Samsung's new 3G clamshell, the Z230

It looks like Samsung may be going after the compact 3G phone market after all. It is rolling out the Z230 which, like the recently launched Z400 slider, measures a petite 91 x 47 x 22.6mm with a carry weight of just 90g.

Features-wise, the Z230 doesn't bring anything new to the table. In addition to 3G, the rest of its functions pretty much mirror its predecessors. These include a 1.3-megapixel camera, 262K-color display, microSD card slot, Bluetooth and an onboard music and video player. According to Samsung's press release, the Z230 is immediately available from various retail outlets at S$498 (US$316.83) without contract and S$398 (US$253.21) with a two-year plan.

Eden Cinemas launch SMS info system

In their continuous endeavour to be of better service to their customers, the Eden Cinemas are launching a new SMS information system.

Cinema goers will be able to receive a weekly list of new movies as well as any special offers direct to their mobile phones. To enroll, all they will have to do is send a blank sms to 5061-7300. In so doing, they will stand a chance of becoming a finalist to win one of 3 Nokia N90 3G phones being made available by Intercomp authorised dealers of Nokia phones. Subscription for a whole years worth of messages costs only Lm 1.

For more information, call us on Eden Cinemas, St Julians: 2371-0400 or Fgura: 2180-8000.

Samsung E870

The Samsung E870 uses a more subtle design approach in a bid to entice the ladies. But is it cool enough to attract the It crowd?

After the success of the E530, Samsung is chasing the ladies once again but with an altogether different phone. The majority of the Korean manufacturers phones have always appealed to both sexes (the D500 and Z400 being prime examples) but its new E870 clamshell is designed to be female flavoured, if perhaps less obvious, and a little more sophisticated than its voluptuous partner.

In fact, like the P300 before it, the E870 doesnt feel like a Samsung phone. The design is a departure from the manufacturers signature sliders and RAZR-thin 3G clamshell, bringing along a more minimalist approach. A matt silver fascia and rear cover sandwiches a white filling that will inevitably attract iPod comparisons.

Sony Z530 Clamshell Phone

Just in time for the holiday season, Sony Ericsson launched three new affordable camera phones. One of them includes the Z530, a quality finished clamshell phone that combines good quality digital photography with simple operation to create albums, search for pictures by timeline and also a good connectivity to send the same on by MMS, infrared or email.

The Sony Z530 is a Tri band GSM/GPRS (900/1800/1900MHz) phone with a dual display, a Monochrome sub display on the outer shell and the 65k color 128x160 pixels UBC main display. It makes use of a VGA camera with 4X digital zoom and capable of Video Recording/play-back. It gets a 28MB of internal memory and the onboard memory can be expanded to 1GB by adding a Memory Stick Micro (M2). Connectivity is established by MMS, Bluetooth, USB2.0, standard push-email and a full HTML Internet browser.

Samsung SGH-Z400

Samsung is really warming to the slider design for its mobile phones. Following on from the success of the excellent D600 handset aimed at business users, the Z400 incorporates the same features in an even slimmer profile, but here's the kicker - it's also 3G.

This means there are two cameras: a two-megapixel lens concealed behind the slider design and another VGA unit facing the user for video calls.

The slider mechanism is an absolute gem, with a spring-loaded frictionless glide upon opening and then closing with a firm and decisive snap.

Like the D600, the Z400 can display Microsoft Office files on the 5.1cm 262k-colour screen. This includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, plain text, HTML and even PDFs either transferred from a PC or sent via an email attachment.