Samsung was showing its SGH-i600 Smartphone at IFA 2006 and judging by what we’ve seen, RIM should be afraid for the popularity of its beloved Blackberry.

The i600 is single-handed design so you don’t need to use both thumbs to navigate the QWERTY keypad and it has a decent-sized 2.3inch screen with 320x240 resolution and 65,000 colours. It supports HSDPA, EDGE, GSM, UMTS and GPRS and has a 1.3Megapixel camera on the back and a smaller camera for video calling on the front. Other parts of the spec include 802.11b/g wireless, Bluetooth, 128MB ROM, 64MB RAM and a MicroSD slot.

In short the i600 supports just about every feature you might want to see in a Smartphone but we have a surprise in store because the i600 runs on Windows Mobile 5.0 – you may not necessarily be a fan of Windows for Phones but the OS continues to improve steadily and it is clear that Microsoft is determined to ensure it is a glowing success.

Samsung’s UK PR tells us that it isn’t aware of a UK launch date for the i600. We reckon it’ll start to roll out before Christmas and hope that it crosses the Channel some time soon.

(Clarification for geographically pedantic readers; Yes, we know that there are other bodies of water between the Far East and the UK. We don’t mean to suggest that you leave Korea, cross the Cannel and step into Dover).®