Todays & Tomorrows Technology

Samsung have officially announced the Omnia Pro B7610 in Korea, alongside their I7500 Android smartphone (aka the Samsung Galaxy), the Omnia B7320 and the 12-megapixel Pixon 12 M8910. Full specifications are still yet to be confirmed, though we’ve previously heard that the Omnia Pro has a 3.5-inch AMOLED touchscreen running at WVGA resolution, HSPA and WiFi connectivity, and a 5.1-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash.

The phone is believed to run Windows Mobile 6.1, with an upgrade for Windows Mobile 6.5 when Microsoft release the new OS, and have Samsung’s own GUI overlay with switchable “Pro” and “Media” modes. There’s also Bluetooth, A-GPS, 1GB of onboard storage and a microSDHC slot content with up to 32GB cards.

Still unclear is availability and pricing, beyond a launch in the second half of 2009. Some rumors have suggested that the Omnia Pro B7610 could drop as early as August, however.

More on Samsung’s upcoming B7610 Louvre this morning, and the suggestion that in fact the handset is set to arrive as the Samsung Omnia Pro. New photos, including a live-shot of the smartphone, have emerged, together with specifications seemingly confirming the 3.5-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, HSDPA/HSUPA and WiFi connectivity, and a 5.1-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash.

While the Omnia Pro will run Windows Mobile 6.1 (with an upgrade to 6.5 once that’s released, unless Samsung postpone their launch until the new OS is available) it will also have different UIs to pick from: one “Pro” and one “Media” which presumably offers a more PMP-styled interface. There’ll also be a dedicated button to switch between them.

Other specifications include GPS, DLNA support, a TV-out connection, Bluetooth and FM radio, plus a microSDHC card slot (up to 32GB supported) and 1GB of onboard storage. The battery is tipped as a 1,500mAh pack, while the CPU is an unspecified 800MHz chip. DivX, WMV and H.264 acceleration is supported. There’s talk that the Samsung Omnia Pro will land in August 2009.

It's been some time since we've heard a word about Samsung's enigmatic QWERTY slider, the B7610 Louvre. Now it looks like we've got on our hands a new, decidedly more clear pic of the phone care of GPSAndCo, along with a list of technical details. According to the site, we're looking at a quad-band Windows Mobile 6.1 device (upgradable to 6.5) with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 3.5-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, FM radio, miniUSB, 1GB built-in memory, and a microSDHC slot. Still not official, but should this pan out, Orange and SFR business customers can look to it sometime in July with the price lining up somewhere between €250 and €500.