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Hands-on (once more, with feeling) with the Samsung Highnote

by Chris Ziegler posted Dec 30th 2008 @ 12:43PM

After a brief interlude at CTIA earlier this year, we've had another chance to play around with Samsung's funky little Highnote for Sprint recently, so we wanted to give our quick, stream-of-consciousness thoughts on what this music-focused dual slider is all about. The phone's claim to fame is its hidden integrated loudspeaker for blasting tunes, which can be exposed by sliding the front downward (a la Nokia N95 and the like). While we found the speaker to be loud and reasonably clear enough for occasional impromptu dance parties, we didn't think it was any louder than similar handsets that have more traditional mono or stereo loudspeakers integrated into the body of the phone. In other words, the dual slide is a bit of a gimmick here.

Gallery: Hands-on with the Samsung Highnote

Continue reading Hands-on (once more, with feeling) with the Samsung Highnote

Hands-on with Samsung's Rant and Highnote

by Sean Cooper posted Sep 10th 2008 @ 8:48PM

Well, that about covers Sprint's new handset binge at CTIA,and we got hands-on with both the Samsung Highnote (pictured left) and the Samsung Rant to wrap up the announcements. The Highnote's the music centric handset -- isn't there always one? -- in this launch, but sadly, the speaker seems to lack oomph in the sonic delivery department, but the dedicated messaging button's kinda useful. The Rant is built like a tank, and the very solid metal construction is top notch -- so if you're prone to dropping your phone, it's worth checking out. The gallery covers the range of colors that'll be available -- and the purple is a glowing example of ugly -- when these two hit in October. You know the drill, the read link has the goods.

Gallery: Hands-on with Samsung's Rant and Highnote

Sprint shows fall dumbphone lineup, new "One Click" user interface

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 10th 2008 @ 11:06AM

Sure enough, there wasn't anything squished about the image we saw of the LG LX600 a while back -- it was just loosening the belt a couple notches to make room for a full QWERTY keyboard running across its naughty bits. Oh, and it's no longer the LX600; turns out Sprint is releasing it as the Lotus, one of four all-new dumbphones for the autumn months to complement today's announcement of the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro. It'll be available next month for $149.99 on contract. Others in the mix include the Samsung Highnote -- a music-focused dual slider that dedicates one slide direction to a hefty little loudspeaker -- and the curiously-named Rant, which apes the LG Rumor's form factor to give text addicts another affordable option. Like the Lotus, the Highnote and Rant will both hit in October for $99.99 and $49.99, respectively. Meanwhile, iDEN freaks (and we use that term in the most loving way possible) will be happy to see that they're getting their grubby, calloused hands on another rugged option, the Motorola i576 flip. It'll start getting beaten senseless at retail come October 19 for $69.99.

Sprint's also using those three new consumer sets (sorry, i576) to premiere "One Click," a new UI paradigm for its non-smartphone devices that allows folks to drop all sorts of commonly-used features with information-rich icons right on the home screen for... well, one-click access, hence the name. New Katana Eclipse colors coming later this fall will feature the new software, too.