AT&T unveils the Samsung Sunburst all-touch phone and Samsung Strive QWERTY slider, as well as new mobile services. Two Pantech QWERTY phones are also in the pipeline.
AT&T offers a diverse range of cheap mass-market phones, and two of the most popular of the kind will be replaced by new models on March 21 2010. More specifically, the Samsung Solstice and Samsung Propel will be replaced by the Samsung Sunburst and Samsung Strive, respectively. AT&T will also start selling the Pantech Link slab QWERTY phone in the coming weeks, while the new Pantech Pursuit vertical QWERTY slider will arrive this summer.
AT&T unleashes new functionality and services
The Samsung Strive will be the first phone to receive three new AT&T services, including AT&T Address Book, Next Generation Messaging and AT&T Mobile Share.
The address book automatically syncs to an online address book when changes are made, and acts like a free backup solution as well as making it easy to manage contacts when you don't have the phone around.
Next Generation Messaging brings a number of smartphone-like features to AT&T's new QWERTY feature phones as far as messaging is concerned. The text messaging experience is enhanced with group messaging and "reply all" functionality for up to 10 contacts, a threaded conversations format, a consolidated inbox, and enhanced multimedia display.
AT&T Mobile Share aims to let customers quickly transfer photos and videos captured on their mobile phone to other destinations and allow users to manage that content across the mobile and PC screens. Users can share videos and pictures in full resolution, up to 10MB, with their home computer, social networking sites, other people and a personal Internet-based storage locker from AT&T. While the above-mentioned services are free to use, AT&T Mobile Share costs $10 per month for 50 media transfers; customers can also pay per use, at 35c per transfer.
Samsung Sunburst all-touch phone
The Samsung Sunburst is an all-touch phone sporting a 3-inch resistive touchscreen with a resolution of 240 by 400 pixels. A widget bar feature allows one-touch access to common phone functions like creating a text message, in addition to direct links to social networking sites. Additional features include Motion Detection and Smart Unlock. Smart Unlock lets the user draw a symbol on the screen to jump directly to a specific phone functionality when unlocking the phone, while Motion Detection for instance can mute (and redirect) an incoming call by turning it around with the face down on a table. The Sunburst sports a 2-megapixel camera and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR connectivity. It's also got a sleek, futuristic black and chrome design. The phone weighs in at 3.08 ounces and measures 2.08 by 4.33 by 0.51 inches. Price: $40 / $90. Release: March 21 2010.
Samsung Strive vertical QWERTY slider
The Samsung Strive will be available in two color options - black/silver and purple/charcoal. It's got 2.6-inch QVGA screen as well as a full, slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It also offers access to the new AT&T services mentioned above, as well as offering the new enhanced messaging experience with threaded conversations and the ability to include picture, video and audio messages in the conversations. Like the Sunburst, the Strive will sport a 2-megapixel camera and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR connectivity. The phone weighs in at 3.99 ounces and measures 4.2 by 2.3 by 0.57 inches. Price: $20 / $70. Release: March 21 2010.
Pantech Link and Pursuit QWERTY phones
The Pantech Link is an ultra-slim slab QWERTY phone with black and blue accents. It'll support AT&T's new mobile services and should be available in AT&T stores in the coming weeks. The Pantech Pursuit combines a full touchscreen with a vertical sliding QWERTY keyboard. The Pursuit will also offer AT&T's new mobile services, as well as offering face recognition software and geotagging to get the most out of pictures you take with the phone. The Pantech Pursuit will be available in the summer in green or blue.
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