Virgin Mobile Launches The New Samsung Intercept, Priced Pretty Well Too

Virgin Mobile has just released their new Samsung Intercept, their first Android device. They are launching the Intercept for just $250 with absolutely no contract or commitment, which is pretty good for a mid-range Android device, off contract, of course. The Samsung Intercept also has some pretty good features with a 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen display, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and much more. You could argue that $250 is too much to pay for a device that you could get for a lot less on contract, but the freedom and low rates of Virgin Mobile will probably save you more than the cost of the device in the long run. The new Samsung Intercept will use Virgin Mobile's current Beyond Talk plans, which range from $25 per month to $60 per month, and the Intercept is available today at Target stores nationwide. The Intercept will also be launching at a number of other major retailers throughout the month, and will be available online sometime in mid October. For now, the Samsung Intercept looks like a promising device. The press release and some more images are available below.

Virgin Mobile Energizes Mobile Marketplace by Introducing Android Handset on a Nationwide, No-Contract Plan
Samsung Intercept Delivers Smartphone Luxuries with Monthly Unlimited Plans

WARREN, N.J. – Oct. 4, 2010 – The line between prepaid and postpaid mobile offerings has become even more blurred as Virgin Mobile USA enters the Android™ smartphone market. Beginning today at Target stores nationwide, Virgin Mobile adds the Samsung Intercept™, running on the Android mobile operating system, to its affordable, no-contract lineup of handset and service offerings. The Intercept will roll out to other major retailers throughout the month and will be available for purchase at virginmobileusa.com by mid-October for $249.99.

“As smartphone users come up for contract renewal and examine their monthly costs, they will start to wonder why they are paying more each month when they can get similar services from Virgin Mobile at a fraction of the price,” said Bob Stohrer, vice president-Marketing, Virgin Mobile USA. “With the Samsung Intercept on Android, Virgin Mobile is leading its customers into new, eagerly awaited territory while expanding our potential customer base.”

The Android device gives Virgin Mobile customers full integration of social networking apps, Microsoft Outlook Exchange e-mail and advanced messaging capabilities. Users of the Samsung Intercept also have access to more than 80,000 applications currently available on the Android Market™, and can sign up for one of Virgin Mobile’s Beyond Talk™ plans which include e-mail, data and Web along with 300, 1200 or unlimited voices minutes per month and are perfect for the person always on the go.

In addition to a 3.2-inch touch-screen display, a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a 3.2 MP camera and video, the Samsung Intercept also comes preloaded with multiple applications, including such favorite social apps such as You Tube®, Facebook® and Google Talk™ as well as the Virgin Mobile Live app used to access Virgin Mobile’s branded music stream.  Additional features include:

Contact and calendar sync via ActiveSync
Android Web browser
Access to the Amazon® MP3 store
Full integration of Google Apps™, such as Google Maps™, Google Talk, Gmail™ and Google Navigation™
Document file viewer
Portrait and landscape screen orientation
Dedicated keys for quick access to social networking
Numerous video and music file types supported
Built-in music player

The Samsung Intercept, paired with Virgin Mobile’s no contract Beyond Talk service options at $25, $40 and $60 a month, offers one of the best smartphone values in the industry.

About Virgin Mobile USA
Virgin Mobile USA, one of Sprint's prepaid brands, offers millions of customers control, flexibility and connectivity through Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk™ plans for mobile phone service and prepaid Broadband2Go high-speed Web access. Virgin Mobile branded handsets are available at more than 40,000 retail stores, including Best Buy, Radio Shack, Target and Walmart. Top-Up cards are available at approximately 150,000 locations nationwide and can be used for Broadband2Go services. Purchase and experience Virgin Mobile on the Web and at Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and www.virginmobileusa.com.

