Samsung has released copious amounts of Android phones.  So far, though, we haven't seen a single clamshell handset from the outfit.  That is, until now, with the Samsung W899.

Officially announced for the Chinese market, the smartphone takes on an entirely unique form factor, combining the design of both flip phones and touchscreen slates.  Instead of a small display in front like regular clamshell devices, it puts a  full touchscreen display on the face of the 57.4 x 107.5 x 17.55 mm body.

Details of the Samsung W899 include two 3.3-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreens (one on the front and one on the inside flap), a 5.0 megapixel camera module with 720p video recording, a front-facing VGA camera, aGPS, WiFi, 3G (EvDo Rev. A), stereo Bluetooth, 512MB of onboard storage and microSD card expansion.  It comes with Android 2.2 pre-installed, although there are no details on what apps made it to the device.

We're not sure if the outer display is crippled or something, but dual displays meant to work independently sound particularly odd.  From the looks of it, you can use both the external and internal panels just like any regular Android touchscreen; except for the second display, you get a physical alphanumeric keyboard for T9-style typing.

No word on whether the Samsung W899 will be released in other markets.  For now, though, it's being prepped for release under China Telecom.

[via UnwiredView]

Want your Blackberry in a clamshell form factor?  You're about to get it with the Blackberry Style, which brings all of the platform's  features in a compact flip design.

Running Blackberry OS 6, it brings all of RIM's latest updates in tow, including universal search, the new Webkit-based HTML browser and striking UI enhancements.  Paired with the familiar Blackberry QWERTY keyboard (four rows with 35 backlit keys) and the platform's much-lauded messaging strengths, it gives clamshell fans a different option in their ever-expanding smartphone choices.

Details of the Blackberry Style include a 2-inch external LCD (320 x 240 resolution), a 2.7-inch internal display (320 x 240 resolution), a 5.0 megapixel camera module (with autofocus), aGPS (with Blackberry Maps), WiFi, CDMA/EVDO Rev. A support, Bluetooth 2.1, 512MB of internal storage and microSD card expansion (8GB preinstalled, expandable to 32GB).  Phone dimensions are 175.5 x 60 x 18.5 mm (open), with a weight of 131 grams.  It has a 1,150 mAh battery module, which is good for 4.5 hours of talk time and 10.5 days of standby.

Pre-orders begin tomorrow, with actual ship date slated for October 31st.  It comes in two colors (Steel Grey and Royal Purple), priced at $99.99 on a two-year agreement with Sprint.

[Blackberry Style]

The LG Lotus Elite does not necessarily live up to its predecessors in all shapes and forms; however, if you are a messaging addict then this phone is probably ideal for you.  The LG Lotus Elite boasts Sprint’s one click interface that allows the end user to get to the tools that are needed quickly and easily.  It also boasts a brand-new touch screen that allows easy access to photos, messages, and other important features of any mobile phone – best of all, the phone doesn’t even have to be opened in order to do this.

The Elite is a relatively slim and smooth flip phone, which means that it is not too large, but it isn’t too small either and fits perfect in your pocket.  At first look, apart from its slick look, it looks a bit peculiar due to its square like shape in addition to it being wide than most available phones on the market.  When speaking on the LG Lotus Elite, it is a bit uncomfortable because of its wideness, but it is something that you could get used to.

The messaging board on this Lotus Elite is similar, but not necessarily better, than previous Lotus’s; however, it is unique.  The Elite possesses a wide QWERTY keyboard that is easy to use.  On the outside of this flip phone, when it is shut, there is a touch screen for ease of access to your videos, photos, and messages without even having to flip open your cell phone.  The screen measures 2.4 inches with the same being true of the inside screen.

Upon purchase of the LG Lotus Elite, you’ll receive a stylish hand strap, a 1GB microSD card, AC adapter, and the user manual and getting started guides.  This phone boasts 2.4-inch screens as previously mentioned while weighting in at about 4.76 oz, which means it is relatively lightweight.  The entire phone measures approximately 3.42 inches x 2.44 inches x .72 inches, which is the height, width, and thickness respectively.  Although it’s not apparent, compared to its predecessor of the Lotus that the Elite is a tad bit heavier as well as wider.

The Elite also features a 2.5mm headphone jack on the left side of the phone in addition to the up and down volume buttons, microUSB ports that allow for charging and data transmission.  On the right side of the Elite, you’ll find the unlock and lock button for the screen, button for the camera, as well as the slot for the microSD card.

