Samsung's Galaxy Lite Now Called Spica.

By Benedict Wee

Well, the headline pretty much says it all.

The Samsung Spica comes with a 3-inch touchscreen, 3.2MP camera with autofocus, GPS, FM radio and runs Android on a 528MHz Qualcomm processor.

No price or release date yet for the lime-green smartphone but we expect it to compete with the two other budget Android phones in the market; T-Mobile's Pulse and HTC's Tattoo.

Just in case you forgot how the phone feels/looks like here's a video to refresh your memory:

Source:

Engadget - Samsung i5700 Galaxy Lite Renamed Spica, Spied and Specced In Italy.

Here's A Video About What You Can Do With The Samsung Galaxy.

By Benedict Wee

If anything, this video makes me not want to buy a Galaxy for fear that I might look like a douche.

Source:

CrunchGear - In The Mood For French Clowns Running Around Pretending To Use Cellphones?

Samsung's Android InstinctQ Now Know As Moment.

By Benedict Wee

Not much information was available about Samsung's InstinctQ when leaked photos of the phone made their way onto the internet but the details have now been made official in a recent press release by Samsung.

The 'InstinctQ' name has been dropped for 'Moment' instead and the phone will run Android on an 800MHz processor outfitted with a 3.2-inch AMOLED screen, an optical trackpad and a 3.2MP camera. The most notable difference between this phone and Samsung's other Android handsets is that the Moment has a physical QWERTY keyboard.

The phone will retail in the States for US$179/NZ$243.08 after US$50 savings and a US$100 mail-in rebate on a 2-year contract.

Source:

Engadget Mobile - Samsung Moment Slider Coming To Sprint, Packing Android (update: offical, $179).

Android + TouchWiz = Samsung Behold 2.

By Benedict Wee

While we're being starved with only one (expensive and flawed) Android smartphone in New Zealand, the rest of the world is being overrun with these things.

Behold.. the Behold II, an Android-operated mobile by Samsung running their TouchWiz interface. The phone comes with your standard specs like Bluetooth, a 5MP camera, microSD card slot, 3.2-inch touchscreen and the trinity of connections (3G, WiFi, GPS). There are no pricing details nor launch dates yet but Samsung says it'll be out in the US around the holiday season.

This makes 3 Android smartphones by Samsung, the first two being the Galaxy and Galaxy Lite.

(Edit: It's actually 4. Forgot about the InstinctQ)

Source:

Gizmodo - Samsung Behold II Hits T-Mobile, Pairs Android With TouchWiz Interface.

Another Budget Android Phone, This Time By Samsung

By Benedict Wee

Adding to the recent reports of budget Android smartphones, leaked pictures and a video of Samsung's next Android-running mobile -the Galaxy Lite- have surfaced on the internets.

The Galaxy Lite looks completely different from its older brother, sporting a green and white color scheme and a different button layout which makes me wonder why didn't they just choose another name for the (supposedly) cheaper mobile. Speaking of its older brother, when is the Galaxy launching anyways?

No price, specs or launch date has been announced yet so we'll keep our eyes out for more information.

Meanwhile enjoy the video demo of the phone accompanied by the musical masterpiece that is Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

Source:

MobileCrunch - Samsung Galaxy Lite Gets Caught On Video, Done Up In Green.

Here's (Another) App Store For Ya.

By Benedict Wee

Samsung's joining the already-crowded application bandwagon with the announcement of their personal app store for its line of smartphones.

The store -which is expected to get 2000 apps by the end of the year- will stock games by major developers; Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Capcom and TAITO with titles such as "Spider-man" and "GTS Racing". Non-game publishing houses like Pearson Longman and Handmark will also be providing a fair number of applications for Samsung's App Store.

Though available only on Omina smartphones initially, Samsung expects its applications to be transferable to other electronics which the Korean company manufactures such as Personal Media Players and Televisions in the near future.

The Samsung App Store will be available on the 14th of September in France, Italy and the UK with 30 other European countries (which might include New Zealand) to follow in the upcoming months. A preview of the store will be shown at the IFA electronics show in Berlin on the 4th.

It doesn't make much sense that Samsung would want their own app store since a good number of their smartphones run Windows Mobile and the long-awaited Galaxy uses the Android platform. Perhaps they're thinking about venturing out on their own with their widget-based mobile OS currently present in all their phones.

Source:

Gizmodo - Samsung Gets In On The App Store Action

The Korea Times - Samsung To Launch App Store Next Month

The Samsung M1 Media Player, An iPod Touch Competitor?

By Benedict Wee

Okay, so touchscreen Personal Media Players are going to be standard fare in the next generation of handheld entertainment gadgets I guess. Makes sense as people spend most of their lives zooming from place to place and the only way to catch up on movies/tv shows is by putting them in a player the size of your palm.

