Hands-on with Samsung's i900

Leaked images and specifications have led to much speculation about the new Samsung SGH-i900, a Windows Mobile 6.1 PDA-phone. We had one in our hands for a few brief moments, and bring you this quick and dirty hands-on description.

When we put it beside an iPhone, it was uncanny how similar its shape was to Apple's product. It's thicker than the iPhone but shorter in length. In the typical Samsung fashion, the i900 feels solidly built and has a brushed metal finish all around.

The i900 comes with HSDPA, 16GB internal storage, a 5-megapixel camera and runs Windows Mobile 6.1. Aside from that, we also know it has a 624MHz Marvell processor, 128MB of RAM and haptic feedback.

For the uninitiated, haptic feedback in a mobile phone is designed to make the feeling of pressing an on-screen virtual button more realistic. If you use your finger on the i900, it buzzes slightly to let you know it has registered that touch. This was very useful when we tried out the custom Samsung text input applications — making it almost like typing on a real keypad.

Like the SGH-i780, the i900 also has an optical sensor for a directional pad. This can be used in two modes — as a regular four-way directional pad or as an on-screen mouse pointer.

Though we were not able to get pictures of the custom interface, Samsung seems pretty confident that fingers will suffice when using the i900. We know this because the i900 doesn't have a stylus slot. It still has a stylus, but this is attached to the carrying case that will be bundled with the device.

An orientation sensor is built into the i900. When rotated, it does this fancy transition whereby the display shrinks and expands back to fill the screen in a different orientation. The 240x400 display does seem a little weird, but is not unheard of — we've seen it in the Asus M930's internal display. It makes sense, too, if you are to use it as a media player because the aspect ratio is much closer to the 16:9 aspect ratio commonly seen in movie files. To that end, the i900 also comes with a media application that supports DivX and Xvid out of the box.

Listed below are the key specifications of the i900. This device will be available soon, we believe. Surely Samsung will not delay it and let the HTC Touch Diamond hog the limelight. Our source suggested that it will be priced similar to the Diamond.

• 7.2Mbps HSDPA
• GPS
• 624MHz Marvell PXA312 processor
• 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM
• 16GB internal memory
• microSD expansion
• 5-megapixel camera with autofocus
• FM radio
• 1,480mAh battery
• 112x56.9x12.5mm
• 122g