Seems like Samsung has thought better and instead of belittling its own best-selling device, it has decided to simply name Instinct’s upcoming little brother as the S30, which recently passed through the FCC scanner when we knew it as the Instinct Mini. But other than the name, Samsung will be making no major changes in the feature set. So, we wouldn’t be surprised if we found a 2-megapixel cam, microSD/microSDHC support, a music player, a somewhat downsized touchscreen display, and CDMA with EV-DO support on the network side when it is announced officially. The whole package also goes for more rounded edges with the lower part becoming a bit more thicker than the Samsung Instinct.

There is still no word on pricing or availability, so stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated.

Samsung has released a new line of phone models in India to help boost their Guru line. The 6 new handsets that were added to their Guru line included:

• Guru 1070
• Guru 1100
• Guru 1125
• Guru 1210
• Guru 1310
• Guru 1410

“Our Guru series offers a strong value proposition to the consumers at the entry level mobile phone segment and based on its success in the Year 2008, we have introduced six new Guru models this Year, states Mr. Sunil Dutt, Country Head, Telecom Business Division, Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd The new Guru series come with feature enhancements across the various models that range from Stereo FM, Torch Light, Mobile Prayer, Advanced Mobile tracker to even Bluetooth capability and Dual Loud Speakers, as in the case of Guru 1410.”

One more Samsung handset is in the clear and it’s ready to head towards AT&T. It’s the i637 that has just passed through the FCC so we don’t have all the hot details you might be expecting. So far we know it’s a quad-band 3G touchscreen handset that will offer you WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity and MediaFlo support. We’ll be waiting for an official release date and pricing details.

Here is a new phone from Samsung which carries an SOS function to help alert local authorities of your position via GPS. It emits an alarm equivalent to your MP3 player at full volume and is a great phone to have for women for added safety and protection. The handset is set to be unveiled next month in Korea.

Samsung has a new phone ready to be launched and it looks like Russia is the market it will head to. The Samsung S5600 is the handset we’re talking about, but we don’t have any of its specs yet. The phone will come in a plastic case and it will use that TouchWiz UI from Samsung. We don’t know when the S5600 will arrive and how much it will cost, but we expect it to have a fairly cheap price as it is probably going to be a mid-level handset.

As it seems Samsung have a really nice cameraphone in store for all of us, due in the beginning of 2009. The S8300 has obviously slipped under someone’s door, as it’s not officially announced yet.

Only 12.8mm thick, the Samsung S8300 has an absolutely massive widescreen OLED display, probably the largest one we’ve seen to date, and the fact that it’s a touchscreen, makes it that much sweeter.

The S8300 specs sheet is further pumped up by an 8 megapixel camera with auto focus, a GPS receiver, HSDPA and DivX video support. Judging from the interface shots, the handset doesn’t seem to be a smartphone, but instead is running on the Samsung’s proprietary TouchWiz feature phone interface, well known from the Samsung Pixon for example.

Among its other niceties are FM radio with RDS, Bluetooth 2.1, and a microSD card slot. It’s a long list.

Unfortunately, as it’s evident from the photos the 8 megapixel camera is not equipped with a xenon flash. There’s only LED instead that’s best used as video light. There’s no mention of Wi-Fi functionality either.

As you may guess, there is no official info about the device yet, however word is out that it should be available by March 2009.

Samsung SGH-i900 Omnia

Price: £439.99 inc VAT unlocked
Rating: 5 out of 6 (According to TestFreaks, who analyses most reviews)
Good: Well-specified; effective custom UI; clever optical touchpad
Bad: Proprietary USB port; touchscreen could be more responsive; high unlocked price
Verdict: The SGH-i900 Omnia is one of the better Windows Mobile smartphones with a bespoke UI, but the lack of keyboard limits its appeal.
Manufacturer: Samsung

We missed the launch of the Samsung SGH-i900 Omnia a few weeks ago and while this Windows Mobile smartphone has now been on sale for a while, we still thought it was worth reviewing. After all, if Samsung thinks it’s an important enough product to warrant a huge marketing campaign extolling its virtues, who are we to argue?

Smartphones have long evolved past the point where they’re just a way to make calls and manage your contacts, and Samsung makes much of the Omnia’s multimedia abilities in its ads (and made the best unboxing video we’ve ever seen). Of course a smartphone with any kind of audio/video pretensions now has the iPhone to contend with, but Samsung has taken some suitable compensatory steps.

