Available September/October 2005
27th September 2005

The Samsung S500i (SGH-S500i) is an i-Mode handset scheduled to be released on 1st October to coincide with O2's i-Mode launch in the UK.

There's a certain cosmetic similarity between the S500i and the Samsung E720 and E730 devices, but underneath this is a significantly diferent phone. Sitting near the top of the range of O2's i-Mode devices, the S500i comes with a 2 megapixel camera, multimedia playback, stereo speakers and a 262,000 colour screen. It's a 2.5G tri-band GSM device, although i-Mode can run on 3G phones too. QVGA 320x240 internal screen!!!

In case you're not familiar with i-Mode-> it's an interactive information service tailored especially for mobile phones, covering things such as banking and shopping, rather than the entertainment-orientated O2 Active service. Elsewhere in the world, i-Mode is quite a mature technology, although market penetration is patchy.

We don't know yet if the Samsung S500i comes with Bluetooth (although this is likely)->MA DAJ; OPET MULJAJU NESTO!!!, or removable memory. What we do know is that Great Universal are already offering it for sale on O2 Pay-As-You-Go for about Ł250, complete with a picture.

It's hard to say if i-Mode will be a success as it depends on the quality of i-Mode services available to O2 customers. However, consumers who are frustrated by the fiddlyness of WAP browsers may well warm to the ease of use of i-Mode services. However, the SGH-S500i looks like an excellent handset in its own right, and may be a great help to O2's launc campaing.




meni je jaaako svidja, moj sljedeci mobitel sigurno samo ako ce to i na nase trziste??????? nesto se spominje samo za O2 (samo za UK ja mislim), a i nije u najavi na gsmareni, a jos manje u europatradeu...