Samsung Introduces Stylish Smartphone

(click image for larger view)

Samsung this week formally announced the SGH-L870, a sleek smartphone with a stainless steel body.

The phone is 13.5 millimeters thin and has a sliding form factor. It runs on the Symbian 9.3 operating system with the S60 3.2 interface. It was introduced at the two-day S60 Summit in Barcelona, Spain.

The phone is aimed at mobile professionals and has preinstalled applications aimed at the mobile worker. They include an advanced task manager called Checkit, a personal information manager on the home screen, a business-card-recognition function, and push e-mail out of the box.

It also features a full Web browser. Samsung originally claimed the device would sport a feature dubbed "Safari browser (full browsing)." This caused many to speculate that a deal with Apple had been worked out. But Samsung later clarified that the L870 would be equipped with the S60 OSS browser.

The L870 boasts a new interface on its 2.4-inch QVGA display featuring three different themes. It also sports a 3-megapixel camera. Samsung said the phone also offers "DVD-quality" video caption, but didn't go into technical detail.

Other features include a microSD expansion slot, stereo Bluetooth, FM radio, and a multimedia player. The player supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, RA, AMR, and WMA file formats for audio, and H.263 + AMR, MPEG4, Real One, and WMV file formats for video.

Some noticeable absences are integrated GPS, Wi-Fi, and a QWERTY keyboard, capabilities available in several competing smartphones.

The L870 features tri-band GSM with single-band UMTS/HSDPA 3.6Mbps support. This device will be launched in Europe around August.