Samsung to demo 8GB HDD handset

Samsung will this week unveil a Windows Mobile 5.0-based smart phone that also incorporates an 8GB hard disk, stereo speakers, digital amplifier and the ability to support Bluetooth-connected wireless stereo headphones.

The SGH-i310 will be shown at the CeBIT show, which kicks off in Hannover, Germany, this week. Samsung has shown off its hard drive-equipped handsets there before, and it will be interesting to see if it can announce any network-operator customers this time.

According to the leaked spec, the SGH-i310 will contain a two megapixel camera and sport a 2in, 240 x 320, 65,536-colour display. The 120g handset not only has the 8GB HDD for storage, but a MicroSD slot for further content-carrying capacity.

Music formats supported include MP3, AAC, Ogg and WMA. There's no word yet on pricing, but the handset is due to ship in the second half of the year.

Samsung has been showing hard drive-equipped handsets since September 2004. Its first model had a 1.5GB unit, with later phones upping the storage capacity to 3GB. The 3GB SGH-i300 was announced at CeBIT in March 2005 and shipped the following Autumn. ®