I would expect a Mark II of this 'phone to include WiFi, based on one of the newer programmable radio chipsets that would support Bluetooth and wireless USB with on-the-go.

For the reference - 3.6 is the real performance you get out of HSDPA after correcting for brainwash by whalesong.

While the total bandwidth is 7.2 the bandwidth you can get is a power of 2 fraction of the maximum. If there is at least one voice channel in use on the node-B (or any other node-B which sharing a soft handover with the current one) it will be 3.6. If there is any information transmitted between the mobile and the Node-B it will require a channel for itself and will immediately split the code tree in half. Again - 3.6. If the Node-B needs to tell the mobile to adjust its power - it will once again require a channel and will split the code tree in half. This may happen up to multiple times a second. 3.6 one more time. Paging - down to 3.6 again. And so on.

Nice seeing Samsung finally being honest. Now, it will be interesting to see what does it actually take to make the other usual suspects including the operators to start giving real numbers and not whalesong induced brainwash. This is especially valid for numbers for "multiple mobiles using data on the same Node-B at the same time". These are quite entertaining actually.

What OS is it running?

To me it doesn't have the 'wow' factor of the iPhone. OK, it'll be available on Vodaphone and will probably be a lot cheaper, but it still isn't an iPhone. It'll probably be bigger due to the slide out keyboard.

The touch screen is not nearly as responsive as the iPhone. The icon for the main menu is tiny. It's not clear where everything is. There are too many options everywhere.

However, dragging up or down to make the volume louder or softer works pretty well - shame they had to make it complicated again by having it FF/Rew if you drag right or left - something that's all too easy to do when all you're trying to do is change the volume.

The keyboard is fine, but it's a lot bulkier than the iPhone. 6 out of 10.

...is that it's not destined for the same market as the iPhone.

It's ugly, has a user interface that's strictly 2002, lacks wifi, and has a keyboard that seems to be too small and clunky for two-hand touchtype, yet too large for thumbs.

It may compete with the TREO or the Windows Mobile or Symbian smartphone market, but it doesn't have the cool of an iPhone. Not even 20% of that cool. It's warm and clammy by comparison.

Why do they have Mariah Carey feat. Boyz II Men on the phone?

As indicated this is a HTC / Glofiish replica, but they missed the best selling points of those phone - GPS and WiFi!

what an omission............

No wonder the likes of the XDA still sell.

The people that buy ipods are the apple lovers, the people that buy the xda's are the 'older executives' and taxi drivers wanting tomtom - the people that buy something not mainstream like this phone, are people who can take a decision and wont buy it if its castrated from the beginning by poor connectivity!

Oh yeah, it does what it says on the tin. But when oh when will Samsung, Sony, Motorola et al catch on to the fact that it's a decent look and feel and simple controls we want?

We want to do things naturally. Where in the real life would I use a menu to look through a photo book, or flick through pages to listen to music? We don't! And that's why the Apple iPhone is always going to rule the roost - until the other manufacturers start to give the user what he wants, not try to fit the user into what they've made.

Just as I was thinking "ooh, that looks nice and my contract is up for renewal soon", I see it has no wi-fi.

Why? I want wi-fi on a phone!! Not too much to ask, surely?

Looks more like a Danger Hiptop than an iPhone. But that wouldn't get iPhone in the headline...

Just what is this obsession with shit brown colour schemes? Are the people promoting this thing with those PR images totally insane?

You say it isn't cool compared with the ipod phone but the ipod (and related products) haven't been cool for a long time, when nearly everyone