Samsung intros 'green' W510, F268 cellphones

Korea's Samsung today announced two new cellphones, the W510 and the F268, at the World IT Show in Seoul. Rather than publicize performance specifications however, the company is concentrating on the reduced environmental damage of their construction. The W510 (pictured) is said to be Samsung's first built with "bioplastic," eschewing synthetic materials for those extracted from corn. The phone is further said to have been built without heavy metals such as mercury or cadmium, and use a water-soluble coating.

The F268 is made predominantly out of traditional plastics, but neither it nor any of its accessories are made with PVC or brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Apple's use of these in the original iPhone was sharply criticized by groups such as Greenpeace. The F268 is also equipped with a charging alarm, which will indicate when a phone is fully charged so that owners do not waste power.

The W510 and F268 should both ship later this month, with the former headed to Korea, and the latter to China.