AT&T Quietly Releases the Ruggedized Samsung A657 Phone

AT&T has quietly released a new ruggedized and tough push-to-talk mobile handset from Samsung - the A657. This candy bar phone was tested to withstand the harshest conditions and is preloaded with AT&T Navigator and can be installed with downloadable applications such as Telenav Track and Xora Mobile Workforce Management tools. The Samsung A657 can be mounted on your car’s dashboard and also serve as as light source, thanks to its built-in flashlight.Simple and basic as it may seems, the Samsung A657 is however loaded with nifty mobile phone features as well. it support mobile email with access to Yahoo, AOL, and Windows Live Mail, and supports text messaging, multimedia messaging and various mobile instant messaging through AOL IM, Windows Live Messenger and YM.

For connectivity, the Samsung A657 features both Bluetooth v.2 and USB 2.0 for transfering files to your PC. It also features AT&T Navigator for voice guided turn-by-turn directions, traffic alert and maps. The phone also supports microSD card for expanded storage.

Other features and specs of the Samsung A657 include support various music and video formats, integrated MP3 music player and XM radio, downloadable multimedia content including supertone ringtones, graphics and more, 100 MB internal memory, 3G HSDPA, GPRS/EDGE data transmission capability, 3 hours talk time and 10.5 hour standby time. The Samsung A657 is a GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA phone.

The Sony Ericsson S312 Offers Quick Video Recording

Out of the blue and without much ado, Sony Ericsson has announced a new camera phone - the S312. Being marketed as offering a quick way of capturing life’s precious moments either in still pictures or videos, the Sony Ericsson S312 boasts of a 2 megapixel camera which according to Sony Ericsson can be used horizontally and has an illuminated imaging shortcuts. You can also use the phone’s integrated photo fix to edit the photos you’ve taken.

Aside from taking still photos, you can also use the S312’s camera for instant video recording. The S312 has its own dedicated video camera key which gives to capture best moments quickly. Sharing your photos is also a breeze with the S312’s picture blogging functionality which allows you to upload photos to the web instantly.

For its technical specifications, the S312 features a 2-inch TFT scratch-resistant screen, 15MB internal phone memory with support for Memory Stick Micro. You can also use the phone as a media player with equalizer, stereo widening, playnow, and Track ID features. You can also listen to music via stereo Bluetooth hands-free devices.

Other features of the Sony Ericsson S312 include speakerphone, polyphonic ringtones, vibrating alert, email/sms/mms messaging, picture wallpaper, 3D games, Java apps, FM Radio with RDS, video viewing, as well as various PIM features such as alarm clock, calculator, phonebook and more.

The Sony Ericsson S312 is a GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone and can give up to 8 hours of talk time and 400 hours of standby time. It will be available in Dawn Blue and Honey Silver color design.

The Sony Ericsson S312 is slated for a Q2 release.

Samsung Intros the B5702 Dual-Sim Phone

Samsung is joining the race to release the killer mobile phone that supports dual-sim operation as it announced the new B5702 dual-standby mobile phone. The Samsung B5702 support quad-band connectivity, hence earning it the title of being the world’s first mobile phone to support global coverage with the said connectivity.

The Samsung B5702 allows you to operate two SIM cards simulataneously and combined with its quad-band connectivity allows you to have a genuine global coverage. To make it easier for you to use the dual-sim capability of the B5702, Samsung has provided two LED lights that indicates which SIM card is receiving calls or messages. To make it even more fun, you can personalized each of the SIM card with respective themes, melodies, and screensavers. This would help you easily identify which SIM is in use. And finally to make it easier for you to use each SIM, the B5702 has dedicated hot keys for each of the SIMS located on the side of the phone. Thus, eliminating the usual process of rebooting the phone to change SIM.

Other features of the Samsung B5702 include full mobile web browsing support for both SIM cards, various multimedia functionality including audio player, video recording, a 3MP camera and an FM RDS radio. The Samsung B5702 also features a 2.4-inch TFT lcd , document viewer, USB 2.0, Bluetooth, 50MB internal memory, 8GB external memory, up to 11.4 hours of talk time and 220.9 hours of standbytime. The Samsung B5702 is a Quad band (850/900/1800/1900) EDGE Class phone.

