Samsung's UltraTouch provides a dual form-factor -- full touchscreen and a physical, slide out keypad
Samsung Mobile Australia today announced the launch of its latest "hero" mobile phone, the UltraTouch, which comes equipped with a touch screen and a slide-out numeric keypad.
It follows on the heels of the Samsung Omnia and the Samsung F480, which both have touch screens.
Like Apple's iPhone 3G, the Samsung UltraTouch utilises a capacitive touch screen, meaning there is no need for a stylus. The 2.8in display features AMOLED technology, with Samsung claiming the screen offers superior brightness and clarity, better contrast and higher definition compared to the screens of competing mobile phones.
The interface of the Samsung UltraTouch features mobile widgets, which can be dragged and placed on the home screen for one-touch access. Unlike the iPhone, the UltraTouch boasts adjustable haptic feedback.
The Samsung UltraTouch also includes an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, face detection, anti-shake and geotagging. It is a 7.2Mbps HSDPA-capable mobile phone and has a built-in accelerometer and a microSD card slot for extra storage. A wide range of multimedia files formats are supported by the built-in music and video player applications, but the phone lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The Samsung UltraTouch also includes a Find Music feature, allowing you to record a 10 second clip of a song, send it to the music recognition server and get the title and artist information returned. This application is similar to Sony Ericsson's TrackID service, and the iPhone app Shazam.
A more amusing feature of the UltraTouch is Samsung's Fake Call application. Fake Call helps you get out of awkward situations by simulating a phone call and playing back a pre-recorded voice message when answered.
The Samsung UltraTouch is available now for an RRP of $899 and will be launched across Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and 3 Mobile.
