While it’s true that the Apple iPhone is a technological wonder, it’s still several months away from the market which means other companies will have the opportunity to catch up. Well it appears Samsung has caught up a bit as they’ve announced the new Ultra Smart F700 mobile phone. This new phone will be showcased at the upcoming 3GSM World Congress which will be held in Barcelona next week.

The Samsung Ultra Smart F700 features a touch screen display similar to the Apple iPhone. For users who are not familiar with using touch screen displays, there’s also an integrated sliding QWERTY keypad. Quite honestly, I still love the notion of having a keypad on a phone – there’s nothing like tactile feedback folks.

But before we go on, let’s check out the specs of the Ultra Smart F700.

  • Supports HSDPA with speeds up to 7.2 Mbps
  • EDGE support
  • Tri-band GSM support – 900/1800/1900 MHz + 2.1 GHz
  • 5 megapixel digital camera with auto focus
  • 2.78 inch display with 262K colors and a resolution of 440 x 240
  • Full touch screen display
  • Supports MPEG4, H.263, H.264, MP3, AAC(+), eAAC+, Real formats
  • QWERTY keypad
  • MMS, email, Java, WAP 2.0
  • Bluetooth support
  • USB support
  • Flash UI
  • Document viewer
  • HTML browser
  • Offline mode
  • microSD card support
  • Measures 104 x 50 x 16.4 mm

A couple of other notable features. The F700 has something called VibeTonz technology which allows users to feel for buttons using responsive vibrations. The touch screen also has a “drag and drop” feature which allows for easier UI navigation.

This all makes for a very cool multimedia phone.. though I can’t say it’s really a full fledged smartphone (where’s the calendar?). Finally, no word on the release date, price, or availability.

[Check it out]

Here is the press release:

Seoul, February 8th, 2007: Samsung today announced a new addition to its Ultra portfolio with the introduction of Ultra Smart F700. This revolutionary mobile phone will be showcased at 3GSM World Congress, the largest telecommunications event, next week. The F700 features unrivaled design and brings a superior range of multimedia experiences to consumers.
The Ultra Smart is a part of Samsung’s Ultra portfolio which boasts a full touch screen as well as QWERTY key pad. It reflects the recent trend in telecommunications industry of touch screen user interface and, for users who are not yet familiar with a touch-screen-only user interface, it also implements a QWERTY key pad and VibeTonz technology which allows them to feel the buttons accompanied by responsive vibrations. A “Drag and drop” method of touch screen was adopted for easier menu navigation along with music play list control for an expanded multimedia experience. Volume, play lists, brightness of screens as well as other menu control can be controlled utilizing the touch screen.

As speed is becoming crucial for data communications, Samsung has included the latest trends in mobile to the Ultra Smart F700. The Ultra Smart reflects the latest speed of 7.2 Mbps under the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) network. Once the 7.2 Mbps HSDPA network completely deployed, F700 users can download an mp3 song (about 4MB each) in 4.4 seconds. A full HTML browser along with the QWERTY key pad enables easy access to the internet for e-mail and data services.

Using the new F700, business and creative professionals are able to view content on a stunning 2.78″ color display. The device features first class entertainment with a top-of-the-line 5 mega-pixel camera with auto focus and Bluetooth. With 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, it makes it easier to watch videos, listen to songs, share high-quality photos, or catch up on email on the move.
“The introduction of our Ultra Smart F700 reflects the needs of today’s consumers by including features such as touch screen, enhanced connectivity to mobile internet, and access to an array of multimedia content,” said Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunications Network Business. “The Ultra Smart F700 is a good example of how mobile phone will evolve in the future. Samsung will focus on bringing products that reflect and pursue our position as a premium leader”

About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2006 parent company sales of US$63.4 billion and net income of US$8.5 billion. Employing approximately 138,000 people in over 124 offices in 56 countries, the company consists of five main business units: Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business, Telecommunication Network Business and Digital Appliance Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com

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