Virgin Mobile Getting The New Samsung Intercept, Its First Android Device

Virgin Mobile USA has just announced that they will soon be adding the Samsung Intercept to their lineup. This will be Virgin Mobile's first Android device, and according to the preliminary specifications it will be a good mid-range device device. The Samsung Intercept is a mid-range Android Smartphone, but it still has a ton of features including a 3.2 inch display with a WQVGA resolution of 240x400, a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 3.5mm headphone jack, WiFi 802.11g, a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and geotagging, assisted GPS, an accelerometer, and a 1500 mAh battery that will give you up to 300 hours of standby time and about 5 hours and 30 minutes of talk time. The Intercept also has 3G connectivity with EV-Do rev.0, which isn't as fast as rev.A, but is still okay. The Samsung Intercept runs on Android 2.1 Eclair, which will probably be upgraded to Froyo in the future. Overall, the phone is a mid-range device and doesn't have that great of specifications, but it is still a great device for class. Now, back to the release information. Virgin Mobile USA hasn't exactly given us any details, except for a post on their Facebook page:


"The question of an Android coming to Virgin Mobile has been a hot topic lately here on Facebook. Well, we're happy to confirm that our next handset launch will be the Samsung Intercept. Check out the photo below, get excited, & stay tuned over the next few weeks for more information! "


This leads us to believe that an announcement about a release or launch date will be made within the next month. The Samsung Intercept will be a great addition to Virgin Mobile USA's lineup, even if it isn't the latest and greatest Android device, and with their great plans and limited selection of devices it will probably be a big hit. 

All Major US Carriers Get Samsung Galaxy S Phones, Android 2.2 Froyo Coming to Them All

All of the four major US carriers are now getting Samsung Galaxy S phones, and the only differences between the four of them are their names, their frequencies, and the carriers which they are on. The Samsung Galaxy S is also one of the very few phones to be available on all four major US cell phone carriers. Personally, I think that cell phone manufacturers that make their phones available on all four major US carriers are extremely smart, because they are reaching the most users. I think that all cell phone manufacturers should sell their phones this way, but they don't. They decide that it would be better to get some cash from exclusivity contracts. Cell phone manufacturers have probably put a lot of thought into this, but maybe they should rethink how they sell their phones for the sake of their customers. On another note, all of the Samsung Galaxy S phones will also be getting Android 2.2 Froyo.

T-Mobile gets A Samsung Galaxy S, Renamed The Samsung Vibrant

T-mobile will be getting a version of the Samsung Galaxy s, and it will be called the Samsung Vibrant. It has almost the exact same specifications as the Samsung I9000 Galaxy S, except for some slight differences in hardware and the fact that it comes with some preloaded applications and media. The specifications of the Samsung Vibrant should be familiar to you if you have heard of the Samsung I9000 Galaxy S, but if you haven’t here is a repeat of the specifications of the Samsung Vibrant. The Vibrant has a ton of great features and I can’t really think of anything that it doesn’t have. On the outside there is a 4 inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display, 4 touch sensitive buttons, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a micro USB port, The speaker, and a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, geo-tagging, touch to focus, face detection, and smile detection. The camera is also capable of taking HD video at 720p and 30 fps. On top of that, there is a front facing video-call camera. Now, let’s get to the insides of the phone. The Samsung Vibrant runs Android 2.1 Eclair, which isn’t Froyo, but is still pretty new. The Vibrant also has a 1 GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor, 512 MB of RAM, and the option of 8 or 16 GB of built in memory. The memory can also be expanded with a microSD card of up to 32 GB. Now for connectivity, The Samsung Vibrant has WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth 3.0, assisted GPS, and 3G connectivity on T-Mobile’s network with HSDPA and HSUPA for both fast upload and download speeds. Samsung has stated that the Samsung Vibrant can benefit from HSDPA Plus speeds, but that the device does not actually have HSDPA Plus connectivity, which is kind of confusing. The device also has an accelerometer sensor and a proximity sensor. A cool feature which I don’t think that I have seen on any other Android phone is Swype text input. The phone also has a pretty good battery life with a 1500 mAh battery that delivers up to 720 hours of standby time on 2G and 576 hours on 3G, and thirteen and one-half hours of talk time on 2G and six and one-half hours on 3G. That’s pretty much it for the specifications, which are amazing. The phone is being released on July 21 for $200, but if you want to save some cash you can pre-order it on July 1 at Radio Shack for just $50, which is later returned to you as a gift card. You get all this plus Avatar and The Sims 3 Collector's Edition pre loaded onto a 2 GB microSD card. The Samsung Vibrant seems like a great addition to the T-Mobile family.

