samsung

As is its usual custom, Samsung has made quite a killing at the GSMA World Congress. Though its announcements aren't quite as exciting as those from Nokia or Sony Ericsson, it certainly made a respectable showing. Besides its new Soul, the company also unveiled the G810 and the P960.

Samsung SGH-G810: The G810 offers a slider design similar to the Samsung SGH-G800. Its feature set is also similar and includes a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus, a 3x optical zoom, a xenon flash, GPS navigation, Bluetooth, TV out, USB 2.0, a 3.5mm headset jack, Geo-tagging for photos, Google … Read more

New phones are flying at us from all angles at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, and Samsung has added to the line-up with a range of handsets aimed at both the chic and the cheap. The G400 joins the E251 alongside the ladylike L310, L320 and L170, plus there's the no-frills J150 and J700.

First up in this smorgasbord of Samsungs is the all-metal, all-folding G400, with a tagline of "Dual Touch Chic." This refers to the two touch screens that control this phone. The inner QVGA screen displays up to 262,000 colors on its 56mm (… Read more

At trade shows such as the GSMA World Congress, Samsung has a tendency to beat us over the head with new cell phones. At the 2008 event, Samsung didn't let us down. The company showed off almost more than 20 handsets, many of which are fresh out of the labs. We already told you about the Samsung Soul, and my UK colleague Andrew Lim rounded up eight other new models including the style-centric Samsung G400. But there's a lot more to tell you, beginning with the company's news conference that it held yesterday. Three highlights from the … Read more

You'd be forgiven if you thought for a moment that the new Samsung Soul was the only cell phone on display at GSMA in Barcelona. Indeed, Samsung Electronics has peppered the city with countless signs promoting its slick new handset. And in its press release, Samsung called the Soul its "flagship product" for 2008.

As my CNET UK colleague Andrew Lim said on Friday, the Soul (aka the SGH-U900) is the newest edition to Samsung's Ultra Edition line. Sporting an all-metal silver casing and measuring just half an inch thick, the Soul has a decidedly sleek … Read more

Samsung was the first to market with a Blu-ray player, but it hasn't exactly been a smooth ride. Home theater enthusiasts will undoubtedly remember the brouhaha over the first Blu-ray player, the Samsung BD-P1000, which was blamed for the initial lackluster video performance of Blu-ray (although, we always thought the fault lied more with poor movie transfers, rather than the BD-P1000). More recently, we've blogged the entire slate of firmware fixes Samsung has released to correct compatibility issues with certain discs on its entire line of Blu-ray players.

Apparently those firmware fixes aren't enough for everyone, as … Read more

Today Samsung announced a new addition to the Ultra Edition range called the Samsung Soul. The Soul will be properly shown off at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week and we're definitely looking forward to getting our sticky, cake-stained hands on it.

Packed with HSDPA that can reach speeds of up to 7.2mbps and a 5-megapixel camera, you might forgive the Soul for being a little chunky, but it only measures 13 millimeters thick and comes in a tough metal casing.

More impressively, Samsung has included a new navigation pad with a display that changes its … Read more

Samsung's ARM chip road map may contain signposts to future iPhone processors. On Tuesday, ARM Holdings and Samsung Electronics extended their Strategic Long-Term Licensing Agreement, allowing Samsung to retain access to key ARM processor IP. For the iPhone, this may result in faster, more powerful models. Samsung currently makes the main processor, based on an ARM11 design, in the Apple iPhone.

"The agreement is an extension of the previous subscription license and will enable Samsung to obtain early access to new technology, including the recently announced ARM Cortex-A9 processor, and broad access to a wide range of ARM … Read more

Samsung's brand spanking new HT-BD2 home theater in a box put me through some changes. It's the world's first Blu-ray HTIB, so sure, it's got picture quality to die for, and even boasts state of the art Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio surround 7.1 channel processing. The HT-BD2 also looks pretty hot, the Blu-ray player/A/V receiver's curvaceous, high gloss style is drop-dead gorgeous, and the super-model thin tower speakers and chunky subwoofer are likewise designed for eye appeal.

But just that, the HT-BD2's sonic splendors are in short supply, or … Read more

If you've got family and friends sprinkled about the globe, you know that the richness of these contacts loses luster if you can't regularly keep in touch. Though there are excellent solutions out there--local-access calling cards, VoIP on the PC, VoIP phones from Vonage or Skype, and local-number services like Talkster (review)--they require your presence at home, new hardware, or wasting precious seconds with mile-long pin numbers or droning ads.

Challenging the herd is EQO (pronounced "echo"), a communication service that offers a simple, fast, and affordable solution for international outreach on your cell phone. Talk time and texting are free between EQO members, and calls are as cheap as 2 cents per minute for everyone else, about the same rate as VoIP-to-phone calling and competitive calling cards. EQO's international texting costs for 10- or 15 cents, depending on the countries of destination and departure.

User experience

The graphically-appealing application is divided into three sections, each delineated by a small icon along a top strip. Scrolling horizontally among them calls up the phone book, message inbox, or instant message interface. EQO imports phone contacts into the phone book, but be careful of your management--deleting an entry from EQO also deletes it from the phone's database.… Read more