Samsung has thrown its hat into the ring and announced their official touchscreen PMP on their website recently. The M1 comes with a 3.3 inch AMOLED touchscreen, Divx video support and a built-in accelerometer. The user interface they're using is their very own (and very awful) TouchWiz which you can find on their smartphones and Telecom's F480 but what piques my interest is what is inside the player.

The site mentions that the M1 will come with a chipset from Nvidia, the makers of graphic cards for computers that power game consoles and designing programs. The prospect of playing high-res games on the PMP sounds exciting though no further information has been given about the exact model of the chip.

Also they're not the first to have a Nvidia chip running a portable. Microsoft's Zune HD player will come with the Nvidia Tegra chip and is posed as the iPod Touch's direct competitor. Am not going to talk much about that player though as the chances of it reaching our part of the world are tiny.

The M1 comes in black (for men!) with a pink version (for women!) called the R1. If you're in the market for a media player expect to have a couple of models to choose from in the next couple of months.

Source:

Gizmodo - Samsung M1 Media Player Confirmed, May Use Nvidia Tergra

TVNZ reviews mobile phones

By Benedict Wee

TV One’s morning current affairs shows-Breakfast and Good Morning- dedicated their tech segments to mobiles today. Breakfast previewed 4 phones; the Nokia E71, the Samsung F480, the Telecom R6 and the Sony Ericsson C510a from Telecom’s XT network while Good Morning did the Nokia Xpress Music 5800, the BlackBerry Storm and the 3G iphone. 

First up, we’ll talk about the Breakfast review, done by Ben Gracewood; Breakfast Gadget Guru and tech blogger. The first phone he talked about was the Telecom R6 -an entry level phone at $149- for those who just want a phone to call and text. It also speaks and has predictive text input in Maori which is a nice feature. Can’t say much about the phone except it falls under my ‘quick replacement phone’ category.

The next phone is the ancient and expensive F480 ($599). It was released in May 2008 and was the official phone of the China Olympics. Ben mentioned the widget interface (which is present in all current Samsung smart phones except the i7500 which runs Android) as an iphone knockoff but I’m more inclined to believe it copies the Android OS. Whatever the case, this phone is old and its interface is archaic so my recommendation is the same as Ben’s, do not buy.

Next up is the Sony Ericsson C510a, priced at $399. Ben mentioned it has facebook integration which is pretty neat but other than that it’s your run of the mill Sony candybar phone with adequate features that will suit non-smartphone users. I do not recommend this either as it is about 2 years late into the mobile party and the world is pretty much moving on to phones with better designs and features.

Finally it’s the $900 Nokia E71. Ben calls the phone “manly” in comparison to the Sony one though I do not agree. It’s black and has a qwerty keyboard, giving it the “blackberry” look which executives –of both sexes- are fond of using. Ben didn’t say much about this phone (cause there’s nothing much to say) but it would have been nice to inform the viewers that it had wifi capabilities. I personally would have reviewed the Blackberry Bold 9000 instead of this one cause it’s newer and has a better OS.

Ben also mentioned on his Twitter account that he wanted to talk about the HTC Magic but there wasn’t any time. On the bright side, Vodafone will be coming into the studio at 7.40am tomorrow on channel one with a big surprise so it’ll be cool to see what they have in store for us.

The mobiles reviewed on Good Morning were done by Adam Brown, the first being the Nokia Xpress Music 5800.  He got the price wrong (it’s more closer to $900 than $800 without a plan) but the description he gave was pretty accurate; wifi, maps and the standard Nokia interface (it’s called Symbian btw) though Adam should’ve also mention that it’s compatible with the Ovi store which went live yesterday. I agree that the phone is worth the purchase but only if you do not want to fork out the extra $230 for a 3G iphone and are a Nokia fan. Look out for offers by Vodafone this Queen’s birthday weekend to see if they’ll offer a discount. (Fun fact: This is the phone James T Kirk was using when he drove his step dad’s car over the cliff in the movie Star Trek and you can download themes from the film made specially for the 5800 online)

The next phone featured was the 3G iphone. Nothing much to say that hasn’t already been said. Adam was accurate on his information, though why he’d choose to review the iphone when a new one is being announced very soon is beyond me. If you’re thinking about getting it wait till the WWDC on June 8^th for news on the 3^rd gen iphone before making a purchase. Am sure the newer model will come with better features.

The last phone introduced was the BlackBerry Storm. At $1199 it is really not worth it. Adam highlighted the biggest flaw -no wifi- which makes BlackBerry’s first foray into the touch screen market a major disappointment. Reviews of the phone (which includes US politicians) have been pretty negative and its successor has already been hinted at. So this phone gets a no-go from me too.  

Incidentally, all the phones reviewed by Adam are only available from Vodafone. Perhaps they’re trying to get rid of the old stock before the big announcement tomorrow. In the meantime, I want to repeat my caution to those thinking about jumping to any network; just wait for all three to launch before making a decision because prices are going to be competitive and we’ll be the ones benefiting from it.

You can watch the Breakfast review here

and the Good Morning review here.

Check out Ben's blog and Twitter account too.