Samsung SPH-i330 Now Available Through Sprint

Posted By: Ryan Friday, December 27, 2002 10:47:26 AM

Sprint and Samsung have announced nationwide availability of the Samsung SPH-i330, a Palm Powered, tri-mode CDMA2000 1X phone. The i300 features Palm OS 3.5, a 256 color screen, 16MB of ram and gpsOne support.

Samsung has been demonstrating the SPH-i330 at trade shows for some time now and this is the first announcement that it is available in the US via Sprint. It has a 160 by 240, STN screen that can display 256 colors. As a smartphone, the i330 has both wireless voice and data capabilities. It uses CDMA 2000 1X networks and supports gpsOne. It has 16 MB of RAM and runs Palm OS 3.5.3.

The i330 is an updated version of the i300, which is already available. The i330 is 4.9 by 2.3 by .7 inches and weighs 5.3 ounces. This makes it lighter and thinner than its predecessor. It runs off a rechargeable battery and has 4 hours of talk time and 4 days of standby time.

As mentioned earlier, this device uses CDMA 2000 1X wireless networks, which offers an average of 144 kbps packet data. It also supports gpsOne, which 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 is available now for $499 USD from Sprint PCS.

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Way to go, PIC!!

Beavis @ 12/27/2002 12:19:51 PM #

Geek.com only had this story since Tuesday the 24th. I guess this is better than no news at all. Nice to see that PIC is still up and running.

Happy Holidays to all and especially to the fine staff at PIC.

RE: Way to go, PIC!!

Admin @ 12/27/2002 12:28:35 PM #

If you look back in our archives we've had the info on this device since march, so didn't seem like much new here other that you can actally go get it now :) Hope everyone had a enjoyable holiday.

RE: Way to go, PIC!!

Beavis @ 12/27/2002 12:58:33 PM #

True enough. But even an insignificant piece of news after almost a week of no news is better than nothing. Your banner does say "PalmInfocenter.com, check it 2, 3, 4 times a day."

Some of us actually do check it many more times a day.

Once again, nice to know that all is well.

RE: Way to go, PIC!!

Admin @ 12/27/2002 1:03:36 PM #

True that. It's a slow news period right now, being the end of the year and all, however Jan is going to be a very exciting month!

RE: Way to go, PIC!!

FredLL @ 12/27/2002 1:19:10 PM #

What news are you waiting for ?

Bon reste !
Fred

RE: Way to go, PIC!!

somas1 @ 12/27/2002 4:22:19 PM #

"What news are you waiting for ?"

I would be thrilled to hear that there are some new OS 5 licensees in the pipeline. I'm getting a little worried about the lack of activity with the arm processors for everyone but Sony and Palm. PPC makers have had a lot of practice with this platform and OS 6 is important enough that we need several companies that know how to manipulate the ARM with Palm OS

How does the camera attach?

Marshall Flinkman @ 12/27/2002 1:13:06 PM #

It looks like an SD camera... but if this phone has an SD slot, why's it only running OS 3.5?

RE: How does the camera attach?

seichert @ 12/30/2002 12:10:06 PM #

The Expansion Manager is an extension to the Palm OS. The Expansion Manager is what drives/controls SD/MMC slots, SONY memory stick slots, etc. It is possible to have a device with Palm OS 3.5 and the Expansion Manager extension, just as it is possible to have a Palm OS 4.1 device without the Expansion Manager extension.

Stuart Eichert

Finally....

PR @ 12/27/2002 2:57:32 PM #

wow, i thought this thing was out already. it has been known of for so long. if they could just get a sd slot in one of these smartphones that isn't the size of a brick i would be sold. i'm hanging out for this baby:

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?id=187

RE: Finally....

Admin @ 12/27/2002 4:14:43 PM #

We have more on the SPH-i500 and pictures here:

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=4225

Ahahahaha..

helf @ 12/27/2002 5:26:31 PM #

Ugly...

