Samsung Valencia outed by Microsoft, not Samsung

Microsoft's mansion at mobile World Congress contains -- among other things -- a playground of recent windows Mobile-powered models designed to show off its licensees' collective design and manufacturing prowess. By and large, the models were nothing we haven't known about for days, months, or years, but one stood out for us: this here Samsung Valencia. We've heard of this sucker through Expansys as the C6625 with a $365 sticker price -- but Samsung doesn't seem to know anything about it and it's only being shown by Microsoft, so we suppose they've opted against an unveiling here at the show. Microsoft's spec sheet indicates that it's got 3G (which jibes with Expansys' details), GPS, 128MB each of RAM and ROM, a totally pedestrian QVGA display, and a 393MHz processor -- slow for a Professional device, yes, but this sucker's Standard with some minor UI mods. One thing that's got us a little confused is the line item indicating 20GB of storage -- something tells us that a phone with these kinds of specs wouldn't be packing 20GB on board, so it might refer to a theoretical max of 20GB with the microSD maxed out. We're not losing sleep over the missing announcement with this one, guys, so don't sweat it or anything.

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Samsung Beat Disc hands-on

Having already taken Samsung's beat DJ for a spin, the mixers at Engadget Spanish tried out its not-quite-finished younger brother, the Beat Disc. The two handsets are pretty similar, with the most notable differences being a slide-out keyboard and the Bang & Olufsen speakers placed closer together at the bottom of the device. All in all, it comes off as a cheaper version of the DJ, so take that as you will. Check out the moving pictures version of the hands-on after the break.

• Samsung's Omnia HD and Beat DJ unveiled in massive MWC ad

Samsung's Omnia HD and Beat DJ unveiled in massive MWC ad

Samsung has plastered MWC's host city of Barcelona with huge ads depicting its new Ultra Touch handset, alongside the previously unannounced Omnia HD and Beat DJ. We've spotted both of these handsets previously, the former being a dead ringer for the incredibly-specced Acme i8910, and the latter being that M7600 set which sports a Bang & Olufsen amplifier in a Ocean-like form factor. There's nothing else revealed by the ad, but we're obviously expecting to find out a lot more this coming week once the show proper gets underway.

Samsung's Ultra Touch S8300 handled ahead of MWC

Oh, brother. Really, Samsung? Are we seriously going to have to juggle completely unrelated names based on geographic location yet again? Unless our deductive reasoning skills are just utterly shot, Sammy's ultra Touch S8300 -- which got official earlier this week -- will be known as the Tocco Ultra Edition in some corners of the globe. Nomenclature aside, what we're really here to discuss is just how striking this piece is, and if you're in disbelief, we'd invite you to give the read link a visit. Pocket-lint was able to score a pre-production sample over in the UK ahead of its "debut" at Mobile World Congress, and you know you don't want to miss that.

• Samsung S8300 and updated TouchWiz UI previewed

Samsung S8300 and updated TouchWiz UI previewed

While we've gotta wait until Barcelona to see Samsung's Ultra Touch S8300 slider for ourselves, a handful of outlets have already played around with a preview unit, complete with the TouchWiz UI makeover. It's not the slimmest of touch phones, measuring 110 x 51.5 x 12.7 mm, but props are given to the 8 megapixel camera and OLED touchscreen, unsurprisingly, as well as the simple drag-and-drop widget menu and three separate home screens for micro-app organization. Other than some of the icon graphics and the aforementioned menu updates, the UI is largely unchanged from its previous form. The lack of WiFi is gonna ruffle a few feathers, but the HSDPA will probably assuage some of that pain. Hit up the read links for impressions and video -- with any luck, we'll be getting our own hands-on time at next week's Mobile World Congress.

Samsung melds slate, slider with Ultra Touch S8300

If having your cake and eating it too is just how you roll, you're probably the kind of hard-to-please son of a gun that wants a numeric slider keypad to go along with your phone's AMOLED WQVGA touchscreen. Wait, let us guess: you also want an 8 megapixel camera, AGPS with geotagging, integrated FM radio, stereo Bluetooth, and microSD support up to 16GB. And naturally, you want it all somehow magically packed into a shell measuring no more than 12.7mm thick. Well, guess what, sweet pea? Samsung's gone and called your bluff with the rumored Ultra Touch S8300, earning itself an official announcement ahead of MWC -- and as long as a real smartphone OS isn't on your shopping list, this 7.2Mbps HSDPA monster should fit the bill. We don't have launch territories or pricing just yet, but see that little "Barcelona" on the weather widget there? Yeah, we suspect we'll be seeing plenty of this one on the Mobile World Congress show floor.

Keepin' it real fake, part CLXXXI: Sumsang Omnia can't fool anyone

Oh, the horror! You know, Samsung's Omnia isn't terribly unique, but we never thought we'd see it knocked off and disrespected like this. Clearly created for use on China Mobile (and by fools who don't actually inspect the devices they buy), the Sumsang Omnia is a GSM smartphone that sports a 2.4-inch 320 x 240 resolution display, an MP3 player, a 13 megapixel camera (right...), USB connectivity, a couple of games, a microSD card slot and a sure-to-be-counterfeit version of Windows Mobile running the show. Of course, this abomination will only set you back a buck twenty, and hey -- at least this version comes with dual SIM slots!

