Samsung showcases dozen of phones at IFA 2008, wins by sheer numbers

Samsung took the opportunity to showcase some of its latest phones at the IFA 2008 consumer electronics show that's held annually in Berlin. Some of the devices are not yet officially announced, others have their official announcements, while still others are already available.

The huge list covers a dozen of handsets so be prepared as there is a lot of reading. The new Samsung handsets are the Samsung M3510 Beat, B2700, M200 and B210. The devices that have already been announced but are showcased for the first time are the dual SIM Samsung D980, S7330, P180, M150, and the B130. And finally, the showcased cellphones that are already available on the market are the Samsung E215, B510 and B300.

Let's start off with the new additions to the company portfolio. Although images and specs are yet scarce, we think we can shed some light on them.

Samsung M3510 Beat

The Samsung M3510 Beat is a slim music centric bar, that's already been rumored quite a lot. It's got a Bang&Olufsen ICEpower audio chip as well as dedicated music keys and a 3.5mm audio jack. A really novel feature in the Samsung portfolio is the Shake control that we've already seen in Sony Ericsson Walkman phones. The built-in accelerometer can also be used in other applications such as the image gallery.

The Samsung M3510 Beat also has quad-band GSM support, a 2-inch QVGA display and a 2 megapixel camera - all that's packed in a body that's only 9.9mm thick. A microSD memory card slot, stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) and FM radio with RDS are also on board.

Samsung B2700

The Samsung B2700 is the next new and interesting bar by Samsung that was showcased at the IFA 2008 even before an official announcement. It's a heavy duty phone with IP54 certification for dust and water splashes resistance - it's the same level of resistance as the one of Sonim XP1 that we reviewed recently. Currently, we don't know if the B2700 is also shock resistant.

The Samsung B2700 is a tri-band GSM device with UMTS support with video calls (thanks to the front-facing secondary camera). The B2700 also has a 1.8-inch TFT display with a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels and a 2 megapixel fixed focus camera. Overall it's a really nice package that has some nice looks despite its ruggedized exterior.

Beside that toughened look, the Samsung B2700 also offers a digital compass, a digital altimeter, a step counter and a dedicated LED flashlight.

It so happens that we have a B2700 unit at our office and we are more than happy to give you several live shots of the device.