Samsung's new gaming phone.

[TEXAN]

Samsung's Game Phone

http://img.engadget.com/common/images/4337892790267556.JPG?0.20486629336285977

http://image.cetizen.com/index.php?img_no=gallery/200503/11105364863.jpg

Samsung hold an MBX license, is this MBX powered?

 

[EndR]

Seems a little thick...
Hmm, could maybe work...

still.. it seems a little thick....

 

[Kolgar]

Nice screen mockup on that truck game. :?

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Well it looks better than NGage that's for sure. Looks more expensive also.

 

[Dave Glue]

Nice screen mockup on that truck game. :?

Nono, it has 16X AA!

(Damn, that is one riced-up phone. Did Thermaltake have a hand in its design or what?)

 

[PC-Engine]

That's one VERY ugly phone. Looks like a fat larva.
I wish NEC would hurry up and build something like this with a 3D chip from Bitboys or PowerVR.

 

[Fafalada]

is this MBX powered?

No.
It's not really that new either - it was originally supposed to release in fall last year but they had no software for it (and they still don't really have much anyhow), and afaik it's been selling in Japan for a few months now.

 

[Ailuros]

Samsung has a lisence for MBX, but I've no idea about that particular model.

As for the phone being "thick", it's a slide-top and those aren't "thin" usually.

How about searching for references on Fujitsu FOMA901 instead.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

2 points

1: What's the battery life of these systems going to be? I'd have thought without fuel-cell tech they wouldn't be viable as phones and gaming platforms.

2: How are a trillion different phone models ever going to get decent games? The expect EA to write Fifa for 100 different platforms? Unless everything will be Java based, but that means limiting performance. Or is there a software standard, kinda like the 80's MSX, where different machines can run the same code?

 

[Ailuros]

How are a trillion different phone models ever going to get decent games? The expect EA to write Fifa for 100 different platforms? Unless everything will be Java based, but that means limiting performance. Or is there a software standard, kinda like the 80's MSX, where different machines can run the same code?

Common API's like OpenGL-ES.

And it's not like they're going to be countless of different platforms; if we're talking about a 3D chip you can count them probably with the fingers of one hand (IMG MBX, Bitboys G1x/2x, ATI Imageon, NVIDIA AR10 etc.).

Mobile phone manufacturers are licensing SoCs from large semiconductor manufacturers, of which already 6 out of the top10 have licensed MBX (expected to rise to 8 soon).

***edit: a somewhat comparable example would be PC OEM sollutions; is an ISV forced to configure for each manufacturer individually or is it enough if it ensures compatibility for let's say NVIDIA/ATI GPUs?

 

[PC-Engine]

The battery life will obviously depend on the mAh of the battery.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Ailuros : Okay, you're saying these phones are more like portable PCs in terms of OS, APIs, etc. What works on one phone runs on another. Surely this needs a good OS though that doesn't do funny things with different CPUs? Will we see buggy games like PCs, where a phone is incompatible with some games, or some games render artefacts on one graphics hardware where they don't another?

PC-Engine : Obviously! But the drain is high for mobile phones is it not? PSP manages 5 hours or so, less with WiFi. A mobile phone has 'WiFi' perpetually on. A top end 1800 mAh LiIon isn't going to last long if PSP is anything to go by. Have they got uber-powersaving hardware? Or will batteries be drained in 2 hours of Ridge Racer leaving your phone useless for communications?

 

[PC-Engine]

Mobile phones have standby times of days not hours on a < 900 mAh batteries with the backligh off obviously. With the backlight on it's only a few hours depending on the brightness setting. The wireless signal's power consumption is relatively insignificant. You can buy larger capacity batteries but then it would add size and weight to the phone.

 

[Fafalada]

A top end 1800 mAh LiIon isn't going to last long if PSP is anything to go by. Have they got uber-powersaving hardware? Or will batteries be drained in 2 hours of Ridge Racer leaving your phone useless for communications?

My Samsung model(with no 3d chips ) has 1500mAh battery and can be on standby for about 10-14days (and the front screen is constantly lit, Oleds are cool ).
Anyway chipset for this thing is a lot lower spec then PSP, think more around DS level (though it has bilinear filtering IIRC). I'd wait for them to release a UMD model before worrying about battery