Samsung back pedals on Safari browser claim

"Oh, you thought we meant that Safari..."

30 May 2008 10:28 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Earlier this week Samsung launched a new mobile phone called the L870 that they said would come with "Safari browser (full browsing)" as a feature.

The new handset, due out in Europe in August that will run the Symbian S60 operating system was said to feature Apple's Webkit-based, Safari browser so far only seen on the iPhone in the mobile world.

These claims raised eyebrows in the tech world and it seems rightly so, as it has now been revealed that for some unfathomable reason, Samsung's assertions were seriously misleading.

American blog Engadget has received official word from Samsung regarding the browser on the L870, which reads as follows:

"Actually, L870 is equipped with S60 OSS browser, also known as S60 safari browser because both are using same webcore platform. Sorry again for the unclear specification, and bothering you with this."

Engadget suggests that S60 browser has never been known, even informally, as the "S60 safari browser", leaving a slight mystery as to why Samsung felt the need to make such a claim.