Samsung To End Nokia’s 15-Year Market Reign?

It looks as though Nokia’s 15-year reign is coming to a close: according to Nomura Research Institute, Samsung is expected to usurp the world’s largest phone maker this quarter. And if losing the top spot isn’t tough enough, Nokia likely won’t even take the second place position this quarter either; Nomura sees Apple sliding past Finland’s finest, as well.

Nokia has had a tough year, losing market share to Apple’s iPhone and other Android-powered smartphones. Even its low-end phones have taken a hit, thanks to some strong competition coming out of Asia. Perhaps the shift to Windows Phone will breathe new life into the lungs of Nokia, but with Apple’s feature-packed iOS 5 set to launch this fall and Android’s expected continued growth, there’s no telling whether or not Nokia will have what it takes to reclaim its crown.

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Well, well, if it isn't the year of the affordable touchscreen bar - the Samsung S5230 Star sold over 5 million units since its introduction in May. And Samsung expect that number to reach 10 million by November.

For those of you who are wondering just how cool this mobile is, come to Celluloco.com and see the dedicated page we have on the Samsung Star where you can devour live pics and videos of this mobile wonder.

Ambitious? Definitely! But the S5230 Star was the fastest Samsung handset in reaching the 5 million mark and if you look at the numbers of units sold month per month - 10 million seems entirely within reach.

In its premiere month of May the Star sold 700 thousand units, 900 thousand the next month and the numbers for July and August were nearly double that - 1.6 and 1.8 million respectively. The Star's rival, the LG Cookie, also reached the 5-million milestone in July but it had a head start of several months. It too is foreseen by its creators to reach 10 million sales soon.

Europe is the biggest importer of the Samsung Star, with more than half of the units sold there (2.8 million). It topped the sales lists in France, the UK, the Netherlands and Italy.

It seems that the Samsung S5230 Star has the right formula for success - light on the cost and heavy on the features. It offers a 3" WQVGA touchscreen with Samsung's widget-enabled TouchWiz and a 3 megapixel camera with smile detection. It can handle microSD cards up to 16GB and with DNSe technology it's a music player in its own right. The document viewer doesn't hurt either.

We are not quite fans of the design but those new optional colors seem to liven up things around that Star - hit the source link below to check out the new paintjobs.

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EISA 2010 Awards Announce Mobile Winners in All Categories

EISA - the European Imaging and Sound Association - announced its 2009-2010 awards for mobile devices and greenness. More than 50 prominent tech magazines from all over Europe got together to judge this and here are the results.

The European Camera Phone award was snatched by the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD. If you thought the Samsung Pixon12 was a sure-win - EISA was looking at overall performance, and 8 megapixels of still resolution and 720p/24fps video were enough to nail it. The 3.7" 360x640 pixels AMOLED screen was also noted among the phone's strongest point.

Samsung i8910 Omnia HD

The European Music Phone is… the Sony Ericsson W995. EISA looks at not only combining the most desired and technologically advanced features but value for money as well, things most likely to be appreciated by enthusiastic public. It seems this is what tipped the scales towards the W995.

Sony Ericsson W995

The European Business Phone award went to the Nokia E75. We guess the E71 would have felt right at home the the top of the ladder in this category as well, but we guess technically it's not a 2009 model and the Nokia E75 was noted as extremely well designed and capable of fulfilling all communication needs. Robust build quality and long battery life were also major factors in the decision.

Nokia E75

The European Smartphone award may be a surprise to some - in this category the iPhone, and more specifically the iPhone 3GS, is King Kong standing on the Empire State Building, with countless of other phones buzzing around it while trying to shoot it down. Try as they might, the "iPhone-killers" still have a way to go, as the iPhone still clutches the beautiful maiden of user-friendly, simple but sleek UI. According to the EISA, the 3GS is a huge leap forward, even if it doesn't seem like it at first glance.

Apple iPhone 3GS (artwork has no connection to the official EISA awards panel and is purely fictional)

The ever-growing importance of companies becoming eco-friendly also got a nod from EISA, and while there were plenty of eco phones that were either light-weight versions of normal phones (mostly in packaging) or low-end phones, the LG KM900 Arena won the European Green award by being the "greenest fully featured mobile phone on the market today". The retail package is said to be the best in terms of eco friendliness as were the build components of the phone itself. The emphasis seems to be that "feature-rich" and "green" can fit very comfortably in the description of one phone, no compromises necessary.

