Short Version: Samsung’s SyncMaster XL2370 is a 23-inch LED backlit monitor that retails for around $300. At under eight pounds and less than two inches thick, there’s a lot to like here.

via crunchgear

Last year Samsung set up stall in the mini-camcorder market with the HMX-U10 — a quirkily shaped device that offered HD video and a 10-megapixel camera to boot. This year it’s flogging the all-new HMX-U20 and HMX-U15, two feature-rich minicams with equally hard-to-remember names.

Both camcorders will shoot 1,920×1,080-pixel Full HD video and feature HDMI connectivity, so showing off your masterpieces on a big-screen TV should be truly simple. There’s also an image-stabilisation system, which is a useful inclusion as minicams’ light weight can lead to shaky footage as you fail to keep your arms steady.

The HMX-U15 raises the still-photography stakes with the ability to take 14-megapixel still images, while the HMX-U20 can muster only 10-megapixel shots. On the other hand, the HMX-U20 boasts a 3x optical zoom and a Flip Mino-style swing-out USB connector, which can be used for video transfer or charging. Both these features are absent from the U15 model, so you’ll have to decide which is more important to you — still image quality or easy charging and connectivity.

Plugging in either device will let you upload video quickly to YouTube, or make a few quick adjustments to your footage with the built-in software. As you can see from the press shots above, both models feature a distinctive — and apparently more comfortable — 7-degree angled grip. The HMX-U20 will be available in March, with the U15 following close behind with a May release date, and both models will be available in black, blue, red and silver. Stay tuned for pricing information and a full review.

via cnet

If you’re bored of 3G, it’s time to take things to the next level. Which is 4G, obviously. The Samsung N150 is the first 4G netbook, making it able to connect to the Web wherever you wander.

3G is the technology that lets you browse the Web at usable speeds over your mobile phone signal. 4G is even faster, allowing you to browse like you’re on broadband. It’s set to make data-intensive processes, such as watching video or downloading, viable on mobile devices wherever you are.

There are two main types of 4G: WiMax, which we won’t see in Britain, and Long Term Evolution (LTE), which we probably will. People quibble about whether LTE should be referred to as 4G or 3G LTE, but these people need to get out more — it will almost certainly be sold as 4G here when it appears. The N150 uses LTE, and packs a Samsung-designed LTE modem chipset, called Kalmia. The processor is a Intel Atom Processor N450, and graphics are handled by an integrated Intel GMA3150 chip.

Samsung claims a theoretical maximum of 100Mbps download and 50Mbps upload for LTE. The display unit we tried out on the Samsung stand was hardly setting the world aflame with upload speeds of 93KBps, but  download speeds of 3.53MBps, according to an onscreen counter, were more impressive, at the equivalent of 28Mbps — a good home broadband speed. It’s hard to make any judgements though, until we see it away from the confines of a trade show and on the No. 72 to Thingwall, halfway up a tarn or helping us cheat in the Goat and Sprocket pub quiz.

The keyboard is a decent size for typing on. The trackpad feels a little squished, and although it does support multitouch, the space isn’t huge for swiping your finger around.

A built-in webcam and mic means you’ll be able to Skype over 4G, without a Wi-Fi connection. The N150 also packs an SD card reader and a whopping three USB ports, with a choice of 160GB or 250GB hard drives. It packs a 10-inch LED-backlit screen with 1,024×600-pixel resolution. Samsung reckons you’ll get battery life of up to 8.5 hours.

You can already get the N150 with 802.11bg/n Wi-Fi and 3G options. The 4G option will follow in selected markets. So far, Blighty has only seen trials of the technology — by Motorola and O2 — but real-life customers are benefiting from it in Sweden and the US. Samsung also has a range of 4G dongles ready for when the super-fast technology rolls out.

via cnet

There’s nothing like wacky convergence to brighten up a long day at the Mobile World Congress phone extravaganza. So we were keen to take a look at the Samsung Beam i8520, the phone with a tiny projector in. Will it light up our lives?

We headed for the Samsung stand in search of illumination. We wanted to shed some light on the question of whether a projector as small as a mobile phone would be worthwhile, or whether the projector would make the phone too unwieldy.

