After serving Japan, Samsung is ready to release a new 3.5G (HSDPA) phone in Korea, the SCH-W200. This phone also provides S-DMB, and below, you’ll find the rest of the tech specs.

Samsung Launches the HSDPA Phone in Korea

SEOUL, KOREA, May 16, 2006 – Samsung today launched the high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) phone (model: SCH-W200) in Korea. This is the first HSDPA phone commercially available for consumers in the market.

Samsung’s new slide-up SCH-W200 employs the next-generation technology to transmit audio and video data at speeds of 1.8Mbps. The SCH-W200 allows users to enjoy a wide range of high quality multimedia, including video phone calls, music and movies.

The SCH-W200 is also the first phone equipped with a unique ‘Dual Band Dual Mode (DBDM)’ chip that supports 2G, 3G and 3.5G mobile communication services. It also supports multitasking functions allowing users to receive and send messages during video telephony and while listening to MP3 files.

Users can also enjoy watching mobile TV via Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (S-DMB) and take pictures with a high resolution 2 megapixel camera with auto focus function. It also offers other sophisticated multimedia features such as MP3 player function, text-to-speech (TTS) conversion, file viewer and supports an external memory (microSD) slot.

Kitae Lee, president of Samsung Electronics’ Telecommunication Network, said “Samsung is proud to launch the first HSDPA phone for Korean market. With the successful launch of future mobile broadband in our domestic market, we look forward to lead and expand HSDPA technology worldwide.” He added, “Our unique designs and cutting edge technology have made Samsung a top player in the premium phone segment. Now we shall demonstrate our full potential in the HSDPA area as well.”

HSDPA, a new form of mobile broadband, is capable of transmitting data at speeds about seven to ten times faster than that of WCDMA. Users can enjoy large-scale multimedia downloads, such as DVD-quality movies and interactive multimedia games, with high-speed wireless Internet access comparable to speeds of fixed-line ADSL services.

The launch of the Samsung’s SCH-W200 marks the world’s first commercial HSDPA services in cooperation with SK Telecom, Korea’s largest mobile service operator. Samsung will also be providing HSDPA handsets for KTF, Korea’s second largest mobile service operator, in June.