO Rev A.
Cons: Awful web browser, no App Store, artificial plan limitations.
Final Score: 4/5 

Some impressive mobile phone product launches between now and the year-end will help the world’s mobile handset markets finish 2008 with strong sales, according to ABI Research.
Spurred on by the launch of Apple’s second-generation iPhone, rival handset vendors such as RIM, Nokia and Samsung are also expected to debut new models in the second half of 2008.

Gone are the days of the hippie “magic of SprintSpeed” ads that we nailed would fail.

Now, Sprint is trying to promote actual devices by actually showing the features they can perform with. And, to tie into Sprint’s Instinct Product Placement sweepstakes, they made a TV ad that tries to both be a bit corney, but show what Instinct can do.

Instinct Product Placement - High Definition (720p), H.264 (16.5 MB)
Instinct Product Placement - Standard Definition & iPhone, H.264 (16.4 MB)

South Korean regulations requiring handset applications to be based on a homegrown technology are largely why the country’s mobile phone market is dominated by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.
As a result of the WIPI ruling – the acronym stands for wireless internet platform for interoperability - foreign companies have found it too expensive to produce handsets tailored for South Korean consumers.
Nokia is virtually absent in the country and Motorola is a minor competitor with less than 5 per cent of the market. Apple has kept its iPhone out of the market because of the WIPI rule.
Yet international handset makers are keen to enter South Korea, one of the world’s most technologically advanced and expensive telecoms markets.
Now President Lee Myung-bak’s newly elected government has expressed a willingness to soften the WIPI rule, potentially opening the door to foreign handset makers.

As pricing details continue to emerge about the new iPhone, one analyst estimates that Apple stands to make more from each device than previously thought.
Gene Munster, of investment bank Piper Jaffray, said that AT&T’s complete official pricing for iPhone 3G units suggests Apple is making more from the reportedly abundant iPhone stock than estimated in the past.
Although the US$199 starting price is much lower for the customers themselves, the US$599 pay-as-you-go price suggests that the carrier subsidy cuts much deeper.
If so, then this hides potentially greater profits for Apple, which could be asking US$500 for each iPhone versus an earlier estimate of US$425.
“This discrepancy leads us to believe our [average selling price] is conservative,” said Munster.
The analyst said that a change of this level would boost Apple’s revenue for 2009 by eight per cent.

The Samsung Instinct, touted as a worthy rival to the iPhone, has gone on sale in the US at a reduced price.
Wireless phone network Sprint is offering the touchscreen handset for USD$129.99.
The drop in price from the expected USD$ 199.99 is a move clearly intended to fuel rivalry with the new iPhone before it comes on the market next month.
Sprint’s an unlimited data plan (at $69.99 per month) and two year contract agreement are similar to AT&T’s iPhone options.