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Vodafone talks up Samsung F700, plays down 3G-less iPhone
Vodafone's pretty proud of the fact that it has landed an exclusive agreement to offer arguably the most desirable product presently sitting in Samsung's lineup -- the be-all, end-all Ultra Smart F700 -- and it's not afraid to flaunt the fact. Addressing media this week, the carrier's talking up its blockbuster holiday offering (of which the F700's arguably the flagship) and taking emphasis off the iPhone, which seems to be about the only freaking device left off Voda's 25-plus handset launch schedule at this point. Echoing sentiments voiced by Nokia shortly after the iPhone's announcement, Vodafone exec Jens Schulte-Bokum points out that they "believe [3G] is necessary to deliver a compelling music and Internet experience," a feature conspicuously missing from Cupertino's version one. He goes on to say that the iPhone initially "won't support 3G," though it's not clear whether he's referring to the device that's already out or the one that'll be launching in Europe any day (or week or month) now. Of course, he says they "like the iPhone" in the same breath, so we certainly wouldn't rule out carrier involvement here -- but for the moment, the F700's their baby.[Thanks, Jon L.]
Hands-on (again) with the ultra-everything Samsung F700
Yes, we just recently brought you a bunch of live shots of the F700 from the CeBIT show floor, but when it comes to a device of this caliber, let's be honest: one good gallery deserves another. These ones come from CTIA; after being given a few brief moments to play with it, we really can't emphasize enough just how flippin' small it is. When we initially saw Samsung's press shots of the device, we got the impression that its dimensions were generous enough to put it head to head with a Hermes or equivalent -- and to be fair, with HSUPA, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, slide-out QWERTY and a 5 megapixel sensor, that's a reasonable impression to have -- but in reality, the F700 is seriously no bigger than a large candybar dumbphone. We don't want to rag on it too much since we haven't played with a functional device yet, but one potential downside is the keyboard -- the small space bar lies squarely in the middle of the bottom row of letter keys and has its top row placed a little too close to the bottom edge of the device's top half. Unfortunately, the unit we spent time with had no operating system loaded, but the hardware was so gorgeous that we almost -- almost -- didn't care. Hands-on with the ultra-everything Samsung F700
Samsung's Ultra Smart F520: HSDPA touchscreen with dual-sliding action
Surely you remember Samsung's Ultra Smart F700 HSDPA QWERTY, right? Well, check their latest Ultra Smart, the F520. Just how smart is it? Well, to start with, it's a dual slider offering both a full QWERTY and numeric keypad depending upon your need. Next, it packs Bluetooth, a 3 megapixel camera with flash, and a 262k color, 3-inch, 480 x 272 touch-screen display. It brings pretty much all the audio and video format support you'll need and microSD to store your goods. It features a Flash UI with document viewer and full HTML browser all bundled in a sleek 104.8 x 53.7 x 17.4-mm piece of kit. It even features dedicated hot-launch keys for TV (DMB?), Internet and Music. Alas, it's only tri-band GSM / EDGE and 2100MHz HSDPA. Still, pretty smart when it arrives around September. How you like them apples, Apple?%Gallery-1593%
Samsung outdoes itself with Ultra Smart F700
Eek! Must restore... cardiac function... ahh, there we go. Samsung's Ultra Editions seem to get classier, glossier, and more far-fetched with every subsequent iteration -- and if they haven't already jumped the shark, they have now with the rather breathtaking Ultra Smart F700. The candybar with a slide-out QWERTY 'board makes do with 7.2Mbps (yes, we said "seven point two") HSDPA plus EDGE for those occasions when 3G towers are out of reach, a 2.78 inch touchscreen sporting no fewer than 440 x 240 pixels, microSD expansion, full HTML browsing, Bluetooth, and a whopping 5 megapixels of snapping power on the backside. Per protocol, America is left squarely out of the equation with GSM 850 and WCDMA 850 / 1900 all coming up missing, but at least folks in the greater Barcelona area should get a shot at it next week when it bows all official-like at 3GSM.%Gallery-1519%
