Two new Samsung phones recently earned FCC approval for its ultra slim quad-band GSM with EDGE data cell phones. The final off-the-rack specs of the Samsung twins aren't in yet but the general features are expected to be more or less the following:

The T629 is a slim slider 0.5 inches (11.9 mm) thick with a Micro SD slot, 70MB memory, 220x176 pixels and 262k color landscape one. The T519 is an ultra slim candy bar that measures a Moss-like 0.27 inches (6.9mm) thickness with a rather hefty 80MB built-in memory and and QVGA display. Both phoneswill have Bluetooth and a 2MP camera.

Stuck in a dilemma between getting a Samsung Q1 and an Apple Newton? Well, the guys at CNET pitted those two against each other just for fun. The verdict? Read on.

Undeniably, Apple's Newton MessagePad 2007 has been around for quite some time - since 1997 to be exact. It features handwriting recognition, and touch-screen display plus a stylus, all packed in a simple design. It doesn't boast of a full color screen, but runs on an efficient and virtually virus-free OS.

The Samsung Q1, on the other hand, has a sleek, shiny look as opposed to the "industrialized" design of the Newton. Its screen has 16.7 million colors, so you would be able to watch your favorite movies here. It also has better networking capabilities and handwriting recognition than the Newton.

However, the Newton can run up to 30 hours with four AA batteries, which dealt the final blow on the Q1, which only runs for 2.5 hours. And while the latter costs £799, the decade-old Newton can be bought in eBay for £50.

So take your pick. If you're more into practicality, you might want to get a Newton. But if you're into sleek, modern gadgets, maybe you'd consider getting a Samsung Q1 instead.

InfoSpace has just announced the release of Trickshoot Pool, a 2D pool game that lets you execute a number of exciting trickshots as well as challenge your friends in multi-player competitions. The game will be available for downloading to mobiles with JAVA from selected operators across Europe this month. Features include:

- 25 eight-ball and nine-ball trickshot competitions over 5 levels
- A variety of game modes, including practice and competition rooms, to master those extra tricky top and side spin shots
- Increasingly tough AI opponents, the right challenge for both newbies and experts
- A two-player mode, to show off your pool skills and ball control
- An unlockable Freetable mode where players can create and save their own trickshot tables

InfoSpace is well-known for its experience with mobile pool games, having already developed Steve Davis Snooker and Pub Pool. Select mobile operator networks will carry Trickshot Pool soon, which is playable on handsets from all major manufactures including Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, Siemens and Samsung.

Samsung and Versace's Versus brand have teamed up to come up with stylish, innovative, and practical phones that will be original enough to appeal to the younger generation. The first product of this alliance is the Samsung E500 Versus, which applies the stylishness of Versus to Samsung's original SGH-E500.

As it is based on SGH-E500, Samsung E500 Versus will have a 1.3 megapixel camera, Music Player, and Bluetooth squeezed into its clamshell form. What will mark the Samsung-Versus phone is the color - while the Samsung clamshell came in champagne gold, the Samsung-Versus creation offers three color combinations: white and gold, white and antique pink, and black and silver.

Samsung E500 Versus will be out in the Italian market by the end of August.

According to the Q2 2006 Global Handset Market Share Update Report (now that's a handful to type), Nokia and Motorola took the sales figures for a record 55 percent combines during the quarter. This report also comes with some incite from the people who brought it to you.

Neil Mawston, the Associate Director of the Wireless Device Strategies service at Strategy Analytics, said that if Motorola could keep the pace and continue with its average annual growth of 52%, it would overtake Nokia in the first half next year. If that happens, pressure would be put on Nokia to improve their mid- and entry-level phones.

Chris Ambrosio, Director of the Wireless Device Strategies service, spoke about Sony Ericsson - which, according to him, has found a balance between product design and product relevence with it's Walkman brand. This has resulted in record highs for the company...a good feat especially since they have struggled with this in the past. If they can keep it up, they will have some great growth in the 1st half of 2007.

Some other stuff that happened this quarter includes Sony's Ericsson Line jumping back to fourth for the first time in two years (people seem to love those new Walkman phones) with an increase in the gap between Motorola and Samsung, which is now at its widest point since 1999. How good is your cellphone company doing?

Following in the footsteps of fellow industry giant Nokia, Samsung recently unleashed its newest thing of beauty - the SCH-B450 aka Samsung's answer to the Nokia n-gage. This baby is jampacked with features such as 3D-motion recognition games which will enable future users to have some good gaming fun with this one. Too tired of playing them games? Then go ahead and watch some television with this Samsung contraption which has a DMB Tuner that makes TV watching a reality. Beat that n-gage!