The LG Lotus Elite boasts only a 2-megapixel camera that is capable of taking pictures as well as videos.  The battery life of this Elite is significantly higher than others.  It can last several days if it is used little to none or a couple days if you use it on a regular or heavier basis.  As for the call quality when speaking on the phone, it is relatively good – for both ends, the caller and the listener.

The phone features Bluetooth connectivity on the Sprint 3G network.  Social networking sites are easily accessible and work well as well as the YouTube client.  Watching YouTube videos on the LG Lotus Elite was simple, easy to manage, and the quality was exceptionally above standard.

As previously stated, if you are an avid messenger with your cell phone, then this would be a good phone for you.  However, if you aren’t into text messaging, video messaging, and the like then you won’t find this phone of much use, as the phone simply wasn’t meant for that specific market.  For this sleekly designed messaging phone, you can expect to find it at your local Sprint store or online for $299.99 without a two-year contract.

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You might remember the Sony Ericsson T707 as the clamshell phone that debuted in the hands of Maria Sharapova not too long ago.  Clad in glossy, eye-catching colors, it's easily one of the most visually appealing handsets available today.

Looks aren't everything for the T707, but that may certainly be its most compelling feature.  With a decidedly sexy design and plenty of attractive touches, it's the kind of phone you can't help but be drawn to, as soon as you set your gaze upon it.  Once you turn the handset on, the external shell becomes even more lovely, with the outer panel glowing and pulsating to alert you of a message or a missed call.

Build of the entire phone is very sturdy, from the outer chassis to the inside panels to the top-mounted hinge.  It sports a well-designed T9-style keypad that delivers good typing experience.  Display is a 2.2-inch LCD, with bright colors and sharp details.

As a phone, the T707 offers good calls and a wide range of messaging support.  Performance is just about what you'd expect from standard Sony Ericsson phones, making it a largely predictable experience.  One of the company's trademark activities, as of late, has been to bundle its releases with apps of all sorts, and this phone is no different.  It comes with custom-made versions of popular services like Google Maps, YouTube and Facebook, among many other third-party offerings.

On the features end, the T707 bundles a good set.  It offers gesture controls, HSDPA connectivity, stereo Bluetooth, a 3.2 megapixel camera and music playback.  Web browsing is fast, though, the screen is really too small to be all that enjoyable.  Camera comes with a good range of features, although photo quality is decidedly average.  For the music player, it supports both MP3 and AAC files, and offers above-average audio quality.  This is dampened a bit by the use of a proprietary headset jack, forcing you to use the unappetizing set of earphones bundled with the phone.

Overall, the Sony Ericsson T707 is a fashion phone.  It looks good and packs in a decent feature set, but isn't all that useful if you want to squeeze as much as you can out of your handset.  At its price (we've seen it sell between $250 to $350, as of now), it sounds like it can carry its own weight, making it a good purchase, provided that a "hot, sexy phone" is at the top of your priority list.

Sony Ericsson

We rarely get to see smartphones sporting a clamshell form factor, with the design cue typically reserved for lower-end devices with more basic features. It's that reason why a handset like the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 feels relevant - it offers something different for those whose tastes might not exactly be the norm.

Since RIM decided to keep it within a reasonable size for a flip phone, the 8230 isn't able to fit in a full-size QWERTY keyboard. Instead, it uses a SureType entry panel, which allows for semi-QWERTY typing, with two characters assigned for each key. Like we said about the Samsung SGH T349, the partial QWERTY takes a bit of getting used to, although it does allow for some pretty fast texting once you get the hang of the layout.

Physically, I find the Pearl Flip to be one of the sexier clamshell phones around. While it does come in a little bulky, the entry-level smartphone talents more than make up for it.

As a phone, it offers great voice calls, with loud volume and zero interference the whole time we tried it. Speakerphone was similarly pleasant. It fits in all basic phone features you can expect from a modern handset, along with Blackberry's signature range of messaging capabilities. Like other RIM devices, it supports SMS, MMS, IM and multiple email accounts of pretty much any configuration you can ask for.

On the features end, the phone comes with an onboard music player (great quality), a 2.0 megapixel camera (average stills, with some amount of shutter lag), aGPS and a full HTML browser. It supports 3G connectivity, although does without Wi-Fi, which is sort of Blackberry's perennial Achilles Heel.

It comes with a great set of bundled apps that include various social networking tools, Documents To Go, five IM clients and Visual Voice Mail. There's also support for the Blackberry App World, which allows it download access to more apps that are compatible with the phone. Despite the broadband capability, it doesn't seem to support music and video streaming services (at least, with Verizon).

