New iPhone Competition from Samsung

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While the market sets itself for the release of Apple’s next big product, the iPhone, Korean electronics giant Samsung has announced a new touchscreen smartphone designed to trump Jobs’new pride and joy. What’s more the Samsung Ultra Smart F700 sports a couple of features that outgun its fruity rival.

For a start the F700 sets a new standard for phones sporting onboard cameras. While the iPhone boasts a 2 megapixel camera, the new Samsung will set a new high watermark with a print quality 5 megapixel snapper.

Aside from Apple and other handset makers, a five megapixel camera integrated into a phone may also give a few of the camera manufacturers a few things to think about.

Having had a play with an iPhone for a few minutes, there is no doubt that its touch screen interface is superb. Its simplicity for on screen navigation and multi-touch functionality, that allows users to pinch and resize images with their thumb and forefinger is amazing. It is doubtful whether the F700’s touchscreen capabilities will be able to match it with those of iPhone.

However, if there is a weakness with iPhone it is the on screen qwerty keyboard. For entering information, there is still nothing that beats the tactile feel of a real mechanical keyboard. Thus, the F700 also scores points over the iPhone for a slide out qwerty keyboard, even if it adds extra bulk to the phone.

Where the Samsung device falls down, however, is not including Wi-Fi and having a smaller 2.8 inch screen than the iPhone’s 3.5 inch screen. There is also no mention of an accelerometer for automatically changing orientation from portrait to landscape and vice versa through motion sensing.

That said, the Samsung’s latest entry into smartphone market is yet another from a long list of high profile, highly experienced, well resourced competitors in a market which is still foreign soil to Apple.