Samsung takes the high-end road at 3GSM

For anyone who has yet to be convinced, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. used the 3GSM World Congress to show off what it can do with a high-end mobile phone, launching (or re-launching) a half-dozen models.
Now, if only worldwide markets in the replacement cycle will snap up these handsets, perhaps Samsung can regain some of its lost momentum as the third-largest global handset vendor.
Two new Samsung models are smartphones, the SGH-i520 and the SGH-i600. The SGH-i520 is a slim slider that runs the Symbian operating system (v. 9.2) with 1.8 megabits-per-second HSDPA, an HTML browser, five formats for music playback and a 2-megapixel camera. It is set for release in the second quarter.
The SGH-i600 “Ultra Messaging” phone, which runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, has already been available in certain European markets since last fall. Samsung touts it as “the world’s thinnest 3G smartphone a full QWERTY keyboard;” it is less than 12 mm thick. The device supports HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0.
Samsung also released five new, multimedia handsets in its Ultra Edition line. All but one offer EDGE, plus varying speeds of HSDPA.
–The flagship is the F700, which combines a touchscreen with various dedicated keys and a QWERTY keypad. The device sports a nearly three-inch screen, a 5-megapixel camera and 7.2 mbps HSDPA capabilities.
–The F520, a dual slider, offers a QWERTY keyboard and a keypad, a three-inch screen and a 3-megapixel camera.
–The F500 offers two screens, one for calls, one for multimedia (it can view four formats of video). Internal memory is 410 megabytes, expandable to 2 GB.
–The F300, a bar-style device, also offers two screens, one for calls, one for music playback functions. It is a tri-band, GSM/GPRS/EDGE device.
Samsung did not disclose carrier deals or pricing.
Separately, HTC also announced new devices at 3GSM World Congress. Its Advantage (X7500) tri-band (GSM/GPRS/EDGE with HSDPA) is touted as smaller and lighter than the smallest PC notebook, running Microsoft Windows Mobile and Microsoft Outlook Mobile, and can be used with a detachable keyboard. The Advantage has already debuted in some T-Mobile European markets under the “Ameo” brand and will launch in March in Germany, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands, Austria and Poland. HTC’s S710 runs the new Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 for HTML-formatted e-mail. Orange will launch the S710 in most European markets by June. The HTC P3350 combines PDA features such as Microsoft Office Mobile for reading and editing Word and Excel documents as well as multimedia functions.