13 June 2008

By: Florin Troaca, Communications News Editor
Samsung TouchWiz F488 Celebrates the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
The Asian version of TouchWiz F480
Just like LG's Secret, which got a new version for South America (KF755, as opposed to the KF750 European version), Samsung TouchWiz has been now announced in a version especially made for Asia: TouchWiz F488. The European edition of the handset is called F480 and, aside from the slightly different name, it's the same device. Coming under the AnyCall brand (used by Samsung only in Asia), the TouchWiz F488 brings an homage to the 2008 Olympic Games from Beijing that will debut on the 8th of August. The handset comes with the Olympic logo on its back as well as with Olympic-related themes for its interface. The F488 is a full-touchscreen handset that seems to be the successor of Samsung Armani, the popular phone released back in 2007. But the F488 brings features that the Armani can only dream of. For example, the new TouchWiz packs a 5 Megapixel camera with auto focus, flash, image stabilizer, face detection and, obviously, video recording too. This camera should have no problems in offering users high-quality photos, in about any lighting conditions. Furthermore, Samsung TouchWiz packs a 2.8 inch touchscreen display with 262K colors, a 240 x 320 pixel resolution and haptic feedback, a TouchWiz UI, highly customizable and easy to use, GSM and HSDPA connectivity, Google Maps, Bluetooth, Media player with lots of formats supported, advanced Web and email capabilities, 232MB of internal memory and microSD card support for up to 8GB. As the F480 European model, the F488 weighs 100 grams and measures only 98 x 55 x 11.6 millimeters. The retail price of Samsung TouchWiz F488 has not been announced yet, but Asian users should expect to pay the equivalent of about 450 Euros ($690) for the touchscreen handset. The new phone was already announced for Hong Kong and Taiwan and it will soon go to other Asian markets too.
Samsung TouchWiz F488 Samsung
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20 June 2008

By: Florin Troaca, Communications News Editor
Luxury Edition of Samsung D780 - Russia's Official Olympic Phone

To be released in August

The Russian division of Samsung announced today the release of a Samsung Duos D780 in a Gold edition, which will be the official phone of Russia's Olympic team for the Beijing Olympic Games held in August. The handset will be commercialized as a limited edition, starting the 8th of August the date when the 2008 Olympic Games debut. Besides being plated with gold, the luxurious D780 also has the official logo of the Olympic Games engraved in its back case. These aspects aside, the golden D780 is the same device as the one Samsung released in Russia back in May. Thus, the new D780 will bring, besides a richer look, the following features: dual-SIM capability, a 2.1 inch TFT display with 262K colors and 240 x 320 pixels, tri-band GSM connectivity (900 / 1800 / 1900 Mhzv) with GPRS and EDGE, email and Web capabilities, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, Music and Video player (supporting MP3, AAC+ and MPEG-4 formats), stereo FM radio, a 2.0 Megapixel camera with video recording, Java MIDP 2.0, document viewer, handsfree, USB 2.0 and a 1200 mAh battery. Weighing 108 grams and measuring 115 x 49.6 x15.7 millimeters, Samsung D780 also offers an internal memory of 60MB, expandable up to 2GB via a microSD card. The retail price of the Olympic Samsung D780 was not announced yet, but it will surely be higher than the one of the original handset, which is around 300 Euros ($465). D780 is not the only Samsung to come in a special Olympic edition, as last week the South Korean company also released the TouchWiz F488, which will be commercialized in China. As the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics are approaching, we will probably see more "Olympic phones" released, and not only by Samsung maybe Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola or LG will also get caught in the Olympic fever.
Samsung D780 Olympic Edition Samsung
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