Thursday, January 10,2008 @ 10:55am
Sprint to get Samsung M800 as 'iPhone killer'
Sprint's first device to directly compare against the iPhone will be a lower-cost variant of Samsung's just-announced F490, according to a new leak. The handset will be known as the M800 in Sprint guise but should keep much of the same design, which includes an extra-wide 3.2-inch screen with largely the same touch interface as the Vodafone Croix but without the more expensive phone's slide-out keyboard. Some icons and the overall look will change to reflect the American carrier, the leak shows. Sprint's version will also use its 3G EVDO link for its Sprint TV Internet video streaming service, buying songs from the Sprint Music Store, and navigating using assisted GPS.
In addition to an iPhone-like dependence on a touch keyboard, the M800 should also save money versus the F490 by using a lower-resolution 2-megapixel camera (down from 5 megapixels). However, the device will maintain a microSD card slot and should support AAC, MP3, and WMA music playback as well as videos in H.264 and MPEG-4. Video recording in MPEG-4 is also possible. The tip does not indicate when Sprint expects to carry the new Samsung phone, though a conservative estimate would place its release within the first half of the year.
