News

AT the CeBIT tradeshow going on now in Germany, Samsung has unveiled the SGH-i300, a new smartphone that will include a 3 GB microdrive.

This will be the company's second smartphone with a built-in tiny hard drive; the first was available only in South Korea.

Samsung is emphasizing the SGH-i300's ability to store a large number of music files. It can play songs in MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, and OGG formats.

It will also be able to stream stereo music over Bluetooth 2.0.

This device can be hooked to a PC's USB port, and its hard drive will appear as a removable drive, allowing music to be played directly from the SGH-i300.

Magneto Inside?

It isn't clear at this point which version of Windows Mobile for Smartphones this device will run. Unconfirmed reports indicate it is Magneto, a version of Windows Mobile expected sometime later this year.

In another bit of innovation, this will be one of the first Windows Mobile smartphone to include a 240-by-320-pixel (QVGA) display. Whether its screen will offer both landscape and portrait modes is not yet known.

The SGH-i300 will use TransFlash cards. These function as both RAM and a removable memory card.

This tri-band (900, 1800, 1900 MHz) GSM/GPRS smartphone will also include a 1.3 megapixel camera.

The SGH-i300 will be 4.5 inches tall, 1.9 inches wide, and 0.83 inches thick (11.3 cm by 4.8 cm by 2.1 cm).

It is not known when this smartphone will be available. If it really does use Magneto then clearly the SGH-i300 won't debut until this operating system has been released by Microsoft.

Thanks to Engadget for the tip.

Related Links

• Music-Oriented Windows Mobile Smartphone on the Horizon
• More Windows Mobile 2005 Details Emerge
• SanDisk Makes Tiny Memory Cards Larger
• Brighthand's Coverage of CeBIT 2005