MWC 2009: Samsung Beat Disc Music Phone

Samsung Beat Music phone, which leaked sometime back has been made official today at the Mobile World Congress 2009. The Samsung M700's audio is powered by Bang & Olufsen, so you can guess how crisp and clear the audio will be. The phone is called Samsung Beat Disc Music Phone and has B&O's ICE amplifier thats gives you deep bass with crisp treble. As you can see in the picture, the phone's design has been inspired by the jukebox and apart from an impressive audio, the phone has a 2.6 inch touch screen with 3 mega pixel snapper. Other features include, slider mechanism for keyboard access, FM, Stereo Bluetooth, Music recognition and music tagging. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi and HSDPA connectivity.

via NAMP

Bang & Olufsen and Samsung Serenata

Looking at Bang & Olufsen and Samsung's joint venture, the Serenata, you might do a double take: "Hang on, is that a scroll-wheel?" Why, yes it is.

Talking to Bang & Olufsen executives recently, there seemed to be a degree of regret in the B&O camp about the fact that Apple had beaten them to trademarking the scroll-wheel. If B&O had gotten there first, would the iPod even exist?

Upside
The Serenata scroll-wheel is the device's coup de grace -- forgive us our "la-de-da" description, this is a pretty posh phone after all. Unlike the iPod, the Serenata's wheel actually moves, and it feels pretty cool.

B&O are pushing this device as a music player first, phone second. And while this has been tried before by Sony Ericsson and Nokia, music always seemed to come off second best. But in the Serenata they may just have the mix right. We couldn't even tell it was a phone, even after playing with it briefly.

One plus is that it will play uncompressed music files -- in the form of Microsoft's proprietary but free WMA Lossless codec -- which means you won't have to compromise on sound quality while on the move.

The phone -- if we can call it that -- also includes a slide-out speaker for music listening, and it also doubles as a hands-free speaker.

Quoting specs at this point almost seems irrelevant, but for the pocket-protector in us all it boasts 4GB of storage, up to 280 hours of standby time and up to three hours of talk time.

Downside
People who complained about the US pricing of the iPhone may want to look away now. Though not set in stone, expect to pay around AU$1,500 once the phone is released in Australia.

Also, the device's predecessor, the Serene, may have looked distinctive, but how many people do you know who actually bought one?

Outlook
With the combination of Bang & Olufsen's audiophile heritage and Samsung's know-how in both MP3 players and phones, the Serenata is sure to be a killer device. It's no bigger or heavier than an iPod Classic and will no doubt sound a lot better. But like all things from the Danish manufacturer, expect to pay a premium for it.

Source: CNet

Samsung and Bang & Olufsen launch Serenata Music Phone

Samsung has joined hands with Danish company Bang & Olufsen to introduce Serenata, which claims to be a true iPhone competitor.


Bang & Olufsen is a designer and manufacturer of stylish high-end home electronic products.
The novel looking Serenata MP3 phone includes 4GB of music storage and is designed for one-handed use, the click-wheel is used for phone dialing, writing texts and emails and accessing the music lists. All primary functions on the phone are controlled by the click-wheel.

A 2.26-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) touchscreen is placed below the click-wheel. The LCD screen displays menus and album artwork. The Serenata is compatible with GSM Networks (900,1800, and 1900 MHz bands) and HSDPA service.

You just need to press one button placed in the center of the click-wheel to instantly shift from phone mode to music mode. The other music features included in the Serenata phone are:

• HSDPA connectivity for rapid downloads
• 4GB of flash memory
• Built-in hi-fi speakers
• Bass system designed to reproduce the sound quality and functionality of your home music system
• PureMusic function, which allows users to listen to music without interruptions while calls are received by the answering device
• Ability to handle playback in compressed formats including MP3, WMA, and AAC
  Good battery life to sustain amplified music for up to 5 hours through the speaker or 13 hours through a headset

As mentioned before, the Samsung and Bang & Olufsen Serenata phone is sure to pose some great challenge to Apple’s iPhone. What’s more, both the phones will be shipped in Europe by October-end, which is around the same time that the iPhone could release there.

Bundled with the Serenata is a dock to charge the phone, giving line-out audio for speakers and a USB connection that syncs files and music with both Macs and Windows. Reportedly, Bang & Olufsen could also include an extra software to transfer music from iTunes.

No details on the pricing of the Samsung and Bang & Olufsen’s Serenata phone have been revealed yet.

Samsung and Bang & Olufsen

Samsung and Bang & Olufsen are reportedly following up their interesting Serene with a new mobile handset, the Serenata aimed at the high-end luxury market.

The Bang & Olufsen Serenata, also known as the Samsung SGH-F310 has left the controversial clam-shell form factor behind in favour of a slider. There's no official specifications as yet, but it looks to be a GSM handset with UMTS, EDGE, and HSDPA connectivity. It also boasts a 240×240 262K color touchscreen, mpeg4 player, and an mp3 player wth 4gb of memory to store all those tracks and videos. All of this packaged in a funky 109.5(h) x 63(w) x 19.7(d)mm design. Back in 2005 the Serene wasn't that well received, but off the back of other successful funky handsets such as the X830 and the F300 it would seem the market is more open to off the wall designs.