OS 3.5?!?

masitti @ 12/27/2002 5:56:59 PM #

Bleh... Palm needs to get rolling and start moving licensee's to OS 5 and discontinue OS 4 and OS 3(!!!). I find Palm's tactics to be rather confusing and not real smart. They keep saying "wait until the next OS release, it's getting better". Well, OS 5 is here and it has troubles and all-round disappointed users. So far, OS 5 has kicked itself in it's back - some programs having issues, same GUI for almost 3 years now, and others. Now they want us to wait a year for OS 6. =(

------------------------
Mario Masitti
O/T Mod
I Love Tennis :)

RE: OS 3.5?!?

hkklife @ 12/27/2002 6:02:59 PM #

Well, I don't think there's a real need (yet) for OS 5 in these smartphones....but come on guys, at least jump up to 4.1! OS 3.x is soooo 2000ish and reminds me of Handspring's stubborness to leave 3.5x until absolutely necessary. It does seems like more new Palm devices are on the horizon (Kyocera, Samsung, and Tungsten W) running OS 3.x or 4.1 than are running OS 5.

Furthermore, I'd like to see an ETA of the OS 5.1 upgrade as well.

RE: OS 3.5?!?

DarthRepublican @ 12/27/2002 7:05:52 PM #

Why do so many people keep harping on the OS version? The most visible improvements from one OS version to the next are usually hardware related and most licensees tweak their version of the OS anyway. PalmOS 4 added support for for 16-bit color and expansion through SD and Memory Sticks cards.

Handspring's had its own expansion through its old Springboard slots and added support for 16-bit color to its version of OS 3.5 before OS 4 was out. Then it came out with Treo smartphones with OS 3.5 that didn't need a higher OS version because they didn't use external expansion. They didn't move to OS 4 until they made the Treo 90 and needed it to support the device's SD slot. The OS version never makes a difference unless the device needs to support newer hardware.

OS 5 only runs on ARM-based chips. If a new PalmOS device comes out it either has a Dragonball chip and OS 3.5 or 4.1 or it has an ARM-based chip and OS 5. You won't see OS 3.5 or 4.1 disappear until OS 5 devices become cheap enough to sell at the same price as devices with the older OSes and that won't happen until PalmOS 6 comes out. Get over it.

RE: OS 3.5?!?

useybird @ 12/27/2002 8:35:16 PM #

It already ticks me off that it has OS 3.5 but 256 Colors? That is so IIIc! I wouldnt pay a dime over $200 for this thing. Plus it looks like a brick. I hope that camera thing comes off or else how would it even be practical to carry around. Just my $0.02 + $500 early adopters tax.;>

-------------
Burning Desire: The want or need for something great.
Burning THE Zire: A fun recreational activity involving setting Palm's new crappy handheld ablaze.

RE: OS 3.5?!?

helf @ 12/28/2002 9:28:07 AM #

The treo 300 is still like os 3.5.1 ..OS version does matter sometimes. Liek software compatibility. Some apps he wants to use just won't work on it.

RE: OS 3.5?!?

rsc1000 @ 12/28/2002 2:37:49 PM #

>>I hope that camera thing comes off or else how would it even be practical to carry around.

Of course the camera comes off - in fact the camera is an optional accessory. I don't think this is a brick at all - look at the specs. It is smaller and lighter then just about every Palm OS or PPC smartphone available (its longer than the treo - but narrower, thinner, and weighs less). Not only is it smaller - but is ergonomically more 'phone-like'.

My issues: no touch pad. That screen is going to very greasing from finger dialing. A thin flip pad like on the kyocera 6035 would have been a nice idea.

Also - they've got to fix problems with integration of phone features. Kyocera basically had this right with the 6035, but the i300 had real short comings here. lets hope they've learned.

144 kbps AVERAGE?

maao @ 12/27/2002 11:25:42 PM #

I don't think people will see anywhere near 144 kpbs AVERAGE throughput on the 1X network. They'll most likely see 40-60kbps average, and peak of around 156 kpbs. They will sometimes get higher throughput due to compression, especially if there's a lot of images, because the 1X network reduces image quality before they're sent over the air.

Samsung I330 camera accessory

lionel26 @ 4/28/2003 8:58:43 PM #

I was wondering if anybody can help me locate where I can purchase the camera accessory for the Samsung I330. I checked with Samsung ans Sprint and they do not carry it anymore. HELP!!!!!!