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AT&T has recently added a new phone to its GoPhone offering - Samsung SGH-a137. The entry-level device prides itself with a built-in GPS receiver, which makes it kinda stand out in the carrier’s pay-as-you-go phone portfolio.

Other specs include 2-inch screen, Bluetooth support and a music player. Size wise, the Samsung SGH-a137 measures 88.9×45.7×20.3 mm (3.5×1.8x.8 inches). It is already available at AT&T for $39.99 before taxes.

[Via: MobileBurn]

A South Korean businss paper has reported that Samsung is persuing SanDisk, for acquisition purposes. Both companies would not confirm or deny the report, which to me sounds like it’s on baby!

Samsung currently supplies NAND flash memory chips to SanDisk … which is the world’s largest supplier of flash storage card products. Samsung is the world’s largest manufacturer of NAND as well as DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, chips. NAND flash memory is used in digital devices such as cameras and music players. DRAM chips are used mostly in personal computers.

Samsung is no stranger to acquisitions either - last year it bought an Israeli company called TransChip, and turned it in to one of it’s R&D centres - Israel is a hi-tech leader globally, and that purchase further extended Samsung’s already mammoth scale of operations.

[Via: Cellular News]

In today’s mobile-world filled with dizzying acronyms and even dizzying-er feature-sets, there are bound to be those with a need for a simple flip-phone that focuses on doing one thing well - making voice calls.

To that end, Verizon has announced today the launch of the Samsung Knack for the less-than-power-users out there. The Samsung Knack is a bare-bones simple clamshell with a monochrome external display. In an age where mobile phones are rocking VGA displays, touchscreen technology, and media functionality out the wazoo, the Samsung Knack sports a rather low-res QCIF 2.2-inch display and lists “dedicated hot keys” as a selling point.

We’re mobile enthusiasts with a taste for powerful handsets, so if it sounds like we’re deriding the Samsung Knack a little bit, we apologize. There’s a niche that definitely needs filling, and the Samsung Knack fits the bill. For the rest of us, we’ll keep saving for the HTC Dream G1 when it launches later this year.

Verizon Samsung Knack

Nokia’s road to establishing an open-source Symbian Foundation has just been cemented with Samsung’s reported acceptance of Nokia’s offer to buy-out Samsung’s shares in Symbian. Samsung is the last remaining share-holder in Symbian that stands between Nokia and their Symbian Foundation initiative. With their offer accepted by Samsung, Nokia will have ownership rights to the entire Symbian code-base, setting up the Finnish cellphone manufacturer to hand over the code-base to an open-source Symbian organization, the Symbian Foundation, that will allow any and all developers to jump on board the Symbian-ship.

With mounting pressure from Windows Mobile, the iPhone OS, and of course Google’s Android, Nokia’s move to bring Symbian to the open-source table is logical. Nokia will have put up about $410 million to buy out all Symbian shareholders, which is no small amount. So it’s clear that Nokia is going to be backing Symbian for the foreseeable future.

[Via: EETimes]

Following up on Dusan’s post about the announcement of the Samsung i8510 (”INNOV8″), with 8MP camera, the uber-imaging device has now hit UK shores!

There are an extremely impressive set of specs (as you can see above), and Carphone Warehouse is offering the device on the Orange network with a £35/month Tariff over 18 months, giving the device for free!

This is one cameraphone we might have to try and get hold off, to see if those 8 Megapixels actually do deliver great images - for now though, you can find the official Carphone Warehouse page for the i8510 here.

Finally, the BlackJack II (aka Samsung SGH-I617) owners can update their smartphones to the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile OS. We did mentioned this update is coming, but due some technical glitches it was available only for few brief moments. Samsung has reportedly fixed the problems and now you can bless your QWERTY smartphone with some Windows Mobile 6.1 coolness. Here’s what’s changed:

• Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 (AKU1.0.1)
• Pocket Internet Explorer, 7.11
• Microsoft Voice Command v1.6.19
• Microsoft Office Mobile (including OneNote)
• TeleNav & MobiTV capable
• Modified UI with updated text & icons in several areas
• Enhancements to improve call quality (Qualcomm patches)
• Fixed, Several Bluetooth improvements for BTCK — including Peiker, Nokia, Audi, BMW, and others
• Fixed, Several Bluetooth issues relating to BTHS Jabra, Motorola, Samsung, and others
• Fixed, BT audio routing
• Fixed, Audio playback issue /w certain applications
• Fixed, Video Calling problems
• Added, Track Wheel speed values
• Added, Sliding Media Pane
• Added, Phonebook Access Profile (PBAP) for Bluetooth
• Added, Leap year calendar patch for wallpaper
• Added, Integrated BMW iDrive Patch
• Removed, Good Messaging Application

To update your Samsung BlackJack II hop over to this page on Samsung’s website and take it from there.

[Via: MobilityToday]

Future Shop in Canada is following footsteps of its U.S. “brother in arms” RadioShack and is dumping the price of the Samsung Instinct to CA$119.99. I’m not sure whether they along with Telus, which carries the Samsung’s all-touchscreen device, are scared of the “iPhone menace” but their latest offer certainly sounds compelling. Not only has Future Shop dropped the Instinct’s price, but they’re also bundling a free Bluetooth headset and a CA$50 gift card with the purchase. That’s in case you commit to stay three years on Telus, of course.

Enough talk, interested Canadians should visit this page to get all the details and eventually “follow their Instincts”…

[Via: MobileSyrup]

This Labor Day weekend, RadioShack is offering Sprint’s Samsung Instinct for $99.99. The offer will last for 4 days (it has started today) and also requires customers to sign-up for Sprint’s Simply Everything Plan.

And that’s about it. We’ve already covered the Instinct in the past and I won’t waste your time here by repeating the specs once again. If you ever considered getting yourself the all-touchscreen device, now may be the time to jump on board. Simply visit any of the RadioShack’s 4,400 convenient neighborhood stores and take it from there.

Full release is available on PRNewswire.

AT&T will be adding a new rugged handset to its offering. According to always highly informed Boy Genius, the Samsung a837 will be joining AT&T’s team in an effort to compete with Verizon’s Casio G’zOne phones.

We don’t have the full specs, but we do know the military-spec grade device will sport push-to-talk support, Bluetooth, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE along with dual-band UMTS/HSDPA, 1.3 megapixel camera, built-in GPS. As for the services supported, Video Share and AT&T Navigator will be included in the mix.

The Samsung a837 will hit AT&T’s offering around September 15th, though pre-orders might be starting on the first of the month. Expected priced is in the $99-$150 range.

[Via: Boy Genius Report]

It’s a Windows Mobile update week folks. First we saw the AT&T Tilt getting the update, and soon afterwards the Verizon XV6800 was also blessed with the Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade treatment.

Now another device is jumping on board - Samsung BlackJack II. Unfortunately, the update is almost or not yet ready - the server crashed as many people rushed to get their favorite QWERTY smartphone’s firmware up to date. Still the update pages are there and if you run either Windows XP or Vista, keep your eyes on these two links to grab the update as soon as it’s back online.

• Windows XP download
• Windows Vista download

Hopefully, you’ll be able to update the BlackJack II in no time…

[Via: WMExperts]