Samsung F480 hands-on at Engadget Mobile

The Samsung F480 is a pretty slick device, featuring the new TouchWiz UI, a 5 megapixel shooter, widgets that can be added and dragged about on the home screen, and input feedback via vibration. Check out the gallery of glorious pics of the phone in action over at Engadget Mobile right this second!

[Ty @ Feb 15th 2008 11:09AM]

Another iPhone wannabe that no one will look twice at if they have ever used an iPhone.

How desperate. How tedious.

[Argot @ Feb 15th 2008 1:00PM]

Most people won't look twice at the iPhone locked in piece of crap that it is. Not to mention that Apple stole the design from the LG Prada.

[Jeff @ Feb 15th 2008 1:01PM]

baahahahahaa @argot. You're hilarious.

[Boss @ Feb 15th 2008 2:41PM]

Funny how it looks better than the iphone. When apple makes an Iphone in black without the finger print attracting ugly silver back then we can start talking. There are dozens of phones that look way better than the iphone and have better features. The only advantage the iphone has is a better looking user interface for now.

Besides the majority of good phones are never sold by American carriers, and you have to buy them from cell phone shops that get their unlocked phones from the manufacturer. I'm convinced the majority of people who still buy phones at at&t/verizon are idiots since they can by the same phones for cheaper unlocked and just connect them with at&t. Idiots I tell you.

[Boss @ Feb 15th 2008 2:41PM]

Funny how it looks better than the iphone. When apple makes an Iphone in black without the finger print attracting ugly silver back then we can start talking. There are dozens of phones that look way better than the iphone and have better features. The only advantage the iphone has is a better looking user interface for now.

Besides the majority of good phones are never sold by American carriers, and you have to buy them from cell phone shops that get their unlocked phones from the manufacturer. I'm convinced the majority of people who still buy phones at at&t/verizon are idiots since they can by the same phones for cheaper unlocked and just connect them with at&t. Idiots I tell you.

[Raheem @ Feb 15th 2008 2:39PM]

Argot, I have the LG Prada and the iPhone, there is NO WAY that Apple 'stole' the design. They actually both look and feel totally different.

[Reid @ Feb 15th 2008 4:32PM]

Boss,

Your comment shows you don't know what you're talking about.

The back of the iPhone is a brushed metal finish, which attracts no fingerprints at all. I know this because I've actually seen one.

The shiny black plastic that Samsung typically uses shows fingerprints more than even a screen does. Trust me, I had a D500 (loved that phone). It was a bear to keep clean though.

Back to the real topic... This phone looks pretty cool, from the pictures at least. They went the opposite direction of the iPhone -- instead of using a full-size phone form factor with a huge screen and no buttons, Samsung shrunk a phone down so it's no larger than an ordinary phone's screen. Pretty cool.

Now Samsung, please package this phone with at least one ringer that sounds like a phone ringing. That was the only thing I disliked about my D500, all it had was fruity musical crap, not a single ringer that anyone other than a 12 year old girl could use. Thanks.

[Reid @ Feb 15th 2008 4:34PM]

Boss,

If I had taken the time, I would have realized your second comment made no sense either. Buying unlocked phones outside of a contract is NOT cheaper. I have almost always bought unlocked phones in the past, just for the convenience, but you don't save money. My Ericsson T39 cost me $300ish and the D500 was $400. You're right that consumers are stupid and think they have to use what the carriers force-feed them, but you're wrong when you say unlocked phones are cheaper. Why do you think they call them SUBSIDIZED phones?

[Argot @ Feb 15th 2008 5:15PM]

@Raheem:
Yeah, they look totally different.... *snicker*

http://www.techshout.com/images/lgprada-iphone.jpg

[Raheem @ Feb 16th 2008 6:20AM]

Lol I think you just proved MY point. The only similarity is the touch screen. Since when have most phones been different shapes? Are you saying this:-

http://img.hexus.net/v2/lifestyle/pressreleases/sonyericsson/w950_front_atangle_c.jpg

is a rip off of this?

http://images.ukgamer.com/reviews/350/medium_obview2.jpg

Similar forms, large screen, buttons?!

[Louis @ Feb 15th 2008 11:14AM]

Wow, that GUI doesn't look familiar.

[Tim @ Feb 15th 2008 11:15AM]

no not at all

[Oddish @ Feb 15th 2008 1:30PM]

Yes it does, it looks like the iPhone's. I wonder who Apple stole it from.

[GrossGreg @ Feb 15th 2008 11:17AM]

...it seems like the market is being flooded with designs based on the iPhone. Although the design/interface of the iPhone is nice, I hope innovation isn't stifled by companies essentially trying to replicate the iPhone.

