The Samsung Valencia wasn't on display at Samsung's booth, so everyone's wondering if Microsoft let out a secret a little early. Even so, we're not particularly impressed by it. The Valencia's design pretty much takes after the company's other QWERTY devices, like the Samsung BlackJack II, and it runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Edition. The one interesting bit is that the spec card read that the smartphone has 20GB of storage, but we're guessing that was a misprint or perhaps takes into account the microSD expansion slot.
GSmart smartphones are made by a Taiwanese company called Gigabyte and are available throughout the world, though they are pretty hard to find in North America unless you look online. The GSmart MS820 features a 2.8 VGA touch screen with a G-sensor and proprietary user interface similar to HTC's TouchFlo. The Windows Mobile device also has a 5-megapixel camera, GPS, and 3G support.
The GSmart S1200 is clearly slimmer and sleeker than the MS820 and adds HSUPA connectivity and a larger 3.1-inch touch screen. It appears the S1200 will run Windows Mobile 6.1, but will be upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5. Other highlights include a 3-megapixel camera, an FM transmitter, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0.
The Pharos Traveler 137 GPS smartphone was actually unveiled at CES 2009 and is scheduled to ship in April for $599.95 unlocked. The Windows Mobile 6.1 device is a little different from other GPS-enabled smartphones in that it doesn't require a cellular connection to operate as a navigation device.It comes preloaded with Pharos' Smart Navigator software with the vector map and routing calculations, so you'll be able to view maps, create routes, and get turn-by-turn directions without a network signal.
In the States, Lenovo is more well known for its laptops, but the company also dabbles in smartphones. The Lenovo ET660 offers 4GB of onboard storage, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. The specs also listed a Touch Dream user interface, but the display model wasn't working, so we didn't get a chance to check that out.
As you can tell from the full QWERTY keyboard, the Lenovo ET700 is a messaging-centric smartphone from Lenovo. It runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition and is equipped with a 624MHz processor and 128MB RAM/256MB ROM. The ET700 is also 3G and GPS capable.
The Toshiba TG01 outdoes any touch-screen smartphone in the market today with a 4.1-inch, 800x480-pixel display, and it's not too shabby in the features department either, with Wi-Fi, GPS, stereo Bluetooth, HSDPA, support for DivX video files and Adobe Flash content from the Web. The TG01 is expected to ship in Europe in the summer.
Mio Technology is just getting some brand recognition as a GPS manufacturer in the United States, but in other parts of the world, the company is also known for its GPS-enabled smartphones. Here we have the plainly named Mio GPS Phone, running Windows Mobile 6.1. The handset features a spacious touch screen, a 3-megapixel camera, and 3G support. It's too bad the only model was behind a case, because it looks to be quite a nice device. No word on whether Mio will bring its GPS-enabled mobiles to the U.S.
