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Samsung Releases Symbian-Based N95 Killer

Not to be outdone by competitor Nokia, Samsung has finally dropped a high-end media phone into the market to challenge the N95's worldwide supremacy. Samsung will be showing off the new hardware at Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona, but we already have a nice rundown of the specs.

The G810 is a second-generation version of the G800, but adds the right touches to really boost its appeal. Similar to the N95, it has a 2.6-inch display with GSM and HDSPA 3G radios on board.

The biggest change comes in the operating system. The G800 was based on Windows Mobile. The G810 ditches Windows Mobile in favor of Symbian 9.2 running the S60 3.1 user interface. This is a major shift. Samsung has taken on a user interface for its new media phone that's as close to the N95's as possible. Given Symbian's popularity the world over, this OS switcheroo should really give the G810 allure.

On top of that, it also brings in a 5-megapixel camera, similar to the N95, and adds 3x optical zoom, anti-shake, face recognition, macro mode, and auto-focus. It does not have the Carl Zeiss optics that Nokia opted for, however. Also similar to the N95, it has GPS, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, 150 MB of on-board memory (expandable with a MicroSD card) and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR.

The one way in which I wish it wasn't similar to the N95 is price. Samsung is suggesting a retail price of 580 euros, which is $859. Yikes.

Of course, the N95 has been available for nearly a full year. Nokia is almost certainly prepared to announce a bevy of new phones next week at Mobile World Congress. Whether or not we see the rumored N95 successor, the N96, is anyone's guess.

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