Samsung Unveils Its New Satellite DMB Phone

Samsung continues to drive the DMB phone market using its base in high-tech Korea as a testing ground for its products which are then aggressively marketed to the rest of the world – exactly the same way the Japanese did bfore them and the rest of the world is hoping it might be able to do at some point in the future. In this particular case, it’s the launch of its fourth satellite DMB phone (model: SCH-B250) following the release of the B100, B130 and B200 we wrote up a month ago. Samsung's new B250 boasts a more compact design and improved features while maintaining the basic product concept of previous DMB phones, which supports horizontal viewing. The B250 is also the smallest Samsung DMB handset yet. The B250 is a folder type with pivotal LCD screen which rotates 90 degrees into landscape mode.

The B250 follows the same basic design as the hugely popular SCH-V500 camera phone that went on the market in August of last year.

Samsung introduced its innovative horizontal LCD design last year with the V500 and is expanding this design trend for mobile phones, especially DMB phones.

With the B250, users can make phone calls or send and receive text messages even while watching TV. The DMB broadcast received by the phone can also be relayed to a regular TV.

The B250 has external buttons that allow users to play MP3 files without opening the phone. The 128-polyphonic sound chip has been built in to provide exquisite ring tones.

The B250 is also equipped with a 2megapixel camera and the photo editing function has been upgraded. This allows the user to change facial expressions on photos such as turning a smiling face into one showing anger. Various other effects are also possible such as changing the picture frame design.

The File Viewer function provides access to Microsoft Office or PDF files, and a 330,000-word dictionary is included in the software.

The B250 also supports external memory of 256MB, IrDA, and mobile banking capabilities for user convenience.

The phone is available in Korea at around US$700.

SCH-B250 Specifications

CDMA2000 1x EV-DO (800MHz) Mobile TV (Satellite DMB) 2 Megapixel / Flash Video Recording (MPEG4) & Messaging VOD / MOD Display : 262,144-color TFT-LCD (240 x 320 pixels) MP3 Player 128 Polyphonic Ringtones TransFlash External Memory Support IrDA / Remote Controller TV Output Support 94.7 x 48 x 28.5 mm 144 g