Samsung i780 is one of the few recent models of the manufacturer, running on the Professional edition of the Windows Mobile 6 Operating System.

Samsung boasts of having some of the slimmest mobile phones in the world. The company has obviously applied its know-how to this i780 as it is a mere 12.9mm thick.

It has a large touch-sensitive display with resolution of 320 x 320, but yet utilizes the slim candybar form-factor with a full hardware QWERTY-arranged keyboard. The LCD takes up most of the front of the handheld.

The keypad buttons are longish in shape and well-spaced out with good tactile feedback. It makes for very good thumb typing, as good as what you’d find on Treo and BlackBerry devices.

Samsung is innovative with the navigation method: there is no D-pad, joystick, or even trackball. There is a ‘touchpad’ as in a portable computer, through which you must sweep a finger to control an on-screen pointer and press it to confirm. If this method is not your favorite, it can be turned into a ‘virtual’ 4-way controller and in addition, the 2.55” 320×320 pixels touch screen and the stylus are present, of course.

Samsung i780 supports triband GSM/GPRS/EDGE at 900/1800/1900 MHz and single-band UMTS/HSDPA at 2100MHz. The connectivity side passes the test with WiFi of 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. The long-rumored GPS is indeed included, which is fast becoming a standard on high-end smartphones.

CNET Asia Reviews:

The good: Attractive price; good QWERTY keyboard; convenient shortcuts; slim design; extra battery included.

The bad: Square screen may not work well with third-party programs; optical joystick not as fast as regular directional pad; bundled GPS app not optimized.

The bottom line: Though not perfect, the i780 is an excellent choice for those who want the most features in a sub-S$1,000 PDA-phone.

Samsung announced a new touchscreen phone, the Samsung Omnia, with hap tic support and running Windows Mobile 6.1. The Samsung Omnia, also known as the Samsung SGH-i900 is a broadly similar device that competes head-on with the new Apple handset. OMNIA, meaning ‘everything’ in Latin and ‘wish’ in Arabic, goes beyond the current top-of-the-line features available in today’s mobile phones.

Based on the most up to date Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system, Samsung OMNIA gives users a mobile extension to their PC experience, with access to MS Office documents such as PowerPoint, Excel and Word.

Users can also send and receive email and manage their appointments in Outlook while on the go. The Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system means users can download additional programs as they would on their PC and customize it for their individual needs.

The Samsung Omnia comes with a large 3.2″ 240 x 400 pixel touchscreen display with hap tic feedback. Samsung OMNIA also comes with a five-megapixel CMOS camera with the latest value-added features, which include auto-focus (AF), face and smile detection and auto-panorama shot.

The phone features GPS, FM radio, Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi. For storing music, the Samsung Omnia comes with 8 gig or 16 gigs internal memory.

Samsung’s patented TouchWiz user interface makes entering data and text simple. With unique widgets, users can customise and personalise the way they use their phone. It also facilitates easy and convenient calling and texting with a dedicated dome key for controlling communications.

the Samsung Omnia’s multimedia player supports MP3, AAC and WMA audio types, also MPEG4, DivX, H.263, H.264 and WMV movies plus many other types of multimedia file.

Samsung officially confirmed yesterday the style-driven Soul b, a stylist handset that broadens the Samsung Ultra lineup. The Soul b stands for Spirit Of Ultra in bar form factor. The Samsung U800 “Soul b”, or as Samsung insist on spelling it, the Soulb is the third phone to bear the “Soul” brand after the original U900 and G400 clamshell.

Two significant things missing in the Soul b are the 5 megapixel camera of the Soul U900 and G400, and the Soul U900’s interesting touch pad. Unfortunately, they are two of the best features of the original Soul.

Samsung Soul b is a feature-loaded brushed metal phone. The handset checks in at 9.9-millimeters thick and features a 3-megapixel camera (with Power LED flash), document viewer / editor, web browser, multimedia player, Bluetooth 2.0, FM radio (with RDS support), 1GB of internal memory and a microSD slot just in case.

Samsung Soul b comes with the customizable graphic user interface, found for the first time in the Samsung Soul. Users are allowed to create their own skins with the on-handset User Created Skin setup. Additionally, display skins are customizable with fonts, colors and background images.

Along with the tri-band GSM support, Samsung Soul b features HSDPA (3.6 Mbps), as well as Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP. The 1GB built-in memory, is expandable via microSD slot.

It’s also noted that the Soulb will be available in Soul Grey, Platinum Silver, Metallic Black, Soul Pink and Amethyst Violet for an undisclosed price, but things aren’t looking too swell for North Americans. Germans will get first dibs when it lands in “early June,” while just about every region save for NA gets it shortly thereafter.

Samsung officially announced their newest touchscreen phone - the Samsung F480 or known as Samsung TouchWiz. We know that it was announced in Barcelona back in February but there is some news in this second announcement too. Samsung TouchWiz will definitely add more competition to the touch screen smartphone market that has so far been dominated by the iPhone worldwide.

The TouchWiz is based upon Samsung’s Croix interface and is to be used on all further touch-phones from Samsung. The Samsung F480 is a pretty slick device, featuring the new TouchWiz User Interface, a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash plus a secondary video calling camera, power LED flash, image and video stabilization, widgets that can be added and dragged about on the home screen, and input feedback via vibration.

