Hot on the heels of the first rendering of the Samsung B7610 Louvre comes the first spy photo and some additional specifications on this mid-range offering from Sammy. The Louvre looks even better in person than it does in the rendering and it comes with an increasingly solid set of specs that include:

• 3.50inch AMOLED 16M color resistive WVGA (800×480) display
• 800Mhz CPU
• 5.1 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash
• Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• 2 UIs (Pro & Media, with a dedicated button to switch between them)
• TV-out
• 3.5mm Headphone jack
• MicroUSB connector
• Divx/WMV/H.264 accelerations
• GPS/WIFI/HSDPA/HSUPA/BT
• FM Radio
• DNLA support
• 1GB internal memory + SDHC up to 32G
• 1500 mAh battery

The Louvre is expected to debut later this summer with Windows Mobile 6.1 and an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5 to follow in the September/October 2009 time frame. That is the good news, the bad news is that the current ROM is reportedly running slowly, even on the 800MHz processor. Slow performance may result in a slip of the launch date possibly until November, a fate that may also await the Omnia 2 (GT-i8000).

[Via wmpoweruser]

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While talk of Samsung’s upcoming B7610 Louvre has been floating around in quiet corners of the internet for quite some time now, the first image of the upcoming Windows Mobile smartphone has emerged alongside a list of specs. We’re not sure exactly how this handset pays homage to the famous French museum but maybe Sammy is just running out of code names. While it’s clearly not meant to be a flagship device, the Louvre looks as if it will be able to hold its own against similar devices in its class:

• 112mm x 5.8mm x 16mm
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 7.2Mbps UMTS/HSDPA
• 3.5-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen display
• 5 megapixel camera
• 1GB ROM
• 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and aGPS
• Accelerometer
• Bluetooth 2.0
• FM tuner with RDS
• microSD support
• miniUSB
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• 1500 mAh Li-ion battery

Having not yet been announced by Samsung, a release date, list of carriers and pricing are still unknown. The source of this leak however, believes that the Louvre will makes its debut this July with a price ranging from 250€ to 500€.

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This rumor is for everyone out there who nearly went insane from all of yesterday’s WWDC coverage. Word is that what you’re looking at above is Samsung’s upcoming GT-i8000 aka Omnia II. Assuming the picture is the real deal and the specs are right, we’re hearing that the Omnia II will come with a 3.7-inch AMOLED WVGA resistive touchscreen display, 8.1 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and VGA video recording at 30 fps, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and HSDPA connectivity, miniUSB, 150MB of internal memory and a 1500 mAh battery. There is also a rumor that the Omnia II will run custom take on TouchWiz above Windows Mobile 6.1, which while not as polished as TouchFLO 3D is still remarkably better than the standard WinMo fare. But then, what isn’t? And yes, we too noticed that this resembles the mysterious x-ray of a device Samsung plans to spill the beans on next Monday.

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Somewhere over the rainbow in a land far away, wireless phones will actually be wireless. We’re not just talking about cellular voice and data here of course, we’re talking about handsets that can communicate, move data, sync and be charged all without the need for a single external wired connection. We still have a ways to go before technologies such as inductive charging and higher-speed data transfer standards are a commonplace, but Samsung has just announced a major step towards that reality with the advent of Wireless USB. By way of new System-on-a-Chip (SoC) technology, Samsung claims W-USB will allow portable devices such as mobile handsets and digital cameras to connect wirelessly using an interface that is nearly identical to a wired USB connection. Dr. Yiwan Wong, vice president, System LSI Division at Samsung is heading up the group responsible for the breakthrough and had this to say:

Connected consumer electronic products are the next step in enabling anytime, anywhere access to information and services. One of the keys to wireless connectivity is W-USB technology. While W-USB technology is just beginning to ramp up, its application will soon increase with the consumer electronic and mobile phone markets’ demand for wireless connectivity technology and UWB’s fast download speeds.

The SoC itself is comprised of a built-in ARM core, a UWB physical layer, a memory controller and a memory component. It operates in the 3.1~10.6 GHz-band range and as far as numbers go, we’re looking at speeds of 480 Mbps. Real world tests have shown actual transfer speeds of 120 Mbps which is hardly a rate to be scoffed at and security hounds will be happy to know Samsung employs 128 bit AES encryption to thwart prowlers. Long story short, W-USB can’t happen soon enough.

[Via DailyTech]

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