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Samsung Cell Phone Features 3GB Hard Drive

An anonymous reader writes "Samsung will be showing off a new cell phone which runs on Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system which features a built-in hard drive. The SGH-I300 will offer 3GB of storage which allows you to store up to 1,000 songs on it for playback through the music player. The 3GB hard drive is similar to the type of hard drive that is found in Apple's Mini iPod. These 1-inch drives with very low power requirements, are ideal for cell phones and other mobile devices."

12 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. More Details by fembots · · Score: 5, Informative

    The friendly article is pretty light on details, given it's overclockerclub.com.

    Engadget stated that the phone supports MP3, WMA, AAC, and AAC+ audio files, and a plug-and-play drag-and-drop no-brainer way of transferring files as you please.

    1. Re:More Details by Oliver+Wendell+Jones · · Score: 2, Informative

      1) Go with Spring PCS and get the Unlimited Vision package for $10 per month for all you can eat internet access on your phone - then you don't have to worry about it. I have a Treo 600 with Sprint and I can download a whole lot o' data for only $10 per month.

      2) The only way most people are going to be able to get one of these phones is to buy it through their cellular provider - almost every (if not every) smart phone out there is carrier specific and has custom firmware that ties it to the carrier. Most carriers are not going to enable features that allow their users to get free access to anything that they could be selling them instead. Sure, a lot of these phones can be unlocked and used on another carrier using the same cell technology, but only if they install the custom firmware for that provider. Very few people buy an unlocked phone directly from the manufacturer (with no discount) and use it this way.

      3) There are alternatives to having 802.11 built in that make better sense to the manufacturer/retailer of the phone. Building it into the phone increases the cost of the phone and if the phones are too expensive, noone will buy them, thus reducing possible profits. Either add a WiFi SDIO card (like the Treo 650 allows) or other WiFi accessory (the Treo 600, for example, has a WiFi Sled available) that gives you 802.11 connectivity.

      --
      A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
  2. Re:My cell phone... by generic-man · · Score: 5, Informative

    So get a Nokia 6010, T-Mobile's bottom of the line, and quit your bitching.

    There are plenty of cheap, boring phones that work primarily as phones. They don't get much attention from the tech press because they don't have any useless whizbang features.

    --
    For more information, click here.
  3. Re:Apple vs Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Except that Windows Mobile *is* a special-purpose OS. Are you actually trying to say that it's some kind of subset of XP? Wrong.

    Anyone out there who has done some development on Windows Mobile ... what is your estimate of the size of the OS? 64 MB maybe?

    Oh noes, 64 MB taken on a 3 GB drive!!!11

  4. Yeah! Sure! *SAMSUNG* by lonesometrainer · · Score: 1, Informative

    Shit,

    we've been waiting for their Palm OS Phones SGH-i500, i530 and whatever they were called, anounced afaik at CeBit April 2003, then delayed and delayed, and delayed, cancelled??? I don't know.

    Dear Samsung, somehow you managed to make me wait for for the SGH-i530 and now I'm completely disappointed :-)

    No Samsung in my shopping cart. Never ever.

  5. Re:Maybe I should just RTFA... by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Informative
    > It could come as an option out of the box. Recording conversations in which you're involved is NOT illegal (as far as i know) - and it could actually be very useful in certain situations.

    That depends on what state (of the US) you're in.

    In some states, both parties have to consent to the call's being recorded, and/or an audible "beep" has to play at specified intervals as a reminder that the call is being recorded.

    You could actually do this in firmware; cell phones have locator technologies, and are theoretically capable (over the data stream as a back channel) of exchanging information regarding in which state each party to a call is physically present.

    From that, it's a small set of if/then logic to work out whether the "beep" comes on automatically, and/or whether consent is required ("Press 'GO' to consent to monitoring") of more than one party to the call.

    There lots of legitimate (banking/finance) commercial applications where users (both clients and brokers, for instance) might want their calls recorded.

    Of course, real men don't need recording devices to back up their phone conversations. They just casually mention materials that have high neutron cross sections, mention the curve of binding energy a few times, and NSA records their calls for them.

  6. And if you have US Cellular... by Overzeetop · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...you still won't be able to get anything onto or off of that drive without paying for both a monthly subscription and a per-file fee.

    (USCC will sell you a camera phone, but thy have disabled the phone to disallow the use of a local connection cable to upload or download any audio or graphics. Nice, huh.)

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  7. Mod parent up! by Local+ID10T · · Score: 2, Informative

    Exactly.

    Make my phone a phone. I already have a laptop. Just make the phone work more reliably and for longer periods at a time.

    --
    "You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
    1. Re:Mod parent up! by mattyrobinson69 · · Score: 2, Informative

      nokia 1100 - great phone.

  8. 1000 songs.. by aerthling · · Score: 1, Informative
    ...yeah right. At 96kpbs, perhaps. I find it hard enough to fit 500 on my 4GB iPod Mini, which also is supposed to hold up to 1000 songs.

    I wish these people would just say 'It has a 3GB HDD' or something, instead of 'It can hold up to 1000 songs!!'.

  9. Re:My cell phone... by generic-man · · Score: 2, Informative

    Go to any cell phone store and ask to see the least expensive phone they stock. Sure, companies will try to sell you a feature-packed phone, but there are always options that involve little cash for a very low-end phone.

    --
    For more information, click here.
  10. Get Cingular/AT&T... by WiseWeasel · · Score: 2, Informative

    I know Verizon does the same thing, so that they can sell you ringtones and graphics, and charge you for data transfers with the data plans. Since I got AT&T (now Cingular) I'm able to transfer sounds (ringtones) pictures and themes over BlueTooth (USB optional) to my computer without hassle. That alone is worth getting Cingular (the excellent nationwide coverage, kick-ass GSM phones and rollover minutes are also nice). The only thing you can't transfer directly to the computer is the games. US Cellular is quite possibly the most user-hostile provider in existence, not to mention being expensive and using the crappy CDMA network and phones.

    --
    "I like systems, their application excepted", George Sand (French)