iPhone Week: iPhone Killer - Samsung F700 "Croix"

3.2-inch haptic touchscreen plus full slide-out QWERTY keyboard

4 November 2007 13:00 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Today's "iPhone Killer" is the Triband HSDPA Samsung F700, that will be available on Vodafone this month.

We feel that the Samsung F700 would turn heads without the inevitable iPhone comparisons as it's a pretty stunning looking handset with some interesting features.

Samsung describe the device as "the mobile hybrid" thanks to its dual input of both touch and keyboard, its 3.2-inch screen capable of both vertical and horizontal display and its award-winning Croix interface.

The screen is the real USP for this phone, especially as it offers haptic touch, or what's also called force feedback functionality. Samsung use the Videtonz method, which reacts with a slight vibration so you know you've pressed the correct area.

Other stats for the display are that it's a 440 x 240 WQVGA 262k TFT and displays in a 16:9 widescreen format that Samsung says it the best ratio for multimedia and full web browsing.

Camera-wise, there's a 3-megapixel snapper with auto focus and flash, plus VGA camera. Images taken can be saved down to the 100MB internal memory that's backed up by microSD card support up to 2GB.

Other features include a document viewer, an FM radio, a music and video player with a healthy number of formats supported, A2DP Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and drag and drop file transfer.

The Samsung F700 "Croix" will be available on Vodafone in November, from free on some (no doubt higher priced) contracts.