Samsung

Samsung has officially announced its first solar powered phone, the E1107 Crest Solar. It is a dual band (900/1800 MHz) GSM handset that uses a large solar cell on the back of the body to keep its 800 mAh battery charged. According to Samsung if the phone is off and exposed to the sun for an hour, the battery will charge enough to provide for 5 to 10 additional minutes of talk time.

In addition to the solar cell the Crest Solar sports an FM radio a flashlight function and MP3 ringers. It also has market specific features like prayer reminders, etc. It has a new feature dubbed the Mobile Tracker which will send an alert if the phone's SIM card is swapped. Apparently the Crest also has a

Verizon Wireless and Samsung today announced the availability of Samsung's Alias 2 text messaging phone. It replaces the original Alias and has a nifty new keypad powered by E- Ink that the original did not have.

E Ink is the technology behind the low power displays on Amazon's Kindle and Kindle DX wireless reading devices. Samsung uses E Ink in the Alias 2's keypad, which allows it to morph depending on the orientation of the phone. The Alias 2 has a dual-hinge form factor that allows it to open vertically as

Despite rumors that Samsung's Android device production would be delayed until late 2009, the South Korean company yesterday introduced its first Android powered device, the I7500, which according to JK Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Mobile Communication Division in Samsung Electronics," is "most innovative Android mobile phone." It will be the third Android powered device on the market, after the HTC Magic and the T-Mobile G1.

The I7500 is a candy bar style phone with a 3.2 inch HVGA (320 X 480) AMOLED touch screen. It measures about 4.5" X 2.2" X .4" and does not have a physical keyboard. It has 8 GB internal memory

The latest company to jump on the corn bandwagon, Samsung will unveil its new E200 Eco mobile phone today in Beijing. The phone's entire case will be made entirely from bioplastics - plastics derived from renewable sources such as vegetable oils and starches. Samsung will be using corn starch. This may or may not be a step in the right direction as the biodegradability of bioplastics can vary greatly and corn derived products have not yet been proven to be more eco-friendly (In fact, some argue that they hurt the environment because forests are being cut down to plant corn, which is now a lucrative business).

Along with the W510 and F268, the E200 is the third eco-friendly phone released by Samsung this year. The phones' chargers no longer use an environmentally harmful flame retardant, which is a good thing (as long as there is an eco-friendly retardant in its place). Samsung is also using production

Yet another "iPhone killer" is now on the market. Samsung's Instinct may actually live up to that description. The Instinct was named "Best in Show" at this year's Emerging Technology Award competition at CTIA Wireless in addition to honored as the "Most Innovative Product at CTIA Wireless 2008" by the editors of LAPTOP and "Best Cell Phone" by CNET.

The Instinct is an EV-DO Rev A device that has a virtual QWERTY keyboard like the iPhone. It also features speech activation for calling, texting, picture messaging, traffic, movie, sports, news, weather and search. Like all new phones the Instinct has built in GPS and comes with Live Search and Sprint Navigation, which provides audio and visual turn-by-turn driving directions and one-click traffic

On June 20th Sprint will unleash the Samsung SCH-M800 Instinct to do battle with the new 3G iPhone. Winner of Best in Show and Mobile CE Smartphone at CTIA Wireless 2008 and Best Cell Phone CTIA from CNET, the sleek touch-screen Instinct is the latest of the potential "iPhone killers."

The Instinct is a CDMA EV-DO Rev A (800 MHz/1900MHz) phone that boasts a 3.1" TFT LCD 240x432 touch screen. It has a 2 megapixel camera that, unlike the current iPhone, is capable of video recording and streaming. It has a 2 GB MicroSD memory card upgradable to 8 GB and has Bluetooth 2.0. It

AT&T is now offering refurbished Samsung BlackJack IIs for just $49.99, 67% off the retail price of $150 with a two year plan. The BlackJack II is an update of the popular BlackJack that has stepped up to a larger display, faster data, larger battery, more memory and a higher resolution camera. It is a 3G phone with Windows Mobile 6 OS. It can roam internationally with quad-band GSM, or get ultra-fast downloads with tri-band HSDPA. It features a full QWERTY keyboard and a 2 megapixel camera.

The BlackJack II measures 4.48" x 2.39" x 0.51" and weighs about 4.09 ounces. It has a large 2.4 inch LCD display with a 320x240 resolution. The lithium ion battery provides about seven hours of talk time and 336 hours of standby. The BlackJack II also sports a spinning jog wheel, which its predecessor did not have, and is GPS capable. Some of the other features include:

Alltel Wireless and Samsung Telecommunications America today announced the availability of the Samsung Muse, a mobile phone geared towards music lovers. It will be available for purchase immediately at all Alltel Wireless retail stores and on the Alltel online store.

The Muse is a 3G CDMA flip-phone and comes in midnight blue. Although it only has 65 MB of storage capacity for songs, the Muse comes with a dedicated music key that gives customers instant access to an MP3 player, music library, ringtones, and a free trial offer to preview 20 popular satellite music

In response to the Nike/iPod partnership, Samsung and Adidas have come together to create the SGH-F110 miCoach, a mobile phone for the fitness conscious person. Aside from all the features of a normal phone, the miCoach is equipped with a heart rate monitor and a step counter.

The heart rate monitor will store information while you are out on a run that you can download to your computer later or access on the fly. Depending on the fitness program you select the miCoach will monitor your heartbeat and a voice simulating "coach" will alert you if you are running too fast or too

Sprint has added Samsung's dual mode Ace to its repertoire. The Ace supports both CDMA and EV-DO networks as well as GSM/GPRS networks which are more common outside of North America. The Ace also comes unlocked, a very convenient feature for travelers as it allows you to use foreign carriers' SIM cards, which drastically reduces calling and data expenses overseas.

The Samsung Ace operates on Windows Mobile 6 and features a 2.3" TFT display with 65K colors and 320 x 240 resolution. A thumbwheel allows for one handed navigation and it has a 1.3 megapixel