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A Verizon Wireless Web page of Samsung Galaxy S-themed “holiday gift ideas” confirms that the Samsung Continuum smartphone will soon be coming to the network, as has been rumored since mid-September.
Most notable about the Android-running Continuum, which appears to be longer and thinner than the reportedly higher-end Galaxy X Fascinate – another holiday gift suggestion – is a smaller, AMOLED screen below the Continuum’s main screen. Big enough for two lines of a text, it acts like a ticker, showing “updates, news feeds, clock and other real-time data, and is woken up simply by holding the bottom of the device,” tech site Thinkable first reported Oct. 4.
Verizon doesn’t offer any specific information about when the Continuum will arrive, or what it will be priced at, but users can sign up to be alerted when the carrier’s ready to share some details.
The Fascinate – a phone eWeek Labs, in testing, found “a pleasure to use” – is another Verizon holiday suggestion. Currently available on the site for $200 with a new contract, it runs Android 2.1 (though is upgradeable to 2.2) and features a 4-inch Super AMOLED touch display, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and a 5-megapixel camera. It weighs 4.5 ounces, measures 4.18 by 2.5 by 0.39 inches and integrates email, social networking sites and phone contacts into a single address book.
The Fascinate also pair its virtual QWERTY keyboard with a text input technology called Swype – which Samsung got the folks at the Guinness to include in their World Record book, as the fastest way to text. Additionally, a DLNA (digital living network alliance) certified device, it can wirelessly stream HD movies and photos, as well as music, to PCs, home theaters or DLNA televisions.
Verizon’s final gift-giving suggestion is for the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which is poised to grab some tablet market share from the Apple iPad in coming quarters. Verizon will offer it for $599.99 without a contract, beginning Nov. 11, though Best Buy will reportedly sell it for $499, and both T-Mobile and Sprint have priced it at $399 with a contract.
The Tab runs Android 2.2, features a 7-inch touch screen, supports Adobe Flash and has front and back cameras for video calling.
With its Galaxy S line of devices, Samsung is of course looking to compete with Apple – which it will soon likely do more directly on the Verizon network, which is expected to introduce a version of the iPhone in early January, according to a number of sources.
In June, analysts on a Bloomberg Television program discussed Verizon receiving an iPhone in January, and most recently Fortune magazine confirmed an “early 2011” release.
“Verizon, sources say, will sell its own version of the iPhone 4, which will work on Verizon’s CDMA-based 3G network,” Fortune reported Oct. 29. “Unfortunately for globetrotters, the first version of the phone likely won’t be built to work outside the U.S. – it probably won’t carry a special chip that can turn it into a -world phone.'”
However, Verizon is for now mum on the matter. Back on the topic of gifts (Be a gift-giving genius,” its Web site prompts) it for now only additionally suggests the Samsung Convoy, which, in a limited time offer, is free with a new contract, as well as several certified pre-owned devices and a handful of feature phones that are also free with a new two-year activation.