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Samsung Seek a dirt-cheap touchphone for Sprint?
Regardless of market segment, touch is all the rage these days, which means it's difficult for carriers to ignore it -- even in the cheapest corners of its product range. Word on the street is that Sprint will be shoring up its ultra-cheap touch offerings next month with the introduction of the Samsung Seek, a 2.6-inch QVGA piece with a meager 1.3 megapixel cam, microSD memory expansion, and not bloody much else. Color choices will be "Scarlet," "Cool Blue," and -- later on, if you want to hold out for the special edition -- "Fantasy Pink." This is all hearsay at this point, but the phone seems real enough with the FCC passage of a phone bearing the same model number a few months back, and we're hearing talk of a blockbuster $30 contract price -- not bad for a phone that almost looks mid- to high-end if you squint and forget the spec sheet for a moment.
RIM's Mike Lazaridis makes the case for QWERTY keyboards on phones, says market for tablets not 'clear yet'
Both of RIM's co-CEOs have reputations for being pretty opinionated dudes, and we feel like Mike Lazaridis in particular would go to the ends of the Earth to support BlackBerry's business model -- but at the cost of one of his own products? Speaking at a tech conference in Toronto today, Lazaridis apparently said that the long-term viability of the tablet market (iPad included) is in doubt, especially as smartphones get more powerful; that would probably serve to quash the rumors from a few days back that the company is working on its own large-display device for release later this year. More interestingly, though, were his comments that full touchscreen phones like the iPhone "aren't that popular" -- that's news to us -- and that many that end up buying them ultimately go back to a physical keyboard handset. You know, like a Bold or a Curve, for instance. Whether Lazaridis is conveniently forgetting the existence of his own Storm and Storm2, suggesting that touchscreen devices don't have a long-term future at RIM, or just saying that they'll remain a niche play for the company going forward is unclear -- but any way you slice it, we'd say it's a pretty significant dis for the Storm series and its owners. Looking at the bigger picture, it might also be a sign that these guys are still very much on the fast track to becoming the next Windows Mobile -- dinosaurs paralyzed by their own past successes -- but who knows? Maybe there'll always be limitless demand for an endless array of barely iterative hardware paired to a decade-old user interface. Update: We've received the full transcript of Mike's session from the conference relating specifically to the touchscreen phone and tablet comments, and the reality is quite a bit different from the summary we'd been working from before. As tablets go, he says that "you can't say what's the market for tablets in exclusion of... other devices" -- a fair argument, considering that the iPad's ultimate target demographic still isn't totally fleshed out -- and actually never disrespects touchscreen phones outright, instead saying that the "QWERTY push messaging experience" is still "really, really important" while acknowledging that the company "[continues] to evolve with the research and [investment] in the Storm technology to make sure we get those right." Follow the break for the transcript.
Nokia's X6 follows the 5800's footsteps, while the X3 brings Ovi Store to Series 40
We'd be tempted to use the word "featurephone" on the X6 (pictured) if it wasn't Nokia behind the handset, pumping the relatively chubby 0.55-inch thick form factor with 32GB of storage, a 5 megapixel camera, a dual LED flash, TV-out, and a 3.2-inch touchscreen. The phone is also a Comes with Music only handset, so don't expect to get all boring and old with this phone in your pocket -- or to pay for a voice plan that doesn't include the service. Otherwise, the phone seems to be a slightly slimmed down Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, sporting the same OS, A-GPS (with Ovi Maps), and we suppose a similar resistive touchscreen. Nokia was kind enough to include a free copy of Spore along with the Ovi Store, and plans to ship the handset in Q4 2009 for 459 Euros (about $652 US) before subsidy. The X3 is a much tamer affair than the X6, offering a 2.2 non-touchscreen, a slide-out keypad, and Series 40 for an OS. There's a 3.2 megapixel camera, but you'll have to spring for a microSD card if you need significant onboard storage. What's new is that the X3 is the first Series 40 handset to include the Ovi Store, which should help it edge out the competition when it comes to functionality. The price isn't bad either, at 115 Euros (about $163 US) before subsidy. It'll be out in Q4 as well. Update: We've added a brief video after the break. Read - Nokia X6 Read - Nokia X3
iriver's wave touchphone hits Korea on March 9th
After teasing us with a touchscreen phone way back at CES this January, iriver has been decidedly mum on the subject ever since, calling what we saw more of a "proof of concept" than a ready-for-market product. Well, that veil has been lifted and we're finally staring at the iriver wave, a touchphone that iriver plans to start shipping in Korea on March 9th of next year with KT, and with other major carriers to follow. Other than a touchscreen, the phone packs WiFi and the traditional kitchen sink approach of Korean PMPs, with multimedia playback, FM radio, e-books and an electronic dictionary. There's miniSD expansion, access to the Bugs Music Service for online music and we're sure a few other perks hidden under layers of Korean spec sheets. Overall the physical design hasn't really changed much from what we saw at the start of the year (looks like that 3-inch, 480 x 272 touchscreen is quite intact), but the software has certainly been refined, and is devoid of many of its original, erm, iPhone-inspired touches. [Via Hallyu Tech]
