New models by Samsung in the 4th quarter of 2005

The company of Samsung has always been noted for its offering lots of models the greater part of which have never come into the market. The color and form-factor variety of phones based on one platform and possessing similar performance makes for the appearance a broad model series. In the 4th quarter the company is also pursuing its strategy and hence announced the release of several products. The distinction from the preceding months lies in that the company has several models of various price segments to be leaders. If it goes, the whole series sales will increase. On the other hand, it will put both customers and distributors to complete confusion. Four or five leaders will be introduced simultaneously as it used to be. Now we are telling about the new models.

Samsung E360. Nolens volens the model’s index is associated with Motorola v360 determined as a not expensive devise for listening to music. Unlike Motorola, the Samsung models is not equipped with interchangeable memory cards and one has to be satisfied with just the embedded memory. All the samples I have seen have 40 Mb, meanwhile the model was announced to have 80 Mb. Even if the memory capacity reaches 80 Mb, the situation will be still the same since the most of customers prefer devices of 256 Mb and more. The model’s price is not too low to be a low-end one.

It is an embedded FM tuner that redeems the music box’s position. The presence of EDGE seems unordinary since the technology does not have a wide distribution among devices of the current class. The novelty weighs 79 g and its dimensions are 87x45x22.5 mm. Other characteristics are usual to the company’s models; they are Voice Clarity, Bluetooth, 40 instrument polyphony, MP3 ring tones (no combination mode, only vibra and forth melody). The preinstalled mail client is foolproof and new application download is supported as well (there is a 4 Mb memory pool). The external OLED screen has resolution 80x64 points. The internal TFT screen is of 128x160 points. An embedded VGA camera support video recording. A Li-Ion battery has capacity of 800 mAh.

The model is rather contradictory and due to memory card slot lacking the model is restricted in music characteristics and the external player control is unnecessarily. The company will promote the phone a great deal, but no one knows whether it would be selling well. The price will equals $240-250 approximately.

Samsung E770. It is a slim plastic clamshell (19.5 mm thick but it seems thinner) with mp3 player control on the outer panel. A voice-activated control is first fully supported through Bluetooth, including car hands free. The device has a memory card slot and a TFT screen showing 262K colors. The model is very nice and can get an updated series leader. An embedded 1.3 megapixel camera and the other functions are similar to standard devices by Samsung.

Samsung D800/D820. The evident success of RAZR by Motorola gives no rest to many companies, including Samsung. In order to strengthen in the image segment the company has created slim sliders, 2 in number. There is a great difference between the models, the senior model being equipped with a MicroSD (TransFlash) memory card slot.

The models are alike in appearance — black lacquered plastic and silvery details. The phone weighs 90 g and its dimensions are 100x52x18.8 mm. Samsung D600E served as a basis for the novelty and was set in the new models’ body. There are some functions the sliders succeeded to the leader; they are MS Office documents viewing, Picsel Viewer for Adobe PDF, 64 toned polyphony, MP3/ACC player and QVGA screen showing 262K color.

Despite their little thick, the models are rather big and comparable in height with the most of monoblocks. They lack functionality advantages and yield to Samsung D600 in this respect and it is only the design left. No one knows whether this design will be in demand, they would have their own adherents however. The prices of D800 and D820 are $450 and $500 correspondingly and do not seem justified. There is little newness in the devices, for both hardware and design inventions are compiled once again. By our estimate, the novelties are unlikely to face D600’s success, though they will meet with a ready sale in the segment.

Samsung P300. It is the company’s another attempt to create a slim phone with unusual design. The company has first used metal for a body basis and the model is very similar to SLVR by Motorola in the respect. The model should be regarded as a trial balloon and it may be followed by other devices from metal.

The phone is 8.9 mm thick and the size is comparable to that of a credit card. The device is equipped with a stylish leather case. The device is fixed in the case with particular catches and you can speak on the phone with the case being on or out the phone. This case application is unordinary and has a fair chance to get acclimatized in the premium segment.

The model is identical to Samsung D500 in hardware - the same camera and other functions. A charge connector is integrated with a headset connector and forms a connector of a new type. The screen is turned upside down and is well matched with the phone. The device’s ergonomics evidently forms a disadvantage, for the phone is not handy. Besides, the keys are recessed too low and the zero button is forced out to the right and the navi button lacks an OK key. The model was manifestly created for outer effect fans and not for those who use a phone for calling.

The model price will equal $450-500. Except the appearance, it has no peculiarity. With regard to most P-series models having been unsuccessful, the phone is likely to have its lot with the predecessors. We are looking forward to new models of SLVR style by Motorola.

Samsung X490. It is the model coming to take Samsung X480’s place. The only difference lies in the radio installation and little design alternation. The model’s price is similar to that of X480 when released.

Samsung E910. The model was announced as a Serene and at presentation I was wholeheartedly convinced that the index Е910 did not exist. Besides the model identification as a Е910 when connected through Bluetooth, you can watch a slide from the presentation and see the product titled E910.

The reviews of the models are coming soon on the site. All of them are mostly ready.

Eldar Murtazin (eldar@mobile-review.com)
Translated by Maria Mitina (maria.mitina@mobile-review.com)

Published - 1 November 2005

Have something to add?! Write us... eldar@mobile-review.com

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