Overall, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 is a good-looking option for first-time smartphone users. It's not the most feature-rich handset available, but it's priced very competitively and fits in, pretty much, every business talent you can find in other Blackberry phones.

Photo Credit: Into Mobile

The Walkman-branded Sony Ericsson W518a, as expected, boasts highly-capable music talents. While that may be enough to offer a compelling choice for those in search of a media-centered device, it also fits in a strong range of features, including unconventional controls, a good set of third-party apps and broadband support.

Music quality is the high point of any Walkman handset and the W518a is no exception, pumping great-sounding tunes into your connected headphones. It offers the usual assortment of features, including playlists, album art, an equalizer, stereo widening and an airplane mode. Apart from the media player, it comes with an FM tuner and a pre-loaded XM Radio app.

The phone fits in an accelerometer, which allows it to change orientation when you rotate the handset as well as recognize movement. As such, the music player can be controlled by merely shaking the phone, with predefined actions corresponding to particular commands. It's a weird way to handle the phone, but it works and is actually very useful.

It comes in an attractively-styled clamshell form factor, with the outer panel decked with three touch controls, a small monochrome display and the camera lens. The finish isn't as shiny as some of the company's other handsets, making it less prone to smudges and dirt.

As a phone, the W518a offers average quality, with some fuzziness in the overall sound. It fits in the usual set of messaging features, along with IM and POP-3 email. Other standard phone features include voice recording, voice commands, USB mass storage and stereo Bluetooth. It also comes with an onboard GPS antenna and a wide array of third-party apps (YellowPages Mobile, Facebook, JuiceCaster and many more).

Display panel is a 2.25-inch screen, with 320 x 240 resolution that comes with vibrant colors, great brightness and sharp details. The phone controls, unfortunately, prioritize style over substance, making navigation tricky at times. Keypad doesn't offer the best use and is difficult to manage for rapid texting.

Camera module is a 3.2 megapixel set that produces considerably good image quality, despite the fact that this isn't a Cyber-shot phone. There are plenty of settings to play around with, including multi-shot and panoramic modes.

Overall, the Sony Ericsson W518a is a music phone that offers a lot more than great tunes. While the navigation controls and keypad will likely take some getting used to, the feature set is more than enough to make learning it worth your while.

Big fonts and big keys - that's the trademark put forward by the LG KF300, a clamshell handset that's sure to find fans among those who find today's ever-shrinking phones a bit too hard to handle.  It may not be the sleekest phone around, but it more than makes up by relieving both your eyes and your fingers of the strain many handsets end up putting you through.

A thin and light phone, the KF300 sports a conservative design.  Outside is a small display panel that shows the time in big, bold fonts, fronting a largely shiny plastic panel that surprisingly feels very sturdy.  Flipped open, it turns up a larger LCD with average display quality, which uses predominantly enormous fonts (a good thing), interspersed with a few small ones (e.g. icon labels).   The large menu fonts are adjustable, too, so you can reduce them a bit if you find the size a little too distracting.

All buttons and keys on the inside panel are considerably bigger than similar sets for most phones.  The T9-compatible keypad, for instance, has the numbers written in a font size about twice of what most regular handsets feature.  I've totally forgotten how good it was to type on a large phone keyboard (I used to own a flip Nokia with keys just a tad smaller than these) and the KF300 reminded me about it nicely.

Voice calls are very good, with clear and natural sound on both ends of the reception. SMS, MMS and email are relatively straightforward, along with the rest of the standard phone features.

It ships with a 2.0 megapixel camera module, which comes with a good UI but slightly below-average quality images.  Many shots appear washed out and noisy, even in well-lit outdoor settings.  It also manages to shoot some low-quality videos.  Other additional features include a basic media player, microSD expansion and a proprietary headphone jack, although LG is nice enough to bundle a free 3.5 mm adaptor for those of us who'd rather use our own buds.

Strangely enough, I loved the ease-of-use facilitated by the LG KF300, with its large fonts, keys and buttons.  If I was asked to choose a basic handset today strictly for text and calls, this will probably be one of my top three choices, even with the lack of extra niceties.

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Even with souped-up feature phones and smartphones dominating the market, basic handsets like the Samsung Smooth continue to have their place among consumers.  In fact, the Smooth isn't as devoid of niceties as it might appear at first glance, offering a few decent features to go with its inexpensive price.