LG KM900 Arena

Sure, some people won't agree with these awards. The iPhone platform for example was patted on the back for having its smart function upgraded. Indeed those were just holes in the core functionality that begged for plugging for quite some time now, but Apple have done a nice job in updating the software platform to a more mature level.

If you're interested, you might as well check out last year's EISA awards and see what we were up to last August.

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Samsung B7300 looks like S8300, goes like an Omnia

The leaked Samsung B7300 runs a TouchWiz-skinned Windows Mobile OS, in the tradition of the original Samsung i900 Omnia, unlike S8300, which had TouchWiz as well but was a feature phone. The B7300 display is the same as the one on the Omnia - a 3-inch WQVGA TFT touchscreen. The source says 320 x 400 but it's obviously a typo since the screen on the photos has an aspect ratio pointing towards WQVGA. Internet agility wasn't on the list of top priorities when Samsung were designing the phone - there's no Wi-Fi or 3G, just EDGE. There's sort of an explanation for this - the phone is headed for China Mobile and they have yet to roll out a 3G network.

Here's a phone that looks like a knock-off of the Samsung S8300 but it isn't - meet the Samsung B7300. Although it's like an UltraTOUCH without the slide, it's more like a sugar-free Omnia.

Samsung B7300 isn't pretty, expensive

What gives the Samsung B7300 some appeal is the built-in GPS. The rest is pretty standard - Bluetooth 2.0, microSD slot, FM radio, microUSB port. The camera has fallen victim to cost-reduction, it's just a 3 megapixel one, which is a step down from the Omnia, and quite a drop compared to the S8300.

Like we said, it's an Omnia lite. The dimensions of the phone haven't suffered though, at 107.9 x 51.8 x 13 mm and just over 100 grams it's actually a bit smaller.

Release date and price are not known yet, not even if it will come to our shores or be China-only.

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4 Never Seen Before Samsung Mobiles Leaked .....

Today on the Blurry Photo channel: four new Samsung phones. Two of them come with full QWERTY keyboards, one with a QW-ER-TY, while the last one is a stylish full touchscreen phone.

Now, the photos aren't that bad but the details and their names remain pretty blurry at this stage. Most of the features are unknown as well, except that they all support 3G. Here are the phones with whatever additional specs we have for them.

The Samsung Gravity 2 is the successor of the Gravity (not quite surprising, is it?). It has the same slide-out QWERTY keyboard and the camera has been upgraded to 2 megapixels. Beyond that, we just know there will be Red/Pink and Graphite/Orange color versions.

In the first photo, you can see the Samsung Blast replacement in the lower right. The name is unknown but taking a wild guess we'd say it's Blast 2. What's interesting is that it's not a slider like the original but a monoblock instead. Still, Samsung have retained the half-QWERTY keyboard.

Samsung Gravity 2 and Samsung Blast replacement in the lower right • the back of Gravity 2

Next comes a full touchscreen phone, running on Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz UI. Coming with a 3 megapixel camera it will reportedly have a really sweet price point, costing almost nothing on a contract.

Unnamed Samsung full touchscreen phone

The last phone is a Communicator-ish device with two screens. On the outside, it looks like a regular phone but opens up to reveal the bigger second screen and a full QWERTY. It should be out this the summer in two colors.

Nameless Samsung phone with full QWERTY and two screens

The release dates for these phones range from soon to November but nothing more specific than that.

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Samsung S8000 Cubic specifications leaked

Last month pictures of Samsung S8000 has leaked and now specs unveiled, The Samsung S8000 cubic is reported to be a full touchscreen phone. and the handset is the first Android phone by South Korean manufacturer. The new handset is much like the Samsung S8300 Ultra Touch device.

The Samsung S8000 sports a 3.1-inch AMOLED touch display with WVGA resolution and 16 million colors, the 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, FM radio with RDS,  2GB internal memory expandable. The multi connectivity options include 3G support, Wi-Fi, GPS with A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 and USB. and also sports Samsung’s new 3D interface.

the Samsung S8000 was posted by Euroset.ru at a pre-order price of 470 €, but at the moment there is no official details about this handset.