There isn’t much compromise in size, happily. The Beam isn’t as dramatically different to the norm as the Nikon Coolpix S1000pj, the oversized camera that crams in a projector.

We wonder if this will see the start of wacky gimmicks being bolted on to phones — hey, it works for cameras. What other crazy convergence ideas would you like to see in your phone? We suggest a phone with a stapler in. Clamshell phones are already the right folding shape, and the big benefit is that if you clap the phone to your face hard enough — hands-free!

via cnet

The Samsung Wave is the first phone to rock Samsung’s new mobile operating system, Bada, which aims to make feature phones more app-friendly. We first heard the rumbles of the approaching tsunami after Samsung flaunted the Wave on a billboard outside Mobile World Congress on Friday.

The Wave’s frothy crest is a 84mm (3.3-inch) touchscreen that Samsung is calling ‘Super AMOLED’ — and Samsung knows what it’s talking about. Its AMOLED already brings all the boys to the yard on phones like the Samsung i8910 HD and the Samsung Galaxy.

Samsung says that Super AMOLED is brighter, clearer, and less reflective than boring old normal AMOLED, with anti-smudge technology that keeps our kebab-soaked fingers from sullying its beauty. Of course, we’ll let you know if it’s more than hype when we see the phone in person.

The Wave has a 1GHz processor and a refreshed version of the TouchWiz user interface, which includes an integrated inbox for email, text messages and social networking updates.

The Wave washes over you with Wi-Fi that supports the latest 809.11n standard and Bluetooth 3.0. You’ll also get access to the Samsung Apps application store to beef up the phone with plenty more fun and games.

There’s also a 5-megapixel camera with an LED photo light and heaps of image editing features. Your choice of 2GB or 8GB of on-board memory can be topped off with up to 32GB more in the microSD card slot.

Expect to catch the wave in April of this year.

via cnet

The 800MHz ARM11-powered Samsung Mondi WiMAX MID (SWD-M100) became commercially available today for those in Clearwire’s mobile WiMAX service areas (currently Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Portland, OR) to put the “blazing fast internet in the palm of [their] hand.” The 5.39-ounce Windows Mobile 6.1 slider can be put into the hands of those residing in other US states as well, of course, but those fingers will have to be content with using the Opera 9.5 web browser strictly over WiFi and presumably Bluetooth.

Beginning on August 1st, the 4.88″ x 3.03″ x 0.63″ device will hit the shelves of Clearwire and Best Buy shops, where people can behold the 4.3″ WVGA touchscreen in person and perhaps test out everything learned through perusing the user manual beforehand. For those who can’t wait that long, LetsTalk.com already has the Mondi in stock for $450.

via pocketables

That’ll be the work of an 800MHz chip, then. Odd, since Toshiba’s fully touchscreen TG01 phone has a 1GHz Qualcomm chip. But that ain’t on the shelves in the U of K yet, and until we test and review both contenders, we shall not judge. For further comparison, the supposedly much-improved iPhone 3G S has been revealed to use a 600MHz chip.

So let’s move on. Samsung is pitching speed and power as the Jet’s key selling points, and the 3.6Mbps data connection highlights this by being significantly slower than the 7.2Mbps speed many phones are capable of in the UK, including Sony Ericsson’s forthcoming Satio and the 3G S.

But the Jet looks like a stunning smart phone otherwise, with what could be one of the best screens on the market for watching mobile video, and a metric tonne of cool multimedia features besides — support for high-quality H.264, DivX and Xvid video, for example, iTunes Plus compatibility and a 3.5mm headphone socket, that 5-megapixel autofocusing camera, Microsoft Exchange support, Wi-Fi, a questionable 2GB of internal storage (expandable with microSD cards) and GPS navigation.

Safe to say, when it comes to high-end phones, Samsung’s really beginning to leapfrog Nokia in our estimations these days, and the Jet looks like a stunning rival to the N97 one of us hates so dearly. We’ll be wheeling the Jet in-house for review as soon as possible, and all being well it’ll be on sale in the UK later this month.

via cnet uk