This is a 3.5G phone with a 2.8″ 320 x 240 pixel touchscreen. The F480 has microSD expandable memory (up to 8GB), an FM radio, a comprehensive multimedia player and USB 2.0 and Bluetooth 2.0. However, unfortunately the F480 doesn’t have WiFi or GPS support.

Samsung also revealed the details about the battery of the handset - 1000 mAh of capacity, 3 hours of talk time and 300 hours of stand-by time. The dimensions have also been slightly updated to 98.4 x 55 x 11.6 mm and the weight has been fixed at 100.6 grams. It is tri-band phone with HSDPA 7.2Mbps support.

Besides, there is audio and video player with multiple file format support, as well as FM Radio with RDS. The impressive TouchWiz user interface and navigation are the final ingredients for making the classy performer.

For more details on specifications of Samsung F480, you can visit to Samsung F480 Reviews here

Samsung unveiled another dual SIM mobile phone, Samsung W599 (or Samsung SCH-W599), which will first be launched in China. The SCH-W599 supports both 800MHz CDMA and GSM carrier networks as well as boasting dual GSM SIM card use simultaneously.

The South Korean company seems to give a special attention to dual SIM devices, as these are currently very popular in Asia and they could also become “wanted” in Europe and the US.

The new W599 is a candybar form cell phone, and its navigation keys are interestingly integrated as to form a circle. The phone does not have a hardware keypad, hence most of the data input is made through its 2.4 inch touchscreen display with 260K colors, a QVGA (240 x 320) resolution and handwriting recognition.

Besides, this handset sports 2 megapixel camera, FM radio and Bluetooth, email, Instant Messaging, Wap browser, embedded games, 34MB of internal memory and microSD card support for several extra GBs. The phone measures 103.1 x 53 x 16.4 millimeters and includes a 1200 mAh Li-Ion battery that should provide a decent talk-time / stand-by time.

The W599 will be available in China for 4,490 yuan (approximately $650) and like other Samsung’s phones in Asia, it will be branded “Anycall” (which you can see in the above photos).

Last week, Samsung has announced a slew of new phones at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. One of which is the SGH-F480. F480 is a stylish slim candy bar mobile phone with combination of brushed aluminum and glossy black for the finishing.

The F480 really looks similar with PRADA phone. The F480 can stand next to the Prada and Armani phones with its head high up as it definitely looks great.

Samsung SGH-F480s is a 3.5G capable device supporting HSDPA high speed data downloads of up to 7.2 Mbps. It also supports standard 3G (UMTS), GPRS and EDGE data, but it does not support WiFi. It features a 2.8″ large QVGA touch screen, video messaging, email, USB 2.0 and Bluetooth connectivity, mobile blogging, and a 5-megapixel camera equipped with auto-focus as well as image stabilization. The camera also has a slow motion function and built-in video editor.

Of course, as a multimedia player,SGH-F480 capable of playing back a variety of video and audio files. It also comes with a FM radio with RDS. There’s a microSD slot for memory expansion.

Samsung Electronics is going to launch its compact handset ‘821SC’ for ladies in Japan market. The cellphone is expected to hit the shelves on the shelves on March, and comes in 4 colors: pink, silver, purple, and red.

The Samsung 821SC has a simple yet good design - it is small, light, and slim. Some people even say it looks similar to the Nintendo DS Lite.

It adopts a 2.4-inch AM OLED display with QVGA resolution and a 1.96M camera. In the specs sheet, it sports 1Seg recording with a maximum capacity of 20 hours, so you can record TV content and watch afterwards. Other features include a bluetooth as the wireless connection mode.

The 821SC is measuring 99.5 x 49 x 16.7mm at 120g, it is expected to be available after March.

Two upcoming Samsung phones, the F490 and P720, were unveiled at some press event in the Ukraine a little while ago. These two fully touchscreen handset has been announced for release in early 2008.

Samsung F490 is a full touchscreen and slimline smart mobile phone with a silver exterior and 3.2 inches 240×432 pixels display. It has a 5 megapixel digital camera, tactile feedback and HSDPA connectivity. It doesn’t seem to have a keyboard and looks like a direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone.

The 3.2 inches TFT display will also be able to send you a signal touch on your finger when you select something on the menu at the terminal.

Helio has announced the launch of the slim, sexy Mysto for its Korean-language customers. This slider from Samsung shares the same design as the popular U600 for Europe. The Mysto is EV-DO data compatible with full HTML browser, a 2 megapixel camera and GPS. Besides, it also comes with music player, stereo Bluetooth, and a micoSD memory card slot that support for up to 4GB.

The Korea-version wiill have Korean-language keypads and documentation. The English version of the Mysto will be available to the public late January. However, the Helio stores in Santa Monica, CA, and New York City will have a limited supply of the English versions of the Mysto available on December 26. The Mysto’s current retail price is $149.

Read more at Engadget.

Samsung has introduced another super-slick slider on their Russian site. The Samsung F250 is an all-black glossy slider with external music controls on its front-face, owing to its musicphone roots. The Samsung F250 is a music-oriented handset, which is positioned somewhere in the lower midrange.

When you slide it open, there is a stylish metal keypad, and the presence of dedicated media keys on the front indicate that this is a multimedia device. With 94mmX46mmx17.5mm in size, the handset is very slim, and stylish.

The Samsung F250 comes together with most of the common features for others handset including FM radio, microSD expandable memory and Bluetooth 2.0, a 1.3-megapixel camera and a 2-inch 160 x 128 resolution LCD.