Samsung Touts 'Firsts' in i600 Smartphone

Samsung Electronics and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) will be offering the Samsung Ultra Messaging i600, a full-keyboard phone from Samsung's ultra slim product line powered by Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, in Europe and Asia early next year.

The i600 is the first phone to offer HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) support , the companies say. It is also being marketed as Cingular's BlackJack in North America -- the carrier's response to Verizon's popular Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Q phone.

Like Verizon, Samsung has mastered the ultra slim form factor that is so important to consumers now, says Sean Ryan, an analyst with IDC. Measuring 11.8 mm and weighing 99 grams, the device definitely ranks among the smallest of smartphones.

"Also, it has a good software implementation of Windows Mobile on the device," he told TechNewsWorld.

Podcasting, RSS Features

The i600 also pushes forward the notion of the mobile phone as a tool to post material on the Internet, once solely the domain of the PC. In addition to its HSDPA network support, the i600 stands out as the first smartphone to offer podcasting and RSS (really simple syndication) feeder functionality, according to the companies.

Features of the phone:

• QWERTY keyboard with wheel key; this is Samsung's first full-keyboard phone from its ultra slim product line, in fact.
• Direct Push Technology, which updates Microsoft Office Outlook's E-mail, Calendar, Contacts and Tasks when synchronized with Exchange Server 2003. Users can also view Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and image formats including BMP, JPEG and GIF with the Picsel Viewer.
• Two integrated digital cameras -- 1.3 megapixels in the back and VGA (video graphics array) in the front -- that allow users to conduct 3G video calls from the phone.

Cingular's Strategy

Cingular has only just begun to market the Blackjack, in the nick time for the holiday buying season. It was a particularly important rollout for Cingular, IDC analyst Ryan Reith told TechNewsWorld in an earlier interview.

For starters, it was the first time the company offered Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 on this particular form factor.

The phone's capabilities are also well suited to the goal of leveraging Cingular's rapidly expanding multimedia offerings, such as Cingular Music and Cingular Video, an on-demand video streaming service.

Microsoft has also made a number of enhancements to its Windows Mobile system that have been incorporated into the i600, Reith noted. These include better support of streaming video and improved music capabilities.