[GrossGreg @ Feb 15th 2008 11:19AM]

It seems that I'm not the only one that feels this way.

[Blaktornado @ Feb 15th 2008 11:49AM]

Everyone bums Apple, duh.

[Andrew @ Feb 15th 2008 11:24AM]

If you actually click on the read link and check out the gallery, it really is quite different.
The 'Home' screen is totally different, as are most of the other areas.

Getting pretty tired of everybody screaming about the iPhone.

[AdamY @ Feb 15th 2008 11:36AM]

Really? You looked at that gallery and thought to yourself "This is totally not like the iPhone"?

I think that's disingenuous at best, and an outright lie at worst. I realize it's hard not to read iPhone stories (I think), but if you think about it, prior to the introduction of the iPhone, ask yourself, "How many finger-based input touchscreen phones were on the market?" Go ahead, I'll wait.

Done? Love it or hate it, the iPhone changed the game. MWC was filled with iPhone copycats. If you really want to stem the tide of the iPhone, don't buy it or products like it, but given that the iPhone now generates more mobile searches than any other mobile platform, you might just want to lock yourself in a bunker (or quit reading news about cell phones) if you're sick of hearing about the iPhone.

Or you could bury your head in the sand and tell yourself that this design, including its UI, wasn't influenced at all by Apple's product...

[Andrew @ Feb 15th 2008 11:48AM]

Don't put words in my mouth. I didn't say that the design wasn't influenced by the iPhone, they're designing this I'm sure to compete in that segment.

I'm referring strictly to the GUI design, and I don't think it looks like an iPhone interface clone.
In order for finger based touch-screens to work, you have to use large icons and large buttons, there really isn't another way to implement it.

Beyond the 'Home' screen being totally different, it even uses scroll bars still which the iPhone definitely doesn't. I don't think it's fair that every time a manufacturer releases a product that is a touchscreen, with big icons/buttons, and a grey/blue/white interface it's instantly an iPhone ripoff.

I think the iPhone is a great device, I live in Canada and I'm with a CDMA provider, I'd love an iPhone but unfortunately I won't be able to get one when they're released.

[Jeff @ Feb 15th 2008 1:08PM]

Andrew: that's like saying that Vista's silly little "Flip3D" feature wasn't a ripoff of Apple's "Expose" because "it looks kinda different, it's in 3d!"

yeah, they threw in a token difference in the "home screen" but really all they did was call their home screen "Main menu" and put it behind their widget screen. ...that's like saying an obvious ripoff car design isn't a ripoff at all because it's parked inside of a garage! just look how different that garage is than the car this one is "inspired" by!

okay, sure, i need to lay off the analogies, but really, the differences are just token differences, the design is fundamentally a "Me Too" UI on a "Me Too" device.

...and while that's a bit lame, that doesn't mean the phone will be a bad phone. If it comes out for Sprint (a US CDMA carrier) i might just get it, and hope that it's at least good enough, knowing that it'll never really satisfy you if what you really want is an iPhone.

[Andrew @ Feb 15th 2008 1:35PM]

Holy analogies.
I personally don't consider Flip3D in Vista to be a copy of Apple's Expose, they're both window management systems, but that's where the similarities end. Not to mention I've been using a similar Expose like feature on my Linux machine since before Apple introduced it.

But this topic isn't about Apple, we're all entitled to our different opinions - it just gets tiresome reading about how every single gadget has allegedly copied a feature from Apple.

And as for the colour scheme, Windows 3.1 introduced the white/blue/grey style long before the iPhone existed. It's just pleasing to the eyes.

Anyways, enjoy whatever phone you happen to have!

[Johnny @ Feb 15th 2008 11:42AM]

It's not that these devices don't have their differences, but they use the exact same color schemes, etc. Obviously, there must be a reason for that and it isn't coincidence.

[applefreak @ Feb 15th 2008 11:45AM]

now if only I could get that GUI on the sammy P2, I would have GOLD sammy, pure GOLD

[jollyllama @ Feb 15th 2008 12:10PM]

I think this goes to show pretty well why Apple gets so much press: 6 months after they release something, the whole industry is making products that imitate them. Whether you like the actual Apple product is irrelevant - they set trends, and that makes them notable.

[Brad @ Feb 15th 2008 1:06PM]

Here's why the Apple zealots get all enflamed about this stuff: products like this copy the stuff that DOESN'T MATTER.

Ok, yes, a grid of icons isn't exactly original. And I'll admit that if Apple wasn't first to a (fully) touchscreen phone, some one else would have gotten there, even if it weren't as well-executed.

