CTIA 2005
Samsung is also showing off a number of GSM phones. Most of them were also previewed at CES, so we won't waste space recapping them too much, but there is one new one we hadn't seen before. The SGH-E217 is an interesting new clamshell camera phone:
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The E217 seems much like a replacement for last year's E317. The immediately obvious difference is the internal antenna. That seems to be a major new push for Samsung this year, with both GSM and CDMA models.
The E217 also adds a number of major features compared to the E317. These include Bluetooth, EDGE high-speed data, and speakerphone. The E217 does step "down" to a monochrome outer display, but many people prefer monochrome outer LCDs because it's much easier to read the time without manually activating the backlight.
Also on display are the SGH-X475 and SGH-E335, two similar clamshell phones for T-Mobile, both with internal antennas and monochrome outer displays.
The SGH-X475 should be out very soon (a few weeks, at most). It's a fairly basic (for a Samsung) dual-band GSM model:
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The SGH-E335 should be out a couple months after the X475. It steps up to tri-band GSM and a larger external display, and adds a camera and speakerphone:
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