Samsung i550

Bummer. I've had my eyes on the Samsung i550 pda phone for the last year, waiting to see when it would be released. There were rumors that it would come out in late Q4 2004 but nothing seemed to ever come of it. Then I just read that Sprint has cancelled this phone so they can focus their efforts on the Treo 650 and the Windows Mobile version version of the Samsung phone (the i600). Darn! I can't believe that. Personally, I much much prefer the design of the i550 over the Treo 650 primarily because of the clamshell design. Most pda phones have fallen into two design camps: 1) it looks like a pda that also functions like a phone (Treo), or 2) it looks like a phone that also functions as a pda (550). I prefer the latter. The i500 and i550 are just smaller phones. I was really looking forward to the i550 with the upgrade in Palm OS (5.2), more memory, SD card memory slot and a camera. Argh.



So why don't I just look at the i600, the Windows Mobile version? Honestly, I'm not sure. With regards to pdas, my first introduction happened to be one using the Palm OS and I've just stuck with what has been familiar. In the U.S., the marketshare of palm-powered handhelds is 76%; however, the Windows CE OS surpasses the Palm OS worldwide. This competition isn't over yet and there is still a lot of room for Microsoft of Palm to take over, particularly with the increase in popularity in pda phones.



Anyway, I'm still bummed about the news of the i550.