But look at this screen cap. They've blatantly copied the color scheme and layout of the typical iPhone app: gray gradients on the top (which contains the title) and bottom (which acts as soft buttons); black on white for the contents of a list; white on blue for the selected item.

Blur your eyes and you see an iPhone.

Why do they do this? I have an iPhone; I love it, and they've done a lot of things right, but I'm completely willing to believe that there are other good solutions out there.

[Jeff @ Feb 15th 2008 1:14PM]

you're absolutely right.

they copy the look, but don't give much time to the details, which is where the iPhone is apparently unbeatable; apple TOOK TIME on the details and tried to get it right, whereas the current mobile manufacturers are perfectly content just getting the first level looking okay (or looking as close to Apple as they can) and then letting the rest of the user experience be sub-par.

Look at the HTC touch: they slap a "finger" UI element on top of Winmo and call it a day. Spending even 30 seconds with the Touch and it's immediately apparent that the rest of the UI, all the stuff you'll actually USE, is still the dated, clunky turd Winmo.

It's endlessly frustrating to me, because i'm happy with my carrier right now, and the iPhone isn't available for CDMA. So this "competition" stuff is really disappointing: i'm hoping for another company to finally realize that the devil is in the details.

[Bob @ Feb 15th 2008 1:17PM]

I did click do as told , click on for the picture gallery , right that very second , but ........blank page .............


B

[gopimanne @ Feb 15th 2008 5:14PM]

I dont know why people want to comapre any touch screen phone as iphone wannabe. LG Prada is the one released first. I cannot understand why iphone is called as prada wannabe.

[Sushi @ Feb 15th 2008 12:01PM]

same here

[Jeff @ Feb 15th 2008 1:15PM]

Me too... but i just looked up the "TouchWiz UI" on youtube.

[artistect @ Feb 15th 2008 1:38PM]

for gods sake can we discuss the product at hand, looks like a great product by a notable mfr. any comments about it? cmon are we knowledgable? or do we just like to be fanboys/haters? this format has been coming for a long time, and yes iphone was not the first to use all of its features, only the first to combine them nicely, does no other company deserve the oportunity to participate in a similar interface and feature set without being dogged by fangirls?

[engadget @ Feb 15th 2008 3:01PM]

Hmmm: Any device which uses large icons, large buttons, and finger navigation is now a rip-off of the iPhone. Back in 2000, I used a VisorPhone which had the large icons all Palm OS devices have, large virtual buttons for dialing, and I usually navigated with my finger rather than the included stylus. You also could use any of the thousands of Palm OS application available at the time. Using the same logic some iPhone fans have used here, the iPhone ripped-off the VisorPhone seven years later. Again, using the same arguments, the iPhone may have ripped-off the hardware design of the Sony Clie TH55 which was introduced in 2004. When the iPhone was first introduced at MacWorld, I thought Mr. Jobs was holding up a TH55. The TH55 had the same size/resolution screen the iPhone now has 3 years later, and the overall design is very similar. The iPhone looks like a TH55 that went on a diet, and added a few curves.

The iPhone is sexy, slick, and shows the technological advances the overall CSE industry has made since 2000. However, the use of finger navigation, large buttons, and large icons is not new. Apple improved the finger navigation experience, but they did not invent it.

[hokie1745 @ Feb 15th 2008 5:57PM]

First off I love the Iphone so im not hating on it. That said I dont know why people think the Iphone is revolutionary. The only thing special about it is the multi-touch screen. Everything else it does has been going on with phones for at least a year or two. And in some ways it lags behind (not having 3g on such an awesome device is just ridiculous). If you think about it even the GUI is not anything totally different from what we have seen. Secondly after the razor came out the everyone came out with phones that look like Razers, now its this supposed "Iphone" look even though they werent the first to have a phone that looked like that. That form factor is just a fad and it will evolve as the years go on.

[hotwings1 @ Feb 15th 2008 8:36PM]

Hey look everyone! It's a Korean iPhone! (no offense, I'm absolutely in love with kimchi, and Hyundai, even though I'm not Korean) Please guys, Apple made something original and now with everyone competing with similar styles there just killing it. At least Sony understood that with the Xperia X1.

[maverjoe @ Feb 28th 2008 3:06AM]

So this thing has a keypad that pops up on the screen when you are sending a text, but you still have to use T9 word???....if its all software why not have a qwerty keypad pop up? Isn't the whole advantage of a touchscreen keypad that it can change to whatever keypad is needed in that situation.

That's stupid