The Samsung B5702 sports a slim and elegant design with a compact size and refined metal finish. It will be released sometime in May 2009 in various international markets.

Sony Ericsson Announces the new Walkman Phone, W205

Aside from the S312 which Sony Ericsson just announced, another phone up for release soon is the basic Walkman phone W205. Probably realizing that everyone is feeling the grunt of the economic recession including mobile phone user, Sony Ericsson made the W205 more accessible to the users. The W205 has the many great features of a Sony Ericsson phone without hurting their budget that much.The Sony Ericsson W205 lets you enjoy your MP3 songs as well as your favorite radio station with its Walkman player, FM Radio and TrackID music recognition feature. It’s a slider phone that lets you set up music playlist that you can listen to various occasions. It also lets you share music with friends through a speakerphone.

The W205’s TrackID function is also a good feature especially for naming tune and artist that you don’t know of. The phone also lets you record a fraction of mp3 songs to use as a ringtone.

But aside from being a Walkman phone, the Sony Ericsson W205 also boasts of other mobile phone features including a 1.3 megapixel camera with 2.2x digital zoom and video recording function, which is decent enough to produce good quality pictures and videos.

You can also use the phone for mobile browsing through WAP 2.0 via the preloaded Opera Mini browser. Other features of the Sony Ericsson W205 include MMS/SMS/, support for various mobile phone downloads, and Bluetooth.

The Sony Ericsson W205 is GSM/GPRS/900/1800 and W205a supports GSM/GPRS 850/1900 phone available in Ambiant Black. It is slated for a Q2 release.

National Geography Launches its Own Dual-Sim Phone - Duet D888

If you’ve been following the cellphone market, you’d know that National Geographic has already release a mobile phone not so long ago. Following up this phone is its second dubbed Duet D888. What’s so special about this phone aside from being a National Geographic branded phone is the fact that it has dual-sim capability. The D888 has one slot for your international sim card and another slot to hold the SIM card of a carrier of your choice.The Duet D888 is an unlocked phone, so you can pretty much use whatever SIM card you want to use. You can use a prepaid or postpaid SIM card such as AT&T’s various data plans.

The National Geography Duet D888 phone was manufactured by Beyond E-Tech. While it maybe special for the fact that it is a dual-sim phone, the Duet D888 is still an ordinary looking mid-range mobile phone with features such as a 2.8-inch QVGA screen, MP3 Player, FM Radio, Bluetooth, and a not so great 2 megapixel camera. Interestingly, given that you’d be using the D888 when you travel a lot, a higher megapixel resolution camera would have been better. Nonetheless the camera phone can also be used for video capturing and it support3GP video format.

The Duet D888 is tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900MHz) phone with GPRS, WAP, GMS and STR connectivity features.

The phone can max out 4 hours of talk time and 130 hours standby time. It is available now at the Beyond Etech site for around $349.

T-Mobile Announces the Social Networking Phone - Sidekick LX

T-Mobile USA has just announced a new Sidekick phone dubbed Sidekick LX. Sporting a sleek and trendy look, the Sidekick LX boasts of 3G connectivity and social networking features that supports direct access to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Yes, you read it right, the Sidekick LX has an integrated Twitter application. You can imagine just how popular the Sidekick LX will be given the growing popularity of Twitter in the social networking industry.

The Facebook, MySpace and Twitter application is integrated into the Sidekick LX’s “Communities” section. These application will be updated in real-time and will display notifications on the phone’s home menu screen. In addition, the Sidekick LX would also features GPS-enabled Live Search capabilities.

Aside from these cool features, the Sidekick LX is also equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera with enhanced video capabilities. Using this camera to take photos and capture videos, users can immediately upload them to their social networking profiles. The Sidekick LX also supports YouTube video streaming.

Other features of the Sidekick LX include built-in self-help app, swivel design, full QWERTY keyboard, mood lights, support for personal e-mail, SMS, MMS, and IM through AOL, Windows Live and Yahoo Messenger. The Sidekick LX also comes with 1GB microSD memory card, Bluetooth, and Network Address Book.

The Sidekick LX is a Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE worldphone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) phone. Battery configuration is as follow - 3G — 3 hours talk time, 6 days standby; 2G — 5.5 hours talk time, 8 days standby.

