Samsung's UpStage Looks To Trump iPhone

bj sends word of Samsung's recently unveiled cell phone, called UpStage. It will ship April 1 (no fooling) for $300, or $150 with a 2-year contract from Sprint Nextel. "...the UpStage is a candy-bar style handset that's less than half an inch thick and not much taller or wider than an iPod Nano. Other multimedia-friendly cell phones struggle to balance the sometimes-conflicting requirements of a conventional handset and a music or video player; the UpStage solves this quandary by simply putting phone functions on one side of the device and the multimedia functions on the other side."

It's all about the looks

[lemmen]

It doesn't matter if a phone has all nice features, a lot depends on the looks (both physical and OS).
A small phone with MP3 playback option won't win it of iPhone just because of the MP3 functionality.

Just my 2 cts.

double sided phone?

[Taelron]

You just know we are going to read about these in a couple of months failing because the screens are getting cracked and busted left and right.

Phone vs multimedia GUI?

[nebaz]

Wouldn't a stylus approach, with a touch screen allow for arbitrary button placement? Wouldn't this solve this problem?

Not exactly in the same league

[edwardpickman]

It's impossible to compare the two. Out of the gate the screen size is nothing like the iPhone and the features and system don't compare. Smaller isn't always better. Remember the old calculators on pens? How many weeks did those last. It's another smart phone not an iPhone killer. Love it or hate it iPhone isn't like other phones on the market so they are tough to accurately compare. In another release or two the differences should get a lot more obvious.

Already Obsolete

[bmo]

The blurb in the ad says that it's upgradable to 2GB.

Sorry, but the new SD cards are 4GB. Devices that max out at 2GB don't even see that the card exists.

A coworker bought one to stuff in his smartphone. He should have read the fine print.

--
BMO

   

Re:Phone vs multimedia GUI?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Wouldn't a stylus approach, with a touch screen allow for arbitrary button placement? Wouldn't this solve this problem?

Gak! Stylus? On a phone - like I really want to need two hands to use my phone...

Re:It's all about the looks

[Virtual_Raider]

It does have a neat feature that I swear I was thinking about some time ago. That spare battery that charges the phone while in the walled. I should have patented it =( I think its biggest downside would be that flip thingamabob, it just to much annoyance potential. IANAAF (I am not an Apple Fanboy) but I read that Jobs supposedly sent designers back to the drawing board because he was unhappy with the usability of the iPhone. I wonder if the Samsung engineers actually spent any time playing with a functional prototype. I feel it would be pretty hard to use this device the way I use my Nokia 6820: play song - text some SMS - read email - pause music - consult the time. If I had to Flip back and forth all the time for half of this things it would certainly make ME flip :P

One word:

[Goatboy]

Ugly.

How can you compare something that looks like a cellphone and an mp3 player stuck together back to back with something as undeniably sleek and well-designed as the iPhone?

C'mon cell phone manufacturers, it's not that hard, hire some designers can actually design something that looks good and is functional - this is all that Apple does, it really is as simple as that; they've proven that people will pay extra for something that is beautiful and 'just works'

To paraphrase Ballmer: "Designers! Designers! Designers!"

Re:double sided phone?

[kjart]

You just know we are going to read about these in a couple of months failing because the screens are getting cracked and busted left and right.

I don't understand - why would having screens on two sides of a phone make them more likely to be damaged? I'd be more worried about the screen on the iPhone since it is a) large and b) the only real input method on the phone. Lets say the the multimedia screen breaks on this device - you still have a functioning phone. If it breaks on the iPhone, you have an expensive brick.

stylus

[arcite]

But using a stylus is annoying. They are usually smaller than a pen or pencil so they are uncomfortable to use for long periods of time. And then what happens when you lose it? IMO iPhone uses a much better technology...human fingers.

Re:One word:

[kjart]

Ugly.

Some people don't judge things based on appearance. Attractive does not necessarily mean usable and ugly does not necessarily mean unusable. My old blackberry was significantly more easy to use than my current Windows Mobile phone but it doesn't look nearly as nice.

Re:It's all about the looks

[aztracker1]

Personally, I think it's a horrible idea, the first problem, what kind of case, carrying/clip is going to be available. The fact that you have one screen in your hand, and another against your face when not using the headset is another (smudgy filthy screen). Not being able to setup playlists on the side that controls playback is a bad idea all around.

Honestly, if you want a decent phone with mp3 playback there are more than a few options out there with mp3 playback, and MicroSD support. I'm using a Nokia 6133, the music interface isn't so great, but is good enough to get through a workout without the need for an extra device (leash).

I think that overall the "Chocolate" line of phones seems to be the best mix of cell + mp3, the biggest limitation on any of them is capacity. It really isn't *SO* hard to have a usable interface for music playback, and regular general phone usage. I honestly like the idea of music in my phone as it's one less device to carry around, but honestly, my iPod is still going to be my preferred device for this. This phone is a gimmick, and to be honest, just seems like something that will annoy people after more than a day of using the thing... Ala nokia's nGage, which was a cool idea, poorly executed...

Re:double sided phone?

[superpete]

I don't mean to criticise you, but have you ever owned any of the new phones at all? I've only ever seen one phone with a colour screen crack. Compare this to the old Nokia 5110 which had a recall for screens just failing. In fact, I've seen more monochrome screens fail or crack then I have any colour phone displays. On the other side, I don't see what makes this phone so special. Almost every phone on the market here in Australia has MP3 Playback support. In fact you can pick up a Sony Ericsson W300i walkman phone for AU$200 as a prepaid option [optus.com.au].

Re:It's all about the looks

[arivanov]

The ergonomics on the recent crop of Samsung (quick look at the article shows that this is valid for this one as well) is absolute crap.

To the point - the side buttons which allow it to be narrower and smaller than a comparable phone by other manufacturers make it impossible to fit the phone in a car holder without pressing at least one of them. Further to this, while it is possible to disable them when the phone is inactive they get activated when you answer or call. As a result you end up with your phone being "friendly" and rejecting a call, adjusting the volume or doing something else wonderfull in call for you if you are answering using a handsfree in a car.

No thanks.

I would rather have a slightly bigger and less buggy phone, which I can fit in a proper car holder. Even if Samsung has actually provided a proper headphone socket this time which I bet it did not so you are stuck with the original crappy headphones.

Two things I want in my new phone

[tsa]

WiFi and Skype. If it can't do that, I won't buy it. I'm only interested in calling cheap. That what a phone is for. Skype is the cheapest way I know to call people, provided they also have a Skype account.

Re:"Looks To..."

[AaronLawrence]

You could presumably switch it to speakerphone, or you might be using a bluetooth earpiece. Or you can just say "wait a sec"...
It's not like you can use a normal smartphone while talking on it.

Re:"Looks To..."

[glesga_kiss]

So if I'm in the middle of a phone call and want to lookup a piece of information, or take down a piece of information, or do something as terribly extreme as using a calculator app, then I'm out of luck?

Unless you are on hands-free, every other phone is like that. Unless you have eyes above your ears? :-)

Still, telling customers how they should be using it is very backwards.