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Samsung releases messaging phone -- but will it forsake Windows?
2009-11-10 Article Rating:  / 0
Japanese carrier SoftBank announced a Samsung-manufactured phone featuring Windows Mobile 6.5, a 2.4-inch display, WiFi, and a QWERTY keyboard. Meanwhile, however, a Korean brokerage firm claims Samsung plans to de-emphasize Windows, offering it on only 20 percent of its phones by 2010.
The new SoftBank X01SC is the latest in a long line of messaging-centric Windows phones from Samsung, including the Blackjack , the SGH-i617 BlackJack II, the SGH-i637 Jack, and the SCH-i220 -- all devices that eschew touchscreens in favor of the Windows Mobile Standard operating system and QWERTY keyboards. As the comparative pictures below show, the X01SC most closely resembles the Samsung SPH-i350 Intrepid, announced by Sprint last month.   Softbank's X01SC (left) and Sprint's SPH-i350 Intrepid (right) Just like the Intrepid, the X01SC includes an integral QWERTY keyboard, an unlocked SIM slot, and both CDMA and GSM capabilities. Again, it also offers a 2.4-inch display (with 320 x 240 pixel resolution), a 3.2 megapixel camera, WiFi, and Bluetooth, according to SoftBank. Like Sprint and the vast majority of other carriers selling Samsung devices, SoftBank does not say what processor the X01SC uses or how much memory it comes with -- an odd bit of coyness given that Samsung is one of the world's largest producers of ARM CPUs and flash memory. The carrier does allow that a microSD slot on the phone accepts up to 16GB of memory. According to SoftBank, the X01SC also includes GPS functionality, downloads data at up to 7.2MBps, and includes Microsoft's Office Mobile and Outlook Mobile software. The device measures 4.4 x 2.35 x 0.49 inches (111.9 x 59.7 x 12.6mm), the carrier says.
Now, Samsung, which has also released three touchscreen phones based on Google's Android Linux/Java software stack, may be planning to de-emphasize Windows, according to a story published by Telecoms Korea. The website cites projections by Seoul-based brokerage firm HMC Investment Securities suggesting that Samsung first plans to discard the Symbian OS starting in 2011. Among the 40 different smartphone models that Samsung will ship next year, Windows phones will represent only about half, down from 90 percent in 2008, and will further drop to 20 percent of Samsung smartphone models in 2012, HMC reportedly claims. As our sister site LinuxDevices.com noted today, Samsung has also announced "Bada," an "open" mobile platform described as "a next generation UI framework with feature sets and design elements that facilitate leading-edge user interfaces." Touting a Bada software development kit (SDK), the company says it will provide developers with an integrated development environment (IDE), a device simulator, and a UI builder. However, it was not made clear whether the Bada technology constitutes an operating system in its own right, or if it is related to the existing TouchWiz UI. For more information, see LinuxDevices.com, here. A promotional video for the SoftBank X01SC (click to play) Further information More information on SoftBank's XO1SC may be found on the carrier's website, here. The Telecoms Korea story alluded to above may be found here. Related stories:
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As suggested above, the Windows phones from Samsung that have been most widely adopted by carriers worldwide are non-touchscreen, messaging-oriented devices. The manufacturer also offers touchscreen devices, however, such as the 
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