This great looking Sidekick LX phone is available now for preorder at www.sidekick.com. It will be available in orchid and carbon colors.

Samsung Unveils the I7500 Google Android Phone

Samsung has officially become the first company among the global top three mobile phone manufacturers to release a Google Android mobile phone soon, as they announced the I7500 Android-powered mobile phone. Featuring a cutting-edge smarthphone, the I7500 features a 3.2-inch AMOLED full touch screen, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and WiFi connectivity, the I7500 gives users quick access to Google’s plethora of mobile services topped by full web browsing at fast speed.

Among the many Google mobile services to be featured on the Samsung I7500 are Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Calendar, and Google Talk. It also features GPS receiver for the use of Google Maps with various features including My Location, Google Latitude, Street View, local search and detailed route detailed route description.

And being an Android-powered phone, the Samsung I7500 would also give users access to the many third-party applications available at the Android market.

Aside from these Android-related features, the Samsung I7500’s other features include a large 3.2-inch AMOLED display, full touch screen, 5 megapixel camera, long battery life, 8GB internal memory, 40 GB extended storage and a slim and compact design measuring only 11.9mm thickness.

Other features of the Samsung I7500 phone include Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, WiFi, MicroUSB, and 3.5mm ear jack. The Samsung I7500 is a EDGE / GPRS (850/ 900/1800/1900) phone. It is slated for a European release sometime in June.

Samsung Releases the Propel Pro Smartphone

Samsung has released a follow-up to its highly successful Propel Smartphone which was released sometime last year. Taking most of the great features of its predecessor, the Samsung Propel Pro is offering a chrome slider smartphone with full QWERTY keyboard, unique and seamless navigation, and running on Windows Mobile 6.1 OS on AT&T’s 3G network.The Samsung Propel Pro is a compact slider phone with an easy to use joystick that allows users to navigate through the phone’s menus and messages seamlessly. The phone allows users to access their multiple email accounts, through Microsoft Direct Push for corporate email, and At&T Xpress Mail for accessing their personal emaila ccount. It also allows over-the-air account synchronization for contacts, calendar, and task lists using Microsoft Exchange Server

The Samsung Propel also lets users browse the web using IE Mobile, sync schedules and contacts as well as manage their Windows mobile documents including Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. It also features threaded SMS, Internet connection sharing, mobile banking and voice command.

For enterprise-grade mobile solution, the Samsung Propel supports Microsoft’s System Center Mobile Device Manager. This allows Mobile Device Manager administrators with software distribution and update capabilities as well as security-enhanced access to company date.

Other features and specs of the Samsung Propel include, AT&T GPS Navigator, GPS-enabled turn-by-turn voice, on-screen driving or walking directions, colorful 3-D moving maps, mobile banking, AT&T Video Share, MobiTV, AT&T Mobile Music, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3.0 megapixel camera with video capture, and microSD memory card slot.

Samsung Brings the Tint to MetroPCS

Samsung and MetroPCS has teamed up to deliver the new Samsung Tint flip phone to MetroPCS mobile customers. The Samsung Tint is a durable and fashionable flip phone which boasts of grey and pink faceplates, customizable wallpaper, banner themes and fonts which all make up for personalization options.
Aside from its fashionable design and durability, the Samsung Tint is also a power-packed mobile phone equipped with useful features. It has an integrated camera, SMS, MMS, email and IM messaging capabilities, advance voice recognition, Bluetooth wireless technology, and speakerphone for hands-free use.
The Samsung Tint also provides quick access to your family and friends via ChatLINK push-to-talk social networking tool. This feature is similar to how a walkie-talkie works that provides an easy and quick way of communicating with others which use compatible phones.

The Samsung Tint also offers mobile web browsing capabilities, downloadable ringtones and graphics.

For its technical specs, the Samsung Tint gives you 1.9-inch TFT LCD and external display, 20MB internal memory, GPS, 3 hours usage time, 250 hours standby time, audio format support for MID, MP3, MMF, AAC, QCP, and PMD.

Available now in all MetroPCS coverage areas, the Samsung Tint goes for $30 to $50 per month depending on the type of mobile subscription which does not need a formal MetroPCS contract.