Mobile Technology

Samsung Continuum smartphone gets Verizon debut

Samsung Continuum smartphone gets Verizon debut
Samsung's new Continuum smartphone is to debut in the U.S. via Verizon on November 11 and sports two AMOLED displays - a main screen where most of the everyday functionality takes place and a smaller ticker window where news and message alerts appear
Samsung's new Continuum smartphone is to debut in the U.S. via Verizon on November 11 and sports two AMOLED displays - a main screen where most of the everyday functionality takes place and a smaller ticker window where news and message alerts appear
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The Continuum's unique 1.8-inch super AMOLED ticker display sits beneath the 3.4-inch main multi-touch screen and feeds the user news, weather, sport as well as incoming message alerts
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The Continuum's unique 1.8-inch super AMOLED ticker display sits beneath the 3.4-inch main multi-touch screen and feeds the user news, weather, sport as well as incoming message alerts
Samsung's new Continuum smartphone is to debut in the U.S. via Verizon on November 11 and sports two AMOLED displays - a main screen where most of the everyday functionality takes place and a smaller ticker window where news and message alerts appear
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Samsung's new Continuum smartphone is to debut in the U.S. via Verizon on November 11 and sports two AMOLED displays - a main screen where most of the everyday functionality takes place and a smaller ticker window where news and message alerts appear

Not content with offering smartphone users just a single touchscreen, Samsung's new Android-based Continuum model sports two AMOLED displays. Sitting underneath the main screen is a ticker display that is used to feed the user news and information without interfering with what's being displayed above. Other features include a 5 megapixel camera, the ability to act as a hotspot for other wireless devices, and a six-axis sensor that works with the accelerometer to offer fluid pan and tilt gaming.

Samsung says that its new Galaxy S smartphone is the "world's first smartphone designed with a dedicated ticker display" that can be user-configured to provide updates of the day's news, sports, social networking or finance. The Continuum's 1.8-inch super AMOLED ticker sits beneath the 3.4-inch main multi-touch display and can host media player controls as well as user-configured information feeds and incoming message alerts. Users need only grip the bottom edges of the phone to illuminate the ticker display.

The smartphone runs on Android 2.1 and includes support for Google Mobile services including GMail, YouTube, Google Talk and Android Market. A 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird application processor should be enough to keep things ticking over, and in addition to its own 802.11b/g/n functionality, the Continuum can be transformed into a wireless 3G mobile hotspot for up to five other Wi-Fi devices. Completing the wireless line-up is stereo Bluetooth functionality.

The Continuum's unique 1.8-inch super AMOLED ticker display sits beneath the 3.4-inch main multi-touch screen and feeds the user news, weather, sport as well as incoming message alerts
The Continuum's unique 1.8-inch super AMOLED ticker display sits beneath the 3.4-inch main multi-touch screen and feeds the user news, weather, sport as well as incoming message alerts

There is also a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, that benefits from 4x digital zoom and is capable of shooting 720p high definition video. Storage is taken care of by a supplied 8GB microSD card to supplement the 2GB of onboard memory, while the virtual QWERTY keyboard features Swype technology that caters for one finger continuous input.

The Continuum comes pre-loaded with Bing Maps and Search, and also includes V CAST Music with Rhapsody as well as Song ID, Tones and video on demand. The AllShare feature allows users to send and receive multimedia content between the phone and other DNLA-compliant devices. Samsung is claiming a battery life that's good for 312 hours standby and 420 minutes talk time

The Continuum is being made available to U.S. customers via Verizon from November 11 for US$199.99 (after the buyer agrees to a 24-month contract and receives a $100 mail-in rebate). Retail outlets will begin stocking the smartphone from November 18.

1 comment
1 comment
Charles Bosse
What\'s with all the phones and tablets launching with 2.1, especially after the recent news of the web browser exploit for 2.1 and earlier? Seriously, 2.2 has been out for a quite while now and is a pretty major improvement over 2.1 in terms of options. It seems weird to me to create a phone with cool options and a high speed processor only to release it under an already out-of-date system (like selling a new computer with Vista, or OS X Leopard).
Add some pretty annoying preloaded content (Microsoft search on a Google OS phone seems disoriented at best, and the whole point of the market is to let users add things they want - ideally an android phone comes with no preloads or with content specific to the specific design of the phone) to the deal, and I think I will pass on this phone despite what sounds like an innovative set-up and some pretty good hardware. Way to sell yourself short Samsung.