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Samsung prepping a 3G Fest for T-Mobile in 2009

It's not clear how people manage to score so many good pictures of phones that aren't scheduled for announcement -- much less release -- for months, but who are we to complain? Some crafty dude over on TmoNews' forums is showing off much of Samsung's 2009 lineup for T-Mobile, and the first fantastic bit of news here is that everything we're seeing is apparently 3G; that's a good sign that T-Mobile's confident enough about its AWS buildout to start transitioning its lineup to 3G en masse, and plump 3G lineups always makes us happy. Anyhow, we've got the Gravity 2 here your choice of red or orange, the 20-key t349 candybar, and that's not all we've got for you QWERTY and half-QWERTY fans -- there's an unnamed clamshell here (pictured) that'll be available in two colors. Finally, there's a supposedly low-cost full touchscreen device looking a little bit like a cross between a Cookie and an Instinct s30 that's running TouchWiz and features a 3 megapixel camera. No Android stuff here, though the lucky poster says that he believes the device will be the i7500 and won't be available until November -- a bummer if true.

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Samsung I7500 - Android O.S. is Official & It Happens in Korea!

Celluloco.com loves this pieces of news....It is the single biggest indicationg of mobile operating systems change of trends of this quarter. Android is officially endorsed by a major manufacturer.....this is puts the Google based O.S. on the map for an astronomical growth!
Stay tuned for the i7500 to become available by tomorrow our http://www.Celluloco.com for PRE-ORDERING.

It’s now official folks – the first Android handset by Samsung got confirmed only several hours after it leaked. Named Samsung I7500, the handset features rich connectivity, a slim 11.9mm waistline and the latest reincarnation of the Android OS.

Samsung I7500 is equipped with a 3.2-inch AMOLED screen of HVGA resolution. The device runs on the latest 1.5 version of the Andorid OS and is equipped with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera.

Samsung I7500

The Samsung I7500 also features all the connectivity features one might expect in a 2009 flagship phone. Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G with HSDPA and HSUPA, Bluetooth – it’s all onboard. The wired connectivity is also taken care of with a 3.5mm standard audio jack and a microUSB port. The internal memory of the I7500 is as large as 8GB and is further expandable through the built-in microSD card

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Samsung Looks Financially Viable After 1st Quarter Reports

Right after Apple declared their exuberant financial health, Samsung published the summary of their financial Q1 2009. The report indicates that the company has made profit again, after failing to do so last quarter for the first time in their history.

In Q1 2009 the South Korean company recorded revenue of about 13.6 billion US dollars with operating profit of 112 million US dollars and net income of 463 million US dollars. Compared to the same period last year those numbers indicate 9% increase in the revenue, 93% decline in the operating profit and 72 percent decline in the net income. It's not the best of achievements, but at least all the numbers have positive values this time.

The Samsung telecommunication branch has shipped 1% less handsets than 1Q of last year but due to general market contraction this is still expected to spell an increase in terms of market share. Samsung see the reason behind their market leadership in the enhancement of each segment of their lineup and in the active joint marketing with carriers.

Despite that, the Samsung expectations for the next quarter are still gloomy with the EU market slowdown expected to continue due to weak consumer confidence. The emerging markets growth is also slowing down due to credit issues and new subscriber growth slowdown.

On the positive side Samsung expect an increase in smartphone, touchphone and 3G phones for the China market sales. They also look forward to increased new model launches and intensified price competition, which certainly sounds like good news for the end users.

Samsung is still maintaining its last year's forecast of general market shrinking by 5 to 10 percent, slightly more optimistic than most competitors who predict firm 10% of decline.

For more numbers and info on the Samsung Q1 2009 report follow the link.

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Samsung S8000 leaked again - this time it speaks Androidish

The yet unannounced Samsung S8000 specs seem quite the thing, especially having in mind the handset is rumored as the first Android phone by Samsung. As you may guess, it features a high-res display, full suite connectivity and sports Samsung's new 3D interface.

As we already informed you before, the Samsung S8000 is one of the upcoming full touch phones by the South Korean manufacturer. However, until now we knew for sure only one feature - the 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash.

The Russian retailer Euroset.ru however already posted the S8000 up for preorder along with a few juicy specs details, but shortly after that it was removed from their catalog. Anyway we managed to retrieve the full specs sheet, which of course is not official yet, but seems quite close.

The Samsung S8000 sports a 3.1-inch AMOLED touch display with WVGA resolution and 16 million colors, the 5 megapixel snapper with flash, FM radio with RDS, 2GB internal memory expandable via microSD slot and 3.5mm audio jack. The rich connectivity options include 3G support, Wi-Fi, GPS with A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 and USB. Finally its body is only 12mm thin.

Surprisingly, the Samsung S8000 will be running on the Android OS and the new Cube-like button hints of some new 3D graphical user interface changes. The video player will support both DivX and XviD formats.