Three New Samsung Handsets Headed for T-Mobile

Rumors are going around that T-Mobile will soon be introducing three new Samsung handsets to their product line. It is about time as T-Mobile has not released any mid-range phones for a long time. The phones that will most likely be added to T-Mobile's product line are the Samsung T359, T479, and the T669. They all feature full keyboards along with a few other cool features. The T359 will most likely be replacing the T349. It is a slider phone with a full keyboard, 1.3 megapixel camera, and a full browser. It will also have EDGE connectivity, but sadly no 3G. More specifications are expected to be released soon but for now this is all we have. The second phone, the T479, has most of the same features in a different for factor. It is expected to be replacing the Gravity 2, and has a very similar form factor to it. It has a full keyboard along with a standard keypad on the front, a 2 megapixel camera, a QVGA display, and 3G connectivity. The third and final device is the Samsung T669. It is a slider phone with a full keyboard and a 2.8 or 3 inch resistive touchscreen on the front. It also has 3G connectivity and will run a version of Samsung's TouchWiz operating system. There is no word on pricing yet but all three phones are expected to be released on June 23.

Samsung T479

Samsung T359

Samsung T669

Samsung E1107, the most environmentally friendly phone you'll ever find

You might want to reconsider what eco friendly means to you after you see this phone, sure, a phone made out of recycled materials sounds great but what if you had a phone that charges itself from the sun? Samsung’s new E1107 does just that. Its back cover, which is just 1.2mm thin is equipped with a solar panel and can revive your dead battery after just 15 minutes in the sun. The E1107 has all of the features of an inexpensive phone including Bluetooth, FM radio, and a flash light. Unfortunately the battery life of the Samsung E1107 is just 5-10 minutes of talk time with an entire hour of exposure in the sun. Another cool feature is the fake call option; this makes it look like you are getting a call so that you can get out of tricky situations, whatever those might be. The Samsung E1107 is available European and Asian countries but we probably won’t see a stateside release for some time. If you want to get it in the US you will probably have to find an importer.

Samsung has announced SNE-50K e-book reader

Samsung has announced their SNE-50K e-book reader, which is intended for the South Korean Market. The SNE-50K has a 5 inch screen with a resolution of 600x800 and can be used as an e-book reader as well as note-taking device. Samsung also claims that it will be able to seamlessly manage calendar functions and documents. You can view 4320 pages on a single charge and it weighs just 6.5 ounces. Unlike other large e-book readers Samsung's SNE-50K was designed to be compact so that you can take it anywhere you go. It also has 512MB of built-in memory, enough to store 400 e-books. It is expected to cost about $270 but there is no information on the release date yet. The specifications on the SNE-50K are not that concrete yet but more are expected to come in as a release date is figured out.

Samsung S9110 watch phone announced

Samsung have officially announced their S9110 touch screen watch phone. The Samsung S9110 is only 11.98mm thick which makes it more like a watch than a phone, this also makes it the world's thinnest watch phone. The other measurements are 57.5 x 41.1mm. It has a 1.76 inch scratch-proof touchscreen and a stainless steel body which adds even more to its appeal. The S9110 also features Bluetooth 2.1, Outlook synchronization, and MP3 player functionality. The rest of the specifications like battery life, video call support, and camera functionality are still unknown. We can say that the S9110 will appeal a lot to customers looking for something stylish with great features. The Samsung S9110 will be available in France later this month for €450 or $639. It is also set to launch on Orange UK in August of this year. The Samsung S9110 is the main competitor to the LG GD910 which still does not have any pricing information or many specifications released. There is no concrete specifications for the S9110 but we will update you when they are released.

