Samsung Renown, Saga and Cleo in the US

OK so this might not be breaking news but it is news never the less. Samsung & Verizon have announced 2 new phones to be released at the beginning of December to compete in the Christmas market sales.

The first of these devices is the new Samsung Renown clamshell phone. A quad-band GSM phone which supports the CDMA 1x EVDO 800/1900MHz network.

Samsung Renown

The Renown features a 2.3 inch colour internal display and a 96 × 96 external display. With just a 2 Megapixel camera and its horrific colour I really cant see this climb right to the top of the sales charts. The good news is that it will carry a microSD card slot which now seems to be the industry standard card type (did you hear that Sony Ericsson?).

Samsung Renown

None of this next bit actually makes any sense to me given that I’m Scottish and have never used the Verizon Network but The Renown is said to support Verizon’s VZ Navigator service as well as V CAST Music and V CAST Video services which I’m sure means something good to the guys across the pond

Samsung Renown

The Samsung Renown will be available from Verizon for $179.99 with a 2-year contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate.

Next on the list is the the far better looking Samsung Saga smartphone that features a full QWERTY keyboard . The Saga features a 2.55-inch 320 × 320 LCD touchscreen display, quad-band GSM/GPRS, WiFi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, MicroSD support and again a 2 Megapixel camera. The difference with this camera is the fact that it features Night Shot (not sure if this is any way similar to Sony Night shot).

Samsung Saga

Verizon’s Samsung Saga runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS and comes with Opera mobile browser. The Saga measures 2.44-inch x 4.88-inch x .53-inch and weighs 4.59 ounces.

Due for release on the 1st of December for for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement after a $70 mail-in rebate.

Last but not least is the "I’ve just appeared on the FCC website" Samsung U440 or the Cleo. The Cleo will arrive from Verizon Wireless in the near future, just like the 2 above. Sporting a QWERTY keyboard, a considerably lower than normal 1.3 megapixel camera, A2DP stereo Bluetooth and up to 8GB of storage space this phone has also been hit with the Ugly Stick but the main question is will the QWERTY and 8GB internal memory be enough to sell this phone? I don’t think so but I am quite often proven wrong.

Samsung Cleo

So 3 very new mobiles and to be 100% honest, not one of them offers a great consumer package. Come on Samsung, we know you can do better than this surely?

Posted by: John