Physically, the Smooth offers a very unexciting design, pretty much taking on the most generic idea for a clamshell form factor that you can imagine.  It's small, compact and actually feels good on the hand.  While the very small 1.9-inch LCD doesn't offer much in terms of screen real estate, it does get the job done.  Overall navigation and control is very good, with soft buttons and a speedy interface.

On the features end, the Samsung Smooth comes with a few extras that make it a bit more attractive than your typical entry-level rig.  It comes with Bluetooth, voice dialing, speakerphone and a VGA camera (comes with a night mode and a self-timer).  A full-featured onboard GPS is also included, although it requires additional data charges to make use of Verizon's Navigator service.  Messaging options include SMS, MMS, email and "chat".  That last one, by the way, just takes you to a web browser after selecting from a number of available social networking apps, instead of an actual IM interface.

Calls are good, although occasional garbled transmissions on both ends of the conversation seem to occur sporadically.  The speakerphone was also surprisingly capable, despite some noticeable echo.

Overall, the Samsung Smooth is a good entry-level handset if you're fine with the lack of premium features on a phone.  It's probably even better as a backup phone, due to its considerably small frame and largely reliable operating capabilities.

Like we said in our review of the Motorola Hint QA30, there seems to be a trend among lower-end handsets sporting a square form factor.  US Cellular gets in on the action as well, with a similar offering in the clamshell-styled Samsung Gloss.

As you may have guessed, this is a very basic messaging phone with an odd design that seems to have more in common with a makeup mirror than an actual phone.  However, as one of the smallest full QWERTY handsets around (if not the smallest actually) at 2.55 x 2.94 x 0.82 inches, it's also extremely easy to bring along.  The name is actually a misnomer as the Gloss isn't glossy nor shiny at all.  Instead, it's a very cute device that's likely targeted towards younger female customers.

Personally, I love the way the phone looks and wouldn't mind rocking the gray one if I had no other choice.  As a messaging handset, it's also pretty nifty, with a very good set of QWERTY keys (plenty of separation, good response).  During voice calls, it felt a bit odd holding the form close to your face but I'm sure it's the kind of thing you get over with in time.  Call quality is decent, with a little robotic sharpness on our end.

The inside screen is a bright, colorful and equally square 2.2-inch LCD.  Display is quite beautiful, with good color delivery and fonts that are very easy on the eyes.  The phone runs fast enough with passably intuitive controls and navigation.  Like I said, it's a phone I wouldn't mind using, actually, if all I needed to do is text and call.  It fits in a 1.3 megapixel camera right on the front flap, with a 1.1-inch LCD right below it that you can use as a viewfinder when taking self-portraits.  Image quality from a 1.3 megapixel module, as you can expect, is quite unappetizing.

It's not devoid of good features, however, toting stereo Bluetooth, aGPS, USB mass storage support, voice dialing, a pretty basic music player and  mobile email.  You can set up practically any email account with either POP or IMAP access.  Other capabilities include a wireless web browser (via EDGE connectivity) and microSDHC expansion up to 16GB.

All in all, the Samsung Gloss is a very good messaging phone, with a few nifty features offered as an aside.  If you (or, most likely, your daughter) are on the hunt for a good-looking QWERTY-fitted handset, this should figure prominently among your options.

Tracfone quietly rolled out a new entry-level Samsung clamshell phone called the Samsung SGH-T201G.  It's the mobile  carrier's third Samsung handset, right after the Samsung SGH-T101G (which comes in a candy bar form) and the Samsung SGH-T301G (a standard slider).

Like its two siblings under the Tracfone banner, the SGH-T201G fits low-end specs and the most basic of features (SMS and calls).  Size is a very pocketable 1.8 x 3.5 x 0.8 inches, while packing a classic suite of phone apps like calendars and alarms, looking no different from what they probably did from your very first colored handsets.

Two screens come on board the Samsung SGH-T201G, one external and another when you flip the cover, both featuring a 128 x 160 resolution and 65,000 colors.  It comes with a built-in HTML browser (GPRS connection) with an available memory of only 1.4MB.  Tracfone made no announcements on pricing and availability, but we're guessing it's coming soon.

I'd really like to see data on how many people actually go for these bottom-of-the-barrel devices as they just won't seem to go away.   Personally, I think anyone looking at one of these low-end handsets should take a gander at Chinese phones - I reckon they sell at around the same price a phone like this goes for, with a lot more to offer.

Photo Credit: Phone Scoop