Samsung unveils 8GB hard-drive phone

CNET News.com ^ | March 7, 2006 | Jo Best

[indcons]

Samsung has taken the wraps off a mobile phone that boasts what it says is the biggest hard drive seen on such a device to date.

The "candy bar"-style device, the SGH-i310, will pack 8GB of storage and run Windows Mobile 5.0. Samsung is hoping the device, which can hold more songs than an iPod Nano, will take off with music fans. In addition to its large hard drive, the device will let users sync playlists from their PC as well as store documents, photos and other information in the phone's internal memory.

The i310 is the fourth of Samsung's hard-drive phones: The device was preceded by one model packing 1.5GB of storage and two offering 3GB. For those needing more storage than the i310's hard drive can offer, the phone's memory can be expanded using micro SD cards.

The phone also packs Bluetooth, a 2-megapixel camera and USB 2.0. The i310 will officially debut at the CeBit trade show in Hannover, Germany, this week and is expected to go on sale in European markets in the second half of this year.

While phone manufacturers have made no secret of their ambitions to steal a little of the iPod's portable-music market share, recent research has cast doubt on consumers' attitudes toward using their mobiles as music players. According to a study by RBC Capital Markets, 70 percent of consumers have no interest in playing music on their mobiles.

Jo Best of Silicon.com reported from London.

[indcons]

Cool

[MarkeyD]

[ShadowAce]

[indcons]

Thanks for the pic...looks pretty nice. I was expecting a Blackberry-like device.

[Wyatt's Torch]

It depends on if the carriers cripple the ability to use your own music on your own computer instead of being forced to pay outrageous prices to download DRM'd to hell songs from their proprietary music stores...

[smith288]

Thanks for the pic...looks pretty nice. I was expecting a Blackberry-like device.

I call them "Nerdberrys" heh

[reagan_fanatic]

I wonder what the life expectancy of these micro-miniature hard drives are? I do computer repairs, and I see a lot more laptop drives fail as opposed to standard desktop drives due to their small size and less than adequate ventilation.

[Billthedrill]

I ain't buyin' a phone that's smarter than I am.

Again.

[Fruitbat]

I'm wondering why they can't get a home phone to have that kind of capacity.

Maybe they do now, but last time I phone shopped they didn't have anything even close.

[Doohickey]

That's a SmartPhone. The "Blackberry-like" devices are PocketPCs. What you get depends on what your priorities are.

[indcons]

Thanks...I saw a PocketPC-powered HP phone at a store last week. Looked really cool. Cost $450 though; if the price comes down a bit more, I'll probably get one.

[AngryJawa]

Cool...yes, but how about a simple, easy to use wristwatch phone. I've got too much crap on my belt already.

[Doohickey]

They are pricey. I wouldn't have one if I didn't need the functionality for business. Here's mine:

[dirtboy]

The "candy bar"-style device, the SGH-i310, will pack 8GB of storage

Cripes, I remember using an 8-inch ten meg hard drive for multiuser CPM machines.

I still remember the first time I heard the term "gigabyte" and thinking, "Man, that's a lot of data".

I feel old.

[sandbar]

Wow, that's like 100 times bigger than my first PC.

Wow. I knew if I just hung around a while, a computer would go from the size of a wall to be able to be slipped in my pocket.

[Dallas59]

LOL! I rarely use one. I find it rude and irritating to listen too 12 people talk to themselves LOUDLY in line at the store........ What's even more irritating is when I laugh OUT LOUD over hearing about Linda's vaginal problem or at Myrtle's husband and the way he eats...I am told it's rude to listen and laugh. I do anyway AND STARE. I hate Mobile Phones.

[indcons]

Now....that's a pretty device. Very pretty.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I still have a circular slide rule that I can do sums on. It does impress customers...

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I still remember the first time I heard the term "gigabyte" and thinking, "Man, that's a lot of data".

I feel old.

I don't think you should - it wasn't that long ago a 1 GB drive would take up two 5.25" slots in an enclosure and would require serious cooling. The rate at which processor power and memory size grow give me hope that the Singularists know what they're talking about.

Now, when is this Samsung phone going to be available in the US?

[LibertarianInExile]

I remember thinking "what do I need a hard drive for? I have two disk drives!"

Seems to me that day is fast approaching when people will be saying the same thing again, with the growth of flash storage and portable hard drives.

I guess I was just ahead of my time. 8)

[LibertarianInExile]

"LOL! I rarely use one. I find it rude and irritating to listen too 12 people talk to themselves LOUDLY in line at the store........ What's even more irritating is when I laugh OUT LOUD over hearing about Linda's vaginal problem or at Myrtle's husband and the way he eats...I am told it's rude to listen and laugh. I do anyway AND STARE. I hate Mobile Phones."

LOL. I hate them too but sometimes you're required to have them for business. However, I promise I'm going to follow your lead, and start repeating what people say on their cell phones back at them to remind them they are in a public place. That may irritate some but should be just as socially acceptable as their yapping about Yolanda's yeast infection.

[djf]

I have a 1GB Compactflash card. Would love to get a much bigger one, but they are still a bit pricey.

Almost never burn CD's anymore, except for my car audio.
Use my USB hard drive (20GB) simply for large backup and data retention.

[LibertarianInExile]

"Almost never burn CD's anymore, except for my car audio.
Use my USB hard drive (20GB) simply for large backup and data retention."

Well, I have two portable hard drives, but I wish I had a burner, too. My old laptop with a burner died. It's always nice to have a real backup of everything on CD, just in case.

[LibertarianInExile]

That reminds me, did you see that the MIT $100 third-world laptop has only 500 MB flash memory as its hard drive? Sounds like it really is firming up as the preferred memory type.

[unixfox]

Figures, I just bought the Blade.

[djf]

I think the lifespan of burn at home CD's is maybe more than five years but almost certainly less than ten.