By Damian Koh
04/12/2006
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,61971637,00.htm

HONG KONG--At ITU Telecom World 2006 happening in Hong Kong this week, Samsung is beefing up its Ultra series of mobile phones as well as showcasing mobile WiMAX, High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) and 4G technologies.

	Samsung Ultra Music F300

Targeted at three different groups of users, the Ultra Music, Ultra Video and Ultra Messaging has ditched the former naming convention which highlights the thickness of the phones. These three handsets will still carry the suffixes of F300, F500 and i600, respectively and will sport the anorexic profiles of their predecessors.

"All three products exemplify the convergence of myriad technologies in mobile phones. These products are tailor-made to satisfy consumers' needs whether it be music, video or messaging," Kitae Lee, president of Samsung's Telecommunications Network Business, said in a press release statement.

In five years since 2000, the Korean chaebol's market share has grown from 5 percent to 12.6 percent, and it is now the world's third-largest manufacturer of mobiles, shipping more than 103 million handsets globally last year.

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Samsung further upped its standing among the mobile phone elite with the trendy Ultra Edition series at CommunicAsia in June, setting a new momentum in the company's handset business. Three 3G-enabled Ultras later made a showing in Europe, two of which--the Ultra Edition 11.8 and 13.8--feature HSDPA (commonly known as 3.5G), a first for the series. Of course, the fashion mantra also dictates that the Ultras get color infusions, and this saw the birth of various incarnations in blue, pink and red hues.

	Samsung Ultra Messaging i600

Of the trio unveiled at ITU Telecom World, the Ultra Music F300 and Ultra Video F500 take the cake with a unique dual face design which sees phone features on one side and a music player interface, for example, on the other. Both come with a 2-megapixel camera built-in, touchscreen panels, USB 2.0 connectivity, A2DP stereo Bluetooth support and a microSD expansion slot (up to 2GB) for music and video playback.

The Ultra Messaging i600, claimed by Samsung to be the world's first HSDPA-enable smart phone, has a QWERTY keyboard for speedy messaging and supports Web applications such as podcasting and RSS feeders. The i600 rivals the Motorola Q (both running on Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smart Phone) and trumps the latter with its Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) connectivity, but loses the slim form factor race to the Q by 0.3mm, clocking at 11.8mm. Unlike the other two Ultras, the i600 comes with only a 1.3-megapixel camera on the back and a smaller VGA-resolution cam for video telephony on the front.

Samsung's new multimedia Ultras

Model name	In a nutshell
Samsung Ultra Music F300 Click for more details.	Cool factor: This Ultra comes with a digital power amp offering a dedicated music interface Notable features: Triband with EDGE and GPRS 2-megapixel camera 2.1-inch 176 x 220-pixel LCD with 262K-color support Dual face and touchscreen interface Supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, WMA music formats and MPEG-4, H.263 video formats Bluetooth stereo music profile (A2DP) Stereo FM radio Bluetooth and USB connectivity Built-in 100MB memory with microSD (up to 2GB) expansion slot 103.5 x 22 x 9.4mm Availability: 1st quarter of 2007 Price: N.A.
Samsung Ultra Video F500 Click for more details.	Cool factor: Samsung touts this Ultra as the ultimate personal multimedia device and the first phone to support DivX codec Notable features: Triband with EDGE, GPRS and 3G 2-megapixel camera 2.4-inch 240 x 320-pixel LCD with 262K-color support Dual face and touchscreen interface Supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, WMA music formats and MPEG-4, H.263, DivX and WMV video formats Unique swivel design Bluetooth stereo music profile (A2DP) Bluetooth and USB connectivity Built-in 400MB memory with microSD (up to 2GB) expansion slot 116.4 x 50.4 x 10.7mm Availability: 1st quarter of 2007 (A TV version of the phone is expected to be available in Q2 2007) Price: N.A.
Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 Click for more details	Cool factor: According to Samsung, the i600 is the world's first HSDPA-enabled smart phone Notable features: Triband with EDGE, GPRS, 3G and HSDPA 1.3-megapixel camera and VGA camera for video telephony 2.3-inch 320 x 240-pixel LCD with 65K-color support Windows Mobile 5.0 for smart phone Bluetooth stereo music profile (A2DP) Wireless LAN 802.11b/g Support for Push email RSS reader and podcasting Bluetooth and USB connectivity 128MB ROM, 64MB RAM 113 x 59 x 11.8mm *See also the Samsung SGH-i320n Availability: 1st quarter of 2007 Price: N.A.