Samsung's WinMo 6.5-powered Armani smartphone gets previewed
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 10th 2009 4:01AM
posted Oct 10th 2009 4:01AM
[Via MobileTechWorld, thanks Arnaud]
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
If Sprint were to get it I would buy it day one! just because I'm sick of people getting the same phone as me. Wont see too many of these!
Exactly what I was thinking. Too bad my wallet doesn't agree with me.
Although somehow, the Armani font somehow makes it look shceap looking, and reminds me of a KIRF...
You're right: you will not see many of these; and what do you think the reason is?
You'd spend $1000 on an (apparently) mediocre smartphone just because it bothers you when others own the same gadget you do? Brilliant!
You should realize that most people here will call you a snob. They don't understand that people buy for brand names. Somehow they figure this Armani version cellphone has to have many more added features than a colorful exterior to be worth more. To them, nothing has value except the electronic components that go into it. I say you should buy it if you can afford it and you will have an item that most people don't even if the Armani label doesn't make the phone work any better. If you sell it you might get a bit more for it if it's some sort of limited edition model. It looks nice. I'm surprised someone here hasn't said they could build a better phone out of spare parts for one-tenth the price.
Here is a thought: Go to the Sanrio store, buy 5 stacks of Hello Kitty stickers, peel them off, stick them all over the phone back and front space. Voilà ! Now you have a very different Hello Kitty. Total Makeover Price: $25.
@Unix
this thinking goes on other things too like people buying certain brands of computers, ahem, over the commonplace ones
Am I the only person who thinks it looks VERY similar to the Touchpro2 (which is already on sprint BTW)?
I call B.S. You're with Sprint. I seriously doubt you could afford it.
just give me the leo and gtfo thanks
You can name a phone to Leo or Leonardo all you want man but
any winmo phone doesn't worth a dime. Truth be told, winmo is
sinking faster than titanic!
There are two kinds of people in this world.. tech savvy people and non-tech savvy people. This phone is targeted at the latter, the ones with deep pockets.
I'm on my 7th winmo phone, is it wrong to want a functional good looking phone that everyone wont pull out of their pocket at the club or in the office? I'm tech savvy and winmo 6.5 is well windows so in order to use it to it's full abilities you have to be savvy. Oh yeah my pockets are deep enough!
WinMo for the unsavvy? That wouldn't work. The problem here is the form factor and OS seem to be more geared for power users, but the Armani brand targets fashion types. I'd figure the fashion types would probably prefer a thinner phone touchscreen.
Sorry i think my post came out sounding different. I didn't mean WinMO in general, i meant this phone.
You have to be tech savy to f*ck around with ActiveSync, third-party bluetooth stacks and the registry (on your host and on the winmo phone itself).
@Brandon, my money is that it was targeted for the niche as i doubt this phone is highly functional as say.. a Leo. I mean if you want functionality then there are tons of better WinMo phones out there that do it better.
It's like the whole Lamborghini or Ferrari range in laptops. The only thing different was was aesthetics and price.
You're right! I would rather have the touch HD2 or touch pro, I have the touch pro now. I just want something that is appealing to us savvy folk and you everyday person who thinks the iPhone is the still the coolest thing when you pull it out. This is a good step in the style direction, though the face could use a little less kirf.. haha is right!
Hey Apple fan boys not trying to start anything!
Psy @ - I think I understood your post perfectly. There are PhoneTards, and PhoneTechs. This is for the asshole who looks with a blank face when it rings, and says he will check his facebook and email when he gets home on his PC... that just crashed.
Fashion phones are a waste. And people who get phones to show off in a club are bigger PhoneTard assholes than snobby iphone fans.
Yes. I went there.
Note to Georgio Armani: stick with designing clothes, please!
lol, "designing"
Oh, this will be fun. Neither Armani nor Microsoft know how to make mobile software.
At least the hardware specs are good. Tilting AMOLED screen and usable keyboard. The problem is, how many power users really want the Armani brand? And how many who want the Armani brand are really power users?
I'd like to have this phone if prompted with the Touch Pro2 or something similar even if this had a premium price. Simply because I don't want every second person to have the same stuff as me.
You might think I'm quite weird or shallow, but quite frankly how weird would you be if you turn up to work and have three other people wearing the same shirt as you? D=
Heh. I work pretty hard at my own fashion expression, so I understand that sentiment.
I am going to get a Georgio Armani case and put it on my TP2.
Problem solved.
how is this phone compared with a touch pro 2?
Oh My God! I have to have one of these. I am so vacuous, so rich and so label driven and I am so gullible this has got to be mobile phone of the century!!!
Thankful I am not this person. Clearly there is a market of dumb asses out there who will buy this rubbish!
Is it just me, or does that look like a typical KIRF phone? Having lived in SE Asia for half my life, I've got to think that most people would be embarrassed to carry something like this around...
