Samsung Gets FCC Approval for the SPH-i330

Back in February, Samsung began showing off at tradeshows a new smartphone, the SPH-i330. At about that same time, an anonymous source said the company would release it in the U.S. this summer. It is beginning to look like this might be true as Samsung has recently received permission from the FCC to release it.

The i330 is an updated version of the company's I300. It will have a 240 by 160, color screen. As a smartphone, will have both wireless voice and data capabilities. It will run on CDMA 2000 1X networks and support gpsOne. It is not yet known when the i330 will be available or at what price.

CDMA 2000 1X supports an average of 144 kbps packet data in a mobile environment. gpsOne uses signals from the GPS satellite constellation and from CDMA cell towers to locate the wireless handheld. This will allow for location-based services. It appears that Sprint will be the initial carrier. Sprint's CDMA 2000 network should be available next month.

The i330 is a tri-mode/dual-band device (CDMA 1900 and 800, AMPS 800).

It will be 4.9 by 2.2 by .7 inches and weigh 5.3 ounces. This makes it lighter and thinner than its predecessor.

It will run off a removable, rechargeable battery and have 4 hours of talk time and 100 hours of standby time.

Its cradle uses USB, not serial like the I300.

There have been contradictory reports on what version of the Palm OS this model will use and the documents filed with the FCC don't clear this up. It is certain that it isn't an OS 5 device.

Bluechip
Last week, Samsung began demonstrating the Bluechip, another new smartphone that runs the Palm OS. This one has a clamshell shape. It has a color screen and hardware buttons on one side and the Graffiti area, rocker switch, and telephone dial pad on the other. Pricing and availability date for the Bluechip are unknown.

Thanks to Marty for his help with this article. -Ed

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Typo alert...

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/24/2002 9:33:30 AM #
The paragraph about the rechargeable battery has two sentences saying the same thing.
RE: Typo alert...
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/24/2002 9:41:25 AM #
who cares?
RE: Typo alert...
Ed @ 6/24/2002 9:42:58 AM #
Thanks

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News Editor
RE: Typo alert...
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/24/2002 1:04:51 PM #
who the hell cares? people come here to read about pdas. you may think you're smart but i think you're pretty stupid for bringing the typo up.
RE: Typo alert...
Beavis @ 6/24/2002 2:48:10 PM #
Who cares what some anonymous poster thinks about some other anonymous poster?

RE: Typo alert...
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/25/2002 3:36:23 AM #
butthead..

Dragonball Processor

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/24/2002 10:07:41 AM #
FCC Pictures clearly show a Dragonball processor. So this must be a PalmOS 4.1 device.
RE: Dragonball Processor
Ed @ 6/24/2002 10:22:36 AM #
Not all new handhelds with Dragonball processors run OS 4.1. For example, the just-announced Treo 270 runs Palm OS 3.5.

Like I said, I've received contradictory info on this. Samsung representatives who were demonstrating the i330 in February said it used OS 4.1. However, an anonymous source inside the company said it would use Palm OS 3.5.2. A PCWorld article on the i330 said that in March the company still hadn't decided which version of the operating system to use.

All we know for certain is it doesn't use OS 5.

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News Editor

RE: Dragonball Processor
Scott R @ 6/24/2002 10:25:45 AM #
I don't think that there was any question of it being an OS5 device. The question is will it be running OS4.x or OS3.5. The current i300 (which I have) is only 3.5. Before someone comes out and says, "Big deal, there's nothing important in OS4.x that would matter for this sort of device," let me state for the umpteenth time that Palm introduced several small but significant improvements to web-clipping in OS4 which would be very useful in a wireless device like this.

Scott

OS Version and USB Driver
bcombee @ 6/24/2002 1:58:32 PM #
If it uses a USB connection, I would guess that the OS version would be 4.1. So far, we've seen USB devices from Palm, Sony, and Acer all using 4.1. Sony had Palm OS 3.5-based USB devices, but they used a USB Redirector program to treat it like Serial. Only Handspring has done USB consistenly on OSes older than 4.0.

--
CodeWarrior for Palm OS technical lead
Programming help at www.palmoswerks.com
RE: Dragonball Processor
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/24/2002 9:58:22 PM #
The USB is emulated serial over USB cable, like older versions of Sony CLIE where you have to install specific drivers on the PC. So, you get USB cables, but only at serial speed. The OS is 3.5.2 (maybe 3.5.3) which is the same as i300. i330 is limited to 256 colors, and since it has no SD, and is very similar to its predecessor, it is perhaps understandable. Bluechip, on the other hand, is new from the start up and hence it went with 4.1. Whether this means that Bluechip supports SD is unknown, but it seems unlikely considering Bluechip's size and lack of any documents mentioning SD.

Top caller id screen

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/24/2002 12:05:40 PM #
It looks as if the caller id screen on the top of the i300 has been eliminated for the i330. It will be a shame if this has been taken off since it was one feature that set it apart from the rest of the smartphones. I found it very useful and used it quite frequently. It doesn't seem like such a small screen would effect the battery life that much but I may be wrong.

i300

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/24/2002 12:49:13 PM #
My coworker has the i300 and its pretty sweet. I'd be interested in seeing an updated version.

GPRS?

jonr @ 6/24/2002 5:05:42 PM #
Again, this seems to just the thing I'm waiting for. Looks better than the stupid clamshell designs from Handspring.
But as usual, I will not touch it if it hasn't GPRS. So does it?

RE: GPRS?
Ed @ 6/24/2002 5:18:56 PM #
No, this is a CDMA device, which is a different wireless standard.

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News Editor

Samsung and Sprint

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/25/2002 2:04:03 AM #
Unfortunately, Samsung once again chooses Sprint to likely be the only carrier for the i330.

It appears to be another great phone but they handicap it by signing with Sprint, who has some of the worst coverage.

It's extremely spotty in the S.F. Bay Area, and I couldn't even get out of Moscone Center with two different Sprint phones. They have nationwide coverage. Great. But there are far too many holes in it for my benefit.

I have Verizon which so far, has given me very good coverage all over the Bay Area.

A Samsung marketing spokesman said they would have phones with verizon service, but so far, no SmartPhones.

I won't hold my breath.

What? No GPRS?

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/25/2002 7:06:08 AM #
That would suck. What's the point of pda/phone hybrid when you only have pay-by-the-minute rates? I won't touch it if it hasn't GPRS at least, no matter how cool or fancy it is.
RE: What? No GPRS?
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/25/2002 1:41:07 PM #
Well, then you can go and find another GPRS phone/PDA combo. :)
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