MOBILE NEWS: Samsung Ultra Smart F700 the iPhone killer

The Ultra Smart F700 is a triband GSM (900/1800/1900) slider phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. It has a 2.78 inch touchscreen display supporting 262k colors and a resolution of 240x440 pixels. The smartphone has a proprietary Samsung OS with a unique drag and drop system for menu navigation and media playback. It supports all the major media formats from MP3 to Real to MPEG4. The F700 has a brilliant 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus and a secondary VGA cam for video conferencing. The 3G phone supports EDGE, GPRS, UMTS and HSDPA with lightning download speeds of 7.2 Mbps. Specs include Bluetooth, Micro SD card for memory expansion, USB and HTML browser. An interesting feature is VibeTonz which enables the handset to produce a huge range of 'vibro-tactile' sensations so you can hear the ringtone and hear it as well. It will provide an immersive gaming experience as gamers can experience the recoil of a gunshot or the jolt of a punch. Release date and pricing is not known but more information will be available when the Samsung Ultra Smart F700 will be showcased at the 3GSM World Congress next week.

In totally unrelated news, Nokia will likely launch a new lower-cost mobile TV capable handset at 3GSM next week. The N77, a new addition to the Nseries, is set to be a lower cost DVB-H handset than Nokia's first effort, the N92. Although there have been mid-range mobile TV handsets from other manufacturers, this will be Nokia's first. It is expected to sell for between 250-400 dollars. DVB-H is gaining popularity as the mobile TV standard of choice across most of Europe and Asia, but indications are that most American carriers are leaning towards MediaFLO. Unless a carrier decides to partner with one of the two emerging DVB-H networks in America, it is unlikely this handset is destined for our shores.