I've a hard time understanding why Giorgio Armani would release something like this.
Sub-par products like this cheapen the quality of what used to be a fine clothier.
They are doing the same thing with the cheap & tacky Emporio Armani-line of watches.
This isn't a piece of luxury, this is a piece of crap designed to appeal to people who doesn't spend money on Giorgio Armani clothes.
As Bemymonkey implied, it's simply a rebranded OEM phone. That's what they do with the Emporio Armani watches aswell.
I don't mind that Giorgio Armani clothes are sold at a high price, what I do mind is when they're trying to fool consumers into thinking that they're getting "Armani" when all they are doing is spending their hard-earned paycheck on rebranded KIRF with a theme.
Sorry if I come across as a jerk, it's hard to talk about armani without sounding a bit like a fascist :)
The keyboard might work well, but it looks like a calculator I had in the 80's.
This phone beats any Vertu phone. But that's not saying much since 99% of phones out there beat the crappy Vertu phones.
Vertu claims to be luxury, but it sucks. You can't have a cheap product and then claim to be luxury.
1. Vertu phones are not any hardier or tougher than regular phones
2. Vertu phone software sucks
3. Vertu phones are still in 2005 in software and hardware
4. Vertu phones don't have extra talk time or better reception
Compare that with luxury brands such as Patek Phillipe or Rolex. Rolex watches are durable, keep accurate time, and have sophisticated mechanisms. Would anyone buy a Ferrari if it performed like a Yugo?
The only luxury feature of a Vertu phone is its price. Sorry to turn this into an anti Vertu rant .. I had to get that out my system.
Anyway, this Armani phone looks good .. too bad about WinMo 6.5 though shoulda gone with Android. I hope its upgradable to Winmo 7.
I agree that this is one of the more reasonable fashion phones. It's fully featured for starters, and it has an AMOLED screen - so the AMOLED tilting screen combo is unique here. The speedy 800mhz processor helps a lot. It might be slightly less than twice an unsubsidized TP2 or equivalent, but you get a GA brand and all the relevant features plus a few.
The Vertu's concierge feature is the other useful standout, but I doubt anyone really relies on it.
And those comparing this phone to an subsidized $350 carrier Touch Pro 2 - OH COME ON!
It won't be upgradable to WinMo7 (no multi-touch support because of the resisitive screen). The only phone that "could" be upgradable to WM7 is the HTC HD2 / Leo. All other phones don't conform to the WM7 Chassis specs.
How many Vertu phones have you owned? I thought the whole point of them was the concierge service?
is it me or does that picture shows the screen is horrible?
The reflection's just there. It's hard to tell from photos. AMOLED screens have a track record of being good and bright.
WinMo doesn't usually appeal to idiots with more money than sense. Hope this fails.
See: First comment to this article.
a sucker is born every minute. Didn't steve ballmer chide apple about the price of the iphone when it came out? Yeah he did. go over to youtube and hear that smug fool laugh at how expensive the iphone was at the time. as a matter of fact, he called the iphone the MOST expensive phone on the market. hmm, at the time hp ipaqs were damn pricey. ballmer is a troll man. now he's touting a logo, rebranded phone that is without a doubt under probably a dozen names, but different styling around the world. and it cost over a thousand dollars.
ballmer has been drinking that RDF kool aid.
Who cares what he said, he is part of the competition.
Doesn't Apple always say lies about Microsoft in their speeches? Same deal.
Damn that huge-ass Armani logo is ugly! Oh, wait... that adds 100 euro to the price :-P
Its ugly and runs windoze enough said...
theres no windows key on the front....I thought that was part of the WM6.5 required spec
When I think fashion, I think sleek and chic. Why would Armani make a clunker like this to represent its line? Should this be an HD2 or rebranded Diamond 2 with Armani studding?
Just saying...
Hmm...do I want this, the BL40, or the CLIQ?
So this just an Omnia Pro with a fancy color and Armani logo on it?
If I cover the top half of the photo and just look at the bottom half with the keyboard it looks like something from 1985...
actually M7500 is samsung emporio armani phone....
it's a POS.
b7620 is the correct model number for this phone.
iKurt is right. Best deal for Armani would've been to trick out an iPhone. If not, second best option would've been an Android phone. But WinMo?? seriously, who wants to use that crap any more? Armani should just stick to selling clothing, not electronics.
Hands down one of the ugliest phones I've ever seen.
The Samsung Moment is another Android phone that has been designed by Samsung but this time for Sprint. The Samsung Moment is a black slider with a QWERTY keypad that slides out from the side. The primary screen is a full touch 3.2 inch AMOLED. However, do not worry as you are provided with some basic physical controls as well for those of you wary of a full touch phone. One would imagine that with the release of the Samsung Moment a veritable bevy of people whose Blackberry just isn't new enough will be getting unsecured personal loans to get one.