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."

$300

[mastershake_phd]

$300 isnt too bad. Seems like phones have been getting too close to PS3 price territory.

Ironic name.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ironic name, seeing as they're trying to upstage Apple with their product. Wonder what PR genius thought that up. Gives me a chuckle, at least.

How does it trump?

[SuperKendall]

It has a smaller screen, and what sounds like (to me) a more confusing UI that will really get fingerprints and palm prints on the device since you are always turning it over in your hands... And it has its own software for sync. Chances that is better than iTunes?

Also, as you get into pure touchscreen devices (which the media side of this is) then the in-phone UI is crucial, and Apple has shown they can do a good job with consumer UI in small devices.

Now what does sound like a kind of good idea, is the battery pouch where it recharges its smaller battery. That is an interesting ide to keep the device size down while keeping battery life good and shifting some weight to your hip where it an be borne easier.

I simply don't understand ...

[TheRealNecator]

Why is the iPhone the reference?
1) It even isn't there yet.
2) Most of those fancy Windows Mobile (and versions before) were touchscreen only bar like phones ... what is the new thing about that iPhone -- except, that you are not allowed to use your own software?

So, may somebody tell me the great thing about the iPhone, besides that it is from Apple?

Re:Phone vs multimedia GUI?

[kjart]

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

This is a solution, but I wouldn't say it's the solution. I currently have a PDA-phone and though the touchscreen is nice for the PDA aspects, having to use it for dialing is a pain. Having to a) look at the screen and b) use two hands to do almost everything (as opposed to dialing single-handed and without looking on a normal handset, for example) is a pain. I'm glad cell phone makers are not all on-board with the touchscreen thing because I still think there keypads make for far superior phones. If I didn't have a phone provided through work (hence the lame PDA-phone), I'd possibly consider one of these things.

Re:One word:

[Ed Mooring]

"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'"

It actually is that hard. You don't just go out and hire a designer. You need to spend time and money figuring out what people want so your brilliant designer can make something that is "beautiful and 'just works'".
PHBs don't understand this, so you get something that the PHB thinks that other people think is cool. Unfortunately PHBs aren't cool, and rarely ever get it.

Faster approval?

[ktappe]

The supposed reason we're waiting for the iPhone (at least for those of us who are waiting for it) is that Apple needed 5 months to get FCC approval for it. How are all these "iPhone killer" rivals getting their products to market faster? Sure, one could say "they started first" but when why don't we know about their products already? Apple seemed deathly afraid of not being able to keep their application secret, but it is said they could not keep it secret any longer once they submitted it to the FCC. This implies that if there is an "iPhone killer" out there, its application to the FCC is on file and all we need to do is check with the FCC or get a spy there to leak the info. N'est pas?

Whatever happened

[chuckymonkey]

to using a phone to talk to people? I have a cell phone under protest and that's all I use it for. My camera takes better pictures and my mobile music player holds much more music and can be strapped to my arm. So why this insistance on making a phone a small computer. Some use it for work sure, and I don't get that really. Work stays at work for me, family is much more important.

Urg

[grrrl]

Surely the screen sizes are the wrong way around?

My Ericsson T18 had a screen that big, and while you can certainly SMS with only two lines of text that was the good old days when we SMSd in the snow and liked it, or something. I think we are well past that now - seeing the entire message on the screen is a little more user-friendly.

For music though, you don't need as much space - the iPod nano only has 6 or 7 lines per page and is very usable.

Re:"Looks To..."

[Dan East]

Did you catch the part where the lady from Samsung is showing how you can flip the phone - one side for PDA / playing music and the other for making calls? The Gizmondo guy asks "There's no way to get both, right?", to which she replies "No, you wouldn't want them both.". Oh, really? 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? I just love the way these marketing people dictate what people are supposed to want. Instead of saying "No, there is a technical limitation" or "We just couldn't get that flexibility into the first generation" she responds with something more along the line of "People smarter than you decided this is how you are going to use this phone".

Sorry, that just really jumped out at me.

Dan East