Samsung announced the Continuum today and we gave a quick run down of the handset and its features during our live blog. Afterwards, we got some quick hands on time with the new Android device. It’s very much like other Samsung handsets of late: thin and light, fingerprint-magnet back casing and a relatively solid build. The device probably won’t drop jaws, but it is quite nice and a decent addition to Verizon’s line-up.
The biggest trick the Samsung Continuum has up its sleeve is the 1.8-inch ticker display below the main display. The idea here is that it takes a lot less energy to gently squeeze the bottom edges of the phone and light up the smaller display. You can see if there are any messages or alerts awaiting you, and if there aren’t any, you’ll see the date, time and weather.
Not surprisingly, the Continuum is a very light weight phone. The hardware itself is rather solid, and it can best be compared to the Galaxy S devices in terms of build and size. It has a 3.4-inch Super AMOLED display, always crisp and vivid, and it’s powered by a 1GHz processor. If you were looking for a newer version of Android, however, this puppy will be shipping with 2.1 coupled with Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 UI.
In short, the device itself isn’t groundbreaking or terribly innovative, but it doesn’t leave us underwhelmed, either. The ticker is a decent addition, especially for those who miss having that feature on an outer display on clam shell phones. It was responsive and snappy, but that’s expected since the Galaxy S variants all behave the same way. If you’re looking for an alternative to the Fascinate and the other Verizon Android handsets just aren’t doing it for you, the Continuum is definitely a respectable alternative.
Check out our hands on pics below and stay tuned for some hands-on video!
Update: Here’s our hands-on video showing off the Samsung Continuum in action.
Update 2: Had a slight issue with YouTube, but now our video is working. Enjoy!