Samung SGH-i530
Very limited release 25th
August 2004
Samsung's
effective launch of the SGH-i530 Palm OS smartphone
got off to an impressive start with thousands of models
being distributed at the Athens Olympics, which Samsung
is using to showcase some very clever technology to
share information and manage this highly complex event.
The SGH-i530 is a highly interesting handset, developed
from the SGH-i500 which never made it to market despite
impressive features. Palm OS is pretty rare in Smartphones,
and it does seem to be Samsung ploughing this particular
furrow by itself.
At first glance, the Samsung SGH-i530 looks like
a normal clamshell phone, but there are addition buttons
just below the screen - and the screen is the highest
resolution we've yet seen on a phone, at 324x352 pixels
in 65,000 colours. It's touch-sensitive too, and can
be used with the supplied stylus. This is a very heavy
phone though - Samsung reports that it weighs 190
grams, a little less than the upcoming Nokia 9500 Communicator,
but certainly weighty. As 87x54x29mm it's much wider
and deeper than a typical clamshell too. On the outside
is a 96x128 pixel OLED colour display.
This is a tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 handset supporting
GPRS, but not EDGE. Like other Samsung phones, there's
no Bluetooth either. Battery life isn't specified. The
SGH-i530 has 32Mb of internal memory and can take SD/MMC
cards for expansion - and it is also reported to support
SDIO peripherals (so possibly Bluetooth or Wireless
Ethernet in the future). There's a digital camera too,
but no details on specification.
It
is in terms of software that the Samsung SGH-i530
comes into its own. Like most phones it supports Java,
but the inbuilt Palm Os (Version 5.2.1 to be exact)
offers an impressive range of built-in and optional
applications. Palm OS features the tried-and-tested
Graffiti handwriting recognition system, synchronisation
with Microsoft Outlook and other email clients, a comprehensive
set of PIM (personal information management) functions,
a POP3 email client, XHTML/WAP 2.0 web browser,
image handling applications and more. The i530's high
resolution screen will be a particular help here.
The SGH-i530 is an impressive phone, and it shows
that Samsung are capable of independent thought. However,
it's hard to see a market niche for this product, except
it should appeal to die-hard Palm fans. The lack of
Bluetooth in this phone and the rest of the Samsung
range is baffling, and we feel that a handset of this
quality would really, really benefit from EDGE data
support. However, we very much hope that it comes to
market as this is a highly capable and distinctive handset.
Please note: the general release of this handset has been
cancelled
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Samsung
SGH-i530 Provisional Specifications
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Available:
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Possibly
Q4 2004
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Network:
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Tri-band
GSM
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Data:
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GPRS
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Screen:
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324x352
pixels, 65,000 colours (main) 96x128
pixels (external)
|
Camera:
|
Resolution
to be confirmed
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Size:
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Large
clamshell 87x54x29mm
/ 190 grams
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Bluetooth:
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No
|
Infra-red:
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Not
specified
|
Polyphonic:
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Yes
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Java:
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Yes
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Battery
life:
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Not
specified
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OS:
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Palm
OS version 5.2.1
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|
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