The SCH-B450 is also equipped with 1M polygon 3D game chip and vibration solution of Immersion Company 'Vibe Tonz' to really enhance your gaming experience. Other features include 2.2-inch wide LCD, Bluetooth, motion recognition, 2M camera, MP3 player, my pet, black UI, file viewer, and mobile printing.

Suggested price is 600,000 Korean Won or roughly $632 American bucks. No word on availability for now but you are free to take a closer look at the thumbprint on your left. Let's just hope that this thingamajig steps foot on foreign shores.

Tired of being unable to use your mobile phone because it's not compatible with some wireless-zone standard? Then this phone might just be your cup of tea. Samsung's SGH-P200 mobile phone is the first commercially available handset that offers Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA). This means that you can enjoy seamless handovers between cellular networks and Wi-Fi hotspots while you're on the go. With the UMA technology, the P200 can freely switch between GSM, GPRS, EDGE, and wireless LAN networks, allowing for uninterrupted high-speed connection wherever you are.

The newfangled phone is very Samsung in appearance - it features a slide-out design and an all-black finish. While you'd readily buy the phone because of the UMA technology, you'd have to remember that this phone is a fully-featured handset as well. It sports a 1.9-inch 176x220px 262K color TFT screen and it comes with a built-in 80MB memory, a 1.3 megapixel camera and camcorder. It also has a music player that supports MP3, AAC, ACC+ formats; and an MPEG4/H.263 video player with file viewer functions. Interestingly enough, there's no Bluetooth and IR. 

Samsung released the P200 in Italy first, with the rest of Europe to follow very soon.

M600+ is the newest flagship of this Taiwanese company, E-TEN. This baby retains the elegant design and impressive core hardware features that made the original M600 a must-have among both the media and consumers. Aside from that, it also has increased 256MB memory capacity, an improved 2.0 mega-pixels camera, and updated software including support for Push email services, to make a great Pocket PC Phone package even better.

The E-TEN M600+ is built around Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC. It is powered by a Samsung S3C2440 processor running at 400MHz. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are both built in, and while there is no hardware button dedicated to controlling these, one of the many, many software extras E-TEN throws into this device is a Wireless Manager that allows you to turn both on and off and also manage your SIM, although adding up Infrared would be nice, the presence of Wi-Fi sorta makes up for it.

This baby looks good and all, and seems up to the corporate challenge. The only problem with this contraption is its really hefty price tag - it will cost you roughly U.S. $755. The price tag is really hefty since you can buy other smartphones with the same bang for buck. If they wanna make a killing at the markets, they better re-think their price tag.

For the fifth consecutive year, Samsung Electronics America will be sponsoring The World Cyber Games (WCG) in the United States. With this already a done deal, Samsung will be the exclusively provider of HDTV displays and PC monitors for gaming setups, as well as prizes and giveaways which is comprised of cell phones, MP3 players and printers.

Samsung will be part of World Cyber Games' every step - from the WCG USA Online Preliminaries, WCG US Open, WCG USA Regional Tournaments and the WCG USA Championship National Finals. Aside from that, the Korean electronics giant is also the worldwide sponsor of WCG.

Gamers will compete in games including StarCraft: Brood War, WarCraft: Frozen Throne, Dead or Alive 4 and Project Gotham Racing 3. The WCG Regional Events will start on July 15 while the grand finals will be on October 18-22.

  

The Samsung Q1 may be an expensive piece of contraption (with the price tag ranging from $1,100- $1,500 depending on where you buy), but you'd have to admit that even if the thingamajig is a luxury item, it's one good-looking piece of machinery (most expensive goodies are)! Although if you want to carry it around with you, you'd also have to pack the bulky Power Bank, which would give your baby a 10-hour battery life. To some it's ok to bring it along, but there are others who don't want the extra weight on their bags.

And with that, the Samsung Q1's Extended Battery enters the picture. Q1 owner, ervetzin, was looking around Samsung's website when he stumbled upon the extended battery for the Q1 which has a price tag of roughly $165 bucks, so since he obviously have some extra dough in his pockets, he decided to order one and give it a good try.

Results? ervetzin says that, overall, he is one happy (and not to mention rich) camper. The extended battery fits beautifully in the bottom of the Q1, which he liked because it gave him "added space for resting my hand while inking". The Q1 will also tightly fit into the sleeve it came with and after using the Samsung contraption with low brightness, moderate browsing via wifi & listening to mp3s, the battery racked up 5 1/2 hours of power.

I don't know about you, but that extra 5 hours of power sure is expensive, plus, I won't mind carrying the Power Bank with me if I really have to use the Q1. But that's just plain-old me, who's always on a tight budget. If I was a rich girl I'd buy one, but since I am so in touch with the reality that money ain't falling on trees, I personally will pass up on this product.