Wednesday, 3 October 2007

Samsung, B&O Unveil iPhone Rival

Korean consumer durables major Samsung has tied up with Danish audio product maker Bang & Olufsen to unveil its music-mobile phone, Serenata. The GSM phone, which looks unlike mobile phones,

Korean consumer durables major Samsung has tied up with Danish audio product maker Bang & Olufsen to unveil its music-mobile phone, Serenata. The GSM phone, which looks unlike mobile phones, can hold 4 GB of songs and has a number of other music features similar to the iPhone.

Though Samsung did not reveal the price of the phone, it said the phone would go on sale in Europe by the end of the month.

A navigation wheel dominates the first half of the phone and there is no keypad. The wheel is meant to be operated by a single hand. The 2.26-inch LCD touch screen is below the navigation wheel, in the place where the buttons are usually located on conventional mobile phones.

Samsung said all basic functions on the phone are accessed through the navigation wheel, including searching menus, dialing, writing and accessing music lists, the companies said.

A button on the handset switches it quickly from music to phone mode, and the screen changes from red to blue to make sure the user knows exactly what mode the handset is in.

The handset has a built-in speaker and bass system, and can play amplified music for up to five hours through the speaker or for around 13 hours through a headset before requiring a battery charge, the companies said in a news release.