The Mobile Hybrid, codenamed F700, has a full touch-screen control but distinguishes itself from the iPhone with a QWERTY keypad hidden underneath it. The company plans to sell it in Germany, Britain and France from November, and in Southeast Asia and North America early next year.
The handset drew big attention earlier this month when its new screen interface called Croix received the iF Communication Design Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the world.
Samsung is confident that the new handset will outperform the iPhone.
``iPhone does not have a QWERTY keyboard and people are not accustomed to its touch screen. So we decided to pack a keypad into the handset,'' said a Samsung spokeswoman. ``It also has a very intuitive user interface.
''Samsung is the world's second largest mobile phone manufacturer after Nokia. The firm, like many others, has been concerned by the debut of the iPhone in the United States though its sales in the first few months are believed to be lower than what Samsung had previously expected.
Not to yield their ground to Apple, a computer firm, traditional phone makers have all been developing touch-screen phones of their own. LG Electronics released a series of touch-screen phones early this year including the Prada Phone. Its latest project is the LG-VX10000, which is a hybrid phone with a touch screen and QWERTY keyboard just like the Samsung Mobile Hybrid.
The new Samsung phone has a 3.2-inch color display, an MP3 music player and a 3 mega-pixel camera. But it is not compatible with the Wi-Fi wireless Internet network unlike the iPhone.
Samsung said the price is not fixed yet but will be around that of the iPhone. Apple recently lowered iPhone's price from $599 to $399 for an eight-gigabyte model.
``We are proud to introduce this new type of innovative multimedia handset. Not only have we considered the latest technology, but also the usability to enhance the user's multimedia experience,'' said Choi Gee-sung, president of Samsung's Telecommunications Network Business. ``This multimedia driven handset is designed for consumers who wish to stand out from the crowd, showcasing unrivaled performance, advanced functionality and world-class design.''
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