Samsung readies budget Win Mobile touch phone for US

A Czech leak today has revealed a Samsung phone in development that will stand as an alternative to the i900 Omnia. The i740 will still have a 640x480 touchscreen with Windows Mobile 6.1 but makes a number of cuts to reduce the cost, including dropping 3G and Wi-Fi access in favor of EDGE, a three-megapixel camera instead of the Omnia's five, and no large amounts of internal storage.

The i740 would nonetheless have the GPS navigation support of the Omnia as well as its FM radio, a microSD slot, and haptic feedback to simulate button presses on the display.

The phone's release date is still unknown, though support for the 850MHz band for both GSM phone calls and EDGE data points to Samsung launching the phone for a North American provider such as AT&T, Rogers, or T-Mobile sometime within the next few months. [via SlashPhone]