New Touchscreen Cell Phones: iPhone Killers?
Cell phones with touchscreen displays that occupy most of their front face are the next big thing.
Samsung has become the third company in almost as many weeks to show a handset with such a design. In unveiling the F700, Samsung joins Apple, which started the ball rolling with its iPhone in early January, and LG Electronics, which announced its KE850 "Prada" handset in the second half of the same month.
But will U.S users actually get their hands on one? Though Apple's iPhone is slated for a mid-year launch in North America, LG has no current plans for a U.S release of the KE850 and Samsung hasn't decided when or where the F700 will be launched, nor at what price.
Among the three handsets the F700 is the first that is compatible with 3G (third generation) WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) in addition to conventional GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). It also works with the companion HSDPA and EDGE data transmission systems so, on 3G networks, it can receive data at up to 7.2M bps (bits per second).
It also scores points over the other two handsets by having a higher quality camera--5 megapixel versus 2 megapixel on the iPhone and K850 phones--and support for a wider variety of multimedia file formats. On the video side it can play MPEG4, H.263, H.264 and Real Video. For audio, it supports MP3, AACplus, eAACplus and Real audio formats, Samsung said in a statement.
But it falls down in a couple of areas when compared to the other phones. Among the three it has the smallest display: 2.8-inches against 3-inches on the KE850 and 3.5 inches on the Apple handset. Screen resolution is 240 by 440 pixels, which puts it lower than the iPhone, but higher than the KE850.
Other features include a QWERTY keyboard on the lower-half of the phone that slides out from behind the display when needed.
LG-KE850, Apple iPhone and Samsung F700 specs compared:
 | LG-KE850 | Apple iPhone | Samsung F700 |
| Availability | U.S: No launch plans, Europe: February, Asia: March | U.S: Mid-year, Europe: Late 2007, Asia: 2008 | TBA |
| Screen size | 3-inches | 3.5-inches | 2.8-inches |
| Screen resolution | 240 by 400 pixels | 320 by 480 pixels | 240 by 440 pixels |
| Camera resolution | 2Mp, LED flash | 2Mp | 5Mp |
| Music playback | MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, RA | MP3, AAC, Protected AAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV | MP3, AACplus, eAACplus and Real |
| Video playback | MPEG4, H.263, H.264 | MPEG4, H.264 | MPEG4, H.263, H.264 and Real |
| GSM | GSM 900/1800/1900 | GSM 850/900/1800/1900 | GSM 900/1800/1900 and WCDMA 2100 |
| Data comm. | GSM EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0 | Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, GSM EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0 | GSM EDGE, WCDMA HSDPA, Bluetooth |
| Internal memory | 8MB | 4GB or 8GB | 120MB user memory, 2GB total |
| Memory card | Micro SD | none | micro SD |
| Document viewer | ppt, doc, xls, pdf, txt | TBA | ppt, doc, xls, pdf |
| Battery life | up to 3 hours talk, 300 hours standby | up to 5 hours talk, video, browsing; 16 hours audio | TBA |
| Size | 98.8 mm by 54 by 12 mm | 115 mm by 61 mm by 11.6 mm | 104 mm by 50 mm by 16.4 mm |
| Weight | 85 grams | 135 grams | 120 grams |
| Price | €600 (US$775) | US$500 (4GB); $600 (8GB) with 2-year Cingular service contract | TBA |
Thanks to Martyn Williams of the IDG News Service for the information.
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Apple's screen size and resolution is certainly better. And after using a slide out keyboard similar to the Samsung model (I used HTC's 8125), I am not a not an advocate for them. They make the device larger and they cannot be used easily with one hand. Likewise, I am not an advocate for typing on a touch screen with my fingers - Blackberrys win in this category (but they are not known for their screens or media capabilities (not even the pearl)). Ok where Apple falls behind is not allowing the use of memory cards and the Apple does not have a user replaceable battery. micro SD cards are now up to 2 Gb. They will reach 4 Gb and probably 8 Gb. Memory is getting smaller and cards give users the flexibility to upgrade and to swap. Using fixed memory and a fixed battery is not a forward design it's backwards.