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Samsung's Acme i8910 caught on film by Wile E. Coyote

Another day closer to the Mobile World Congress, another leaked phone. Today it's the samsung i8910, aka the Acme, which looks a bit like the Omnia but seems somewhat slimmer and features a little more heft in the chin area. Specs sound Omnia-like as well, including GPS, HDMI output, WiFi, plenty of media features, and availability in 8 and 16GB flavors. What exactly will set this apart from its predecessor remains to be seen, but perhaps Samsung is hiding a 12 megapixel sensor in there. We won't know until we get some pictures of the other side, probably in about two weeks time.

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Samsung pulls a Samsung, leaks nine new models ahead of MWC

In typical Samsung go-big-or-go-home style, the world's number two phone manufacturer is now expected to announce no fewer than nine new models at this month's Mobile World Congress -- and that's just from the EDGE-powered middle of the range on down. Starting with the most interesting of the school (if we want to go with a fish analogy here), the pictured S5050 brings high style, a 3.2 megapixel cam, 2.2-inch QVGA AMOLED display, and most interestingly, dual SIM slots -- an indication that this will very likely see duty in the Far East. Heading on downrange, the B5702 is almost as awesome but trades the high-tech display for a 2.4-inch TFT. Of course, there's more than just sliders in the mix; you've also got bars like the S3310, which supports microSD expansion, a 2.1-inch QVGA display, and FM radio (an almost ubiquitous feature in developing market phones). The E2210 holds down the clamshell fort -- but to get it, you'll have to be cool with a meager 160 x 128 display and a weak VGA cam. Heading down to the very, very bottom of the range, you get into a couple candybars designed to be accessible to the world's poorest: the E1125 and E1100, which rock 128 x 128 displays, a data-less GSM radio, and 300 / 200-contact phone books, respectively. That E1100 sounds suspiciously like the legendary Nokia 1100, doesn't it? Anyhoo, expect this all to break at MWC, along with the usual array of moderately more droolworthy high-end fodder.

16GB Samsung Omnia shows itself, other Samsung rumors surface

We've already seen some samsung rumors start to crop up in advance of Mobile World Congress, and it looks like the flood gates have now fully opened up, with a slew of new leaks and rumors of varying veracity now making their way across the internet. The most solid of those is the 16GB Samsung Omnia pictured above, which otherwise isn't too radically different from its current 8GB incarnation. That includes quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and single-band UMTS/HSDPA connectivity, along with the usual 3.2-inch WQVGA touchscreen, a five megapixel camera with built-in flash, a secondary QCIF front camera, and the trifecta of built-in Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS. In other pre-MWC news, the Dutch site GSM Helpdesk has reportedly confirmed that Samsung will indeed be introducing both a 12 megapixel and an 8 megapixel handset, the latter of which will supposedly be a successor to the Innov8 and run the Symbian S60 OS, while the 12 megapixel phone will apparently run Samsung's own OS. Lastly, but certainly not least, GSM Helpdesk is also reporting that Samsung will be announcing its very first Android phone within the next two weeks, which just so happens to line up nicely with MWC, although it unsurprisingly doesn't have any more details than that.

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Samsung Show finally makes projector phones sexy

Is 2009 finally the year of the projector phone? Eh, not likely -- but there are finally a few models filtering into retail after years of talk, prototypes, and empty promises, including the Logic Bolt from independent manufacturer Logic Wireless and this puppy from Sammy. We're told that the aptly-named Show is inbound for release in South Korea before the end of the month, it runs Samsung's ubiquitous TouchWiz platform, and it packs DLP-based pico projector tech from TI, but that's about all we (and Samsung's US reps) seem to know about it. The projector can be used to view media stored in phone memory, pull up mobile TV via Korea's T-DMB airwaves, or simply project light, a function luddites may know better as a "flashlight." Most importantly, it actually isn't half-bad looking -- a symptom of a major manufacturer getting involved and throwing some won and industrial design staff at the thing, we bet.

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Samsung Armani Night Effect gets exclusive on Vodafone

We've seen the Samsung Armani Night Effect fashion phone pop up pretty regularly over the last few months and it seems it has finally found a home chez Vodafone and Phones 4u sometime in January. We've covered the specs, poked fun at the garish branding, loved the pretty lights, and ultimately ended up confused about the whole thing. We've done our bit so now it's your time to chime in European friends, so what's it gonna be?

Sprint's pink Instinct shows up on Best Buy's site for outrageous price

We'd pegged early January for the release of a pink samsung Instinct on Sprint's airwaves, and Best Buy's doing everything it can to help us hold the line on that with a new "Coming Soon" page advertising just such a product. Unfortunately, they're asking a whopping $599.99 for the pleasure of being the first kid on your block with this thing, but the off-contract pricing in Best Buy's system is usually way out of whack -- we wouldn't worry about paying anything close to $200 on contract by the time you actually step into the store.

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