Back to the online store affair, the Samsung S8000 was posted by Euroset.ru at a pre-order price of approx. 470 euro, but at this stage there is no official word or announcement on this handset

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Samsung Omnia HD will still be called that way in most countries

We were contacted by Samsung with a clarification on a matter that spread like wildfire online yesterday - the naming for the upcoming Omnia HD. Yesterday's rumor had it that Samsung will be ditching the Omnia moniker for the more plain i8910 HD.

With the launch of Samsung i8910 Omnia HD just behind the corner, it has obviously turned out that there are commercial issues with selling the device under the originally announced name - Samsung Omnia HD - but only in some countries.

As a result Samsung have allowed the local marketing teams in the affected countries (undisclosed yet) to adopt the slightly abridged marketing name of Samsung i8910 HD.

Again unlike what yesterday's rumor stated, Samsung confirmed they will continue using the Omnia name for both their business and infortainment high-end product lines - no matter the choice of OS - WinMo or Symbian.

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Samsung B5702 Dual SIM phone is now as official as it gets

Today Samsung announced the upcoming launch of Samsung B5702 - their latest dual-standby mobile phone, which allows users to use two SIM cards in one mobile phone simultaneously.

Coming with enhanced dual SIM interface and new visual indicators, the Samsung B5702 is also one of the only two dual SIM phones ever made that have quad-band GSM/GPRS support.

Let's remind you that Samsung B5702 saw daylight for the first time at the MWC 2009 in Barcelona. It was briefly introduced and somehow it didn't attract much attention amidst the crowd of high-end devices.

Samsung B5702 Duos offers a large 2.4" 256K TFT QVGA display and provides two external LED lights that indicate which SIM card is being defaulted for calls and messages. Another specific dual SIM feature is dedicated side key that's used for choosing which SIM card to use for communication without rebooting the phone.

Samsung B5702

The dual quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support allows users to use data traffic on either one of the SIM cards, depending on the users preference. The only other quad-band dual SIM phone is the WinMo-based Acer DX900, which was already released on the market a few days ago.

Samsung B5702 also boasts various multimedia functions including an MP3 and MPEG4 players, an FM radio with RDS and a 3 megapixel autofocus camera. Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP and a document viewer complete the rest of the specifications.

Using two SIM cards in one phone is increasingly an option many are willing to consider as it allows users to combine two calling plans from different carriers for the benefit benefit of choosing the most optimal call pricing (or simply for combining your business and personal calls on one device). No wonder then, one of the top cell phone makers are reaffirming their commitment to address this kind of demand.

Samsung were first among the majors to announce a dual SIM handset in October 2007 - the Samsung D880 Duos, which we've already reviewed.

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Samsung S5200 shows its face for the very first time

it seems Samsung can not easily outdone by Sony Ericsson and LG, as they also have a new midrange handset to brag about. Samsung S5200 is their next planned product - it's got compact design and a 3 megapixel snapper.

Samsung have obviously presented the S5200 in the Netherlands the S5200 side by side with the already leaked M2710 and M2310.

The S5200 is a stylish slider sporting a 3 mega pixel camera and 2.1-inch TFT screen, USB and Bluetooth connectivity.

There is no official word about the other specs, pricing or availability, but most probably it will pack a microSD card slot, otherwise the MP3 player will be really useless.

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T-Mobile release dates leak, along with Sony Ericsson CS8 Cyber-shot

A dozen of expected T-Mobile phones just got their launch dates thanks to some leaked info that was posted online. Alongside with already announced handsets such as HTC Magic, Snap and Touch Pro2 (called Wing 2 in T-Mo networks), a couple of new phones were also mentioned for the first time.

Sony Ericsson CS8 Cyber-shot popped up for the first time - it's rumored to run on Android OS and will have 8.1 megapixel snapper.

The leaked T-Mobile release dates include most of the popular HTC smartphones, a bunch of Samsungs, Nokia 1661 and the Sony Ericsson's Cyber-shot CS8.

Let's take a look on the list:

• "Blade" - May 13th (a.k.a. Sidekick 2009)


• HTC Snap - July 1st (a.k.a. HTC Maple)


• HTC Wing II - July 22nd (a.k.a. Touch Pro 2 or HTC Rhodium)


• HTC Magic - To be announced (a.k.a. T-Mobile G2 or HTC Sapphire)


• Sony Ericsson CS8 - June 24th


• Nokia 1661 (prepaid) - April 29th


• Samsung T349 (prepaid) - May 6th


• Samsung T239 (prepaid) - May 13th


• Samsung T559 - July 15th


• Samsung T469 - July 15th


• Samsung T749 - July 22nd


• Samsung T659 - August 19th

As you can see most of the phones will be released in July, the yet unannounced Sidekick 2009 and the prepaid Samsungs in May. The Sony Ericsson CS8 is expected in the end of June, which seems quite soon considering the fact it hasn't been announced yet.

