Samsung's hard disk phone to debut in UK very soon
It looked like it would be a close race to launch the first mobile phone with hard disk in the UK, but it appears now that the contest is over. Samsung has confirmed that its three Gigabyte Windows based SGH-i300 will be in the stores before Christmas – early November appears to be the likely time – well before Nokia’s four Gig N91. I had a few minutes hands-on with the phone yesterday and have to say it is one impressive handset. Sure it is large and its chocolate bar design isn’t exactly cutting edge, but it feels smaller and more comfortable to use than Nokia’s hard disk phone the N91.
Accessing music via the fiddly Windows interface is a pain, but Samsung has incorporated a neat scroll wheel which significantly sped up finding and choosing the various tracks. The phone features the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system, a 1.3 mega pixel camera, Bluetooth and of course Outlook and Pocket Explorer. It sounds really good too, up there with the Sharp 903 and Motorola ROKR, which to these ears have the best MP3 playback.
Given the amount of storage the phone has and all its features I can’t imagine why any gadget lover would want another handset this Christmas, except maybe the Sharp 903 or the Nokia N91 for their superb cameras.