Samsung Mondi review

Samsung has officially released their Samsung Mondi MID (mobile internet device), a Windows Mobile WiMax MID (mobile internet device). The Samsung Mondi features a 4.3 inch touch screen with a resolution of 800x480, a slide out QWERTY keyboard, WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), and built-in GPS with turn-by-turn direction courtesy of the Route 66 navigation software. The Samsung Mondi has 4 GB of internal memory and supports microSD cards up to 32 GB. Since it has Windows Mobile 6.1 it can run thousands of apps available in the Windows Mobile app catalog plus all of the other features available on Windows Mobile 6.1 like integrated messaging and email. The Samsung Mondi also has a 3.0 megapixel camera with autofocus and face recognition plus a VGA camcorder. It also has an HDMI port for connecting it to your TV and watching videos or doing anything else. The Samsung Mondi includes the Internet Explorer and Opera 9.5 internet browsers for full web browsing capabilities. The battery life is average at 4 hours on WiMax and 5 hours on WiFi. The battery can also last for 41 days on standby. It uses the Clearwire network, which is available in Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Portland, for WiMax. If WiMax isn't available in your area you'll just have to stick with WiFi until it is. The Samsung Mondi is also very customizable since you can drag and drop gadgets onto your home screen. It also has a kickstand for upright viewing and includes a car kit for GPS navigation.The Samsung Mondi is a great mobile internet device for web browsing, videos, and more. With the Samsung Mondi you can have the whole world in your hands since Mondi means world in Latin. The Samsung Mondi will be released at Clearwire retail stores and Best Buy stores located in Atlanta, Portland and Las Vegas on August 1. There is also now word on pricing yet.

Video Review of the Samsung Mondi

Samsung Mondi Home Page

Samsung Go N310 review

The Samsung Go N310 netbook has arrived in the US and is flooding the shelves of Best Buy and Newegg. It has the usual specifications of a netbook with an Intel Atom N270 processor with a clock speed of 1.6 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, a 10.1 inch LED screen with a resolution of 1024x600, a 160 GB hard drive, WiFi with 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), a 6 cell battery, 3 in 1 card reader, ethernet port, a 1.3 megapixel camera, HD audio, a built in microphone, and Intel GMA 950 graphics with 128 MB of graphics memory. These are the specifications of most netbooks on the market today so there is nothing surprising in the specifications of the Samsung Go N310. The 6 cell battery will get you about 10 hours when web browsing and less when watching videos and doing other high performance tasks. The Samsung Go N310 is pretty light at 2.7 pounds and it measures 10.31 x 7.26 x 1.1 inches. Unlike the usual netbook the Samsung Go N310 features an LED screen instead of an LCD screen. This makes it brighter, more durable, and more power efficient. The Samsung Go N310 is also a pretty stylish netbook, it has a rubber-like outside which makes it more durable that traditional netbooks and it also lets you grip it easier. The specifications of the Samsung Go N310 make it great for web browsing, email, office tasks, watching videos, some gaming with older games, and more. The VGA port on the Samsung Go N310 lets you connect it to a TV or monitor so that you can enjoy a larger screen when you are at home. It's compact design makes it easy to take anywhere you go. Overall, the Samsung Go N310 is a great netbook but it doesn't have much that seperates it from the crowd of other netbooks. The Samsung Go N310 is available in 4 colors, Sunset Orange, Midnight Blue, Mint Blue and Jet Black, which makes it great for any kind of person. You can get the Samsung Go N310 now for $480 at Samsung's website but you could probably find it for less elsewhere.

Video Review of the Samsung Go N310

Samsung Go N310

Samsung BD-P4600 review

The Samsung BD-P4600 is a stylish Blu-ray player with a lot of features. The Samsung BD-P4600 is WiFi ready and includes a 802.11n wireless adapter which can be plugged into one of two USB ports. You can also connect it to your home network with the built-in ethernet port. The BD-P4600 also supports Netflix and Pandora streaming so you can watch your favorite movies and listen to your favorite songs right from your TV. The BD-P4600 supports HDMI 1.3 at full 1080p, which is expected for a Blu-ray player. The BD-P4600 also has BD Live which lets you have an interactive movie experience, chat with friends, and access tons of online content. Another great feature is DivX playback in full 1080p. The connectivity options on the BD-P4600 are HDMI, composite video, ethernet, 2 USB ports, optical digital audio outputs, coaxial digital audio outputs, analog audio outputs, and a HDMI output. The BD-P4600 also has 1GB of built-in storage for BD Live. This is one of the most stylish Blu-ray players out there and is only 1.5 inches thin. It is also wall mountable which makes it easy to use if you have a wall mounted TV. The Samsung BD-P4600 is a great Blu-ray player but it costs as much as the PS3 at $499. You can probably get a much better value in a Blu-ray player and have money left over to actually buy Blu-ray discs. I would say that the Samsung BD-P4600 is the most stylish Blu-ray player out there but probably not the best for some one on a budget.

Gallery

Video Review of the Samsung BD-P4600

Samsung BD-P4600