As it's also obvious from the list - there is no confirmation of the T-Mobile G2 yet (a.k.a. HTC Magic).

Yesterday, new WAP profiles were discovered by SEMC Blog on the Sony Ericsson website. They reveal two new Cyber-shot handsets. The first one is the mentioned CS8, while the second device is CS5 - unfortunately, beside the name there is no other info available.

Surely the new additions to the Cyber-shots will be announced in the next few months and then we could tell you more about the specs sheets.

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AT&T gets heavy on messaging with 6 new QWERTY handsets

Samsung announced 6 new entries to its mobile phones portfolio today. The emphasis is quite obviously on texting with all 6 of their new offerings featuring full QWERTY keyboard. The leader of the pack is Nokia E71x, followed by three Samsung handsets - Propel Pro, Impression and Magnet and two LG devices - Neon and Xenon.The Nokia E71x isn't really any different from its European sibling, save for the new paintjob. The bar is the slimmest smartphone to date and sports a 2.36" 16M color QVGA display.

Nokia E71x

Nokia E71x

It will also feature a GPS receiver a 3 megapixel auto focus camera and of course - HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity. A built-in microSD card slot will allow expanding the internal memory with up to 16GB worth of additional storage.

The Nokia E71x will be available in the following weeks across AT&T stores for 150 US dollars on a 2 year contract.

Samsung Propel Pro

The Samsung Propel Pro comes as a direct successor of the Samsung A767 Propel, extending its functionality quite extensively. Running on the Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard it packs Wi-Fi, GPS and a 2.55" square display with a resolution of 320 x 320 pixels.

Samsung Propel Pro

The Samsung Propel Pro has a 528 MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM. Its other important features include 3G with HSDPA support, microSD card slot, Bluetooth, USB and a 3 megapixel autofocus camera.

You can find the Propel Pro in the AT&T stores starting from April 14. In order to walk out with it you will have to part with 150 US dollars and sign a two-year contract.

Samsung Impression

Next in line is the side-slider Samsung Impression. Its highlight feature is the 3.2" AMOLED touchscreen of WQVGA resolution, which according to AT&T is a first for the US. In addition to it the handset comes with quad-band GSM and dual-band UMTS with HSDPA support.

Samsung Impression

The other key features of Samsung Impression are Bluetooth with A2DP, microSD card slot and a 3 megapixel camera with video recording capabilities.

The Samsung Impression will be available from April 7 for 200 US dollars on a two-year contract.

Samsung Magnet

The Samsung Magnet is a simple offering, targeted at the younger audience. Sporting great messaging capabilities thanks to the full QWERTY keyboard it will be the most affordable of the bunch. However AT&T haven't yet published the full specifications of the device so all we can tell you is that it will be an entry-level offering.

Samsung Magnet

The Samsung Magnet will hit the shelves in the coming weeks.

LG Neon

LG Neon is an exact replica of the LG KS360, which we reviewed not too long ago. It is a mid-ranger that catches the eye with bold colors and quirky controls. Its main features include a 2.4" display, a 2 megapixel snapper and Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support.

LG Neon

FM radio is also onboard and so are stereo Bluetooth, microSD card slot and FM radio.

The Neon will be available quite shortly for 100 US dollars on a two-year contract.

LG Xenon

The LG Xenon comes with haptic feedback for improving the touchscreen experience. The quad-band GSM and dual-band UMTS (with HSDPA support) handset sports a 2.8" 65K color WQVGA display.

LG Xenon

Its other features include 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, USB and a microSD card slot.

The LG Xenon will be available shortly across AT&T stores but its pricing still remains to be disclosed.

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Slim Samsung B7300 pops up, runs WinMo 6.1

The sleek Samsung B7300 is the latest leak concerning a Samsung handset. This time around it's a Windows Mobile phone, which however has inherited the looks of the Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH, which will obviously be their 2009 styling.

Samsung B7300 leak photos

From what we see of the images, the Samsung B7300 will have a large display and apart from the standard WinMo interface will also implement the latest TouchWiz UI, which allows for a nice customization of the homescreen.

Samsung B7300 leak photos

Besides the 3 megapixel auto focus camera, Samsung B7300 clearly sports a microUSB slot and a microSD card slot.

Currently we don't know whether Samsung B7300 will be released for the European market.

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