In fact Samsung seems to have used the iPhone as a design inspiration for the Omnia – the flush-fitting touch-screen has the same silver trim, offset by a matte black back. There’s a bit too much plastic for the Omnia to feel like a really swish high-end smartphone, but it’s certainly among the better-looking Windows Mobile devices we’ve seen.

If you believe the marketing message, the Omnia’s multimedia credentials begin with its screen. This may look much the same as those on other Windows Mobile smartphones, but it has a 240 x 320 400 resolution rather than the standard 240 x 320. This gives an aspect ration of 1.66:1 rather than 1.33:1, and so is much better suited to displaying widescreen video. This may be so, but we should point out that since the Omnia’s screen measures a mere 3.2in from corner to corner, ‘better suited’ is a wholly relative term and we doubt many people will be buying one just to get a better view on their dodgy copy of Iron Man.

The screen automatically flips between portrait and landscape modes when the Omnia is turned on its side and the accelerometer’s sensitivity can be adjusted to stop the display from rotating inadvertently (a problem we had initially). The ability to silence the phone simply by putting it face-down on the table is a nice touch, too – much easier than fumbling with buttons when your Sugababes ringtone embarrasses you in a meeting.

The taller-than-usual screen makes little difference to the normal operation of Windows Mobile (the resolution isn’t that much higher than normal, after all), although it is rather grainy. Don’t go looking for a stylus to prod it with, though – there is a stubby one in the box, but there’s nowhere to stow it and it has to be tied to the Omnia’s lanyard loop. You’ll be better off not bothering, since the Omnia’s touch-screen generally works well with a fingertip, even though it doesn’t employ any special kind of sensing technology (though it will vibrate with each finger press, if you like).

The omission of the usual Windows and OK buttons from the front panel seems to be something of a trend with recent Windows Mobile smartphones and while it’s a pain to poke the on-screen Start button to open the program list and the X button to close a window, the Omnia at least has an alternative. Like HTC’s TouchFLO 3D, Samsung has fitted the Omnia out with its own custom user interface (called TouchWiz) that tries to keep Windows Mobile out of sight for as long as possible.

And it succeeds, to a large extent. Gone is the Today screen, replaced by a ‘Desktop’ onto which various tools can be dragged – much like the Sidebar in Windows Vista. The Desktop isn’t really big enough to cope with more than a few (most seem to be designed to make the worse possible use of available space), but it’s a handy way to get quick access to such things as the FM tuner or ringer profiles.

The Main Menu soft-key brings up a simple program launcher with large, colourful icons for installed applications. The awkward way in which the touch-screen responds to fingertip scrolling makes this occasionally infuriating to use, but it’s certainly a step-up from the usual Windows Mobile Program Files folder and Start menu.

Samsung has also included a handful of bespoke applications – the aforementioned FM tuner, audio and video players, a photo viewer, phone book, podcast manager and RSS reader. There’s nothing here that can’t be had with any Windows Mobile device, but the consistent and colourful design of each app makes them a good deal more user-friendly than usual.

If you lack the fine motor skills to fumble with the fiddlier parts of the Windows Mobile UI, then the Omnia has another neat solution. The usual mechanical four-way pad below the screen is missing and instead there’s the Omia has an optical sensor – this works in the same, but with just the brush of a fingertip. Alternatively, it can be set to work as a touchpad for an on-screen mouse pointer for much finer control of Windows Mobile’s features. It’s not quite up to a full stylus stand-in, but it’s fine for clicking radio buttons and dragging scroll bars.

Samsung drops a point for using a proprietary USB connector for the Omnia’s combine mains/USB charge and sync port, plus another for using the same port as the earphone socket. It gets one back for being sensible enough to supply a hands-free kit that will work with any earphones with a 3.5mm jack plug, although most sets will create a good eight feet of cable between the Omnia and your ears.

Nonetheless, Samsung isn’t alone in this socket silliness and this doesn’t overly detract from what is one of the better-looking and better-equipped Windows Mobile devices around. The lack of a physical keyboard means that it isn’t a smartphone for everyone (and the on-screen keyboard isn’t great), but if you’re unable (or unwilling) to use an iPhone, but still want a well-rounded multimedia model, the SGH-i900 Omnia is worth a look. You can view more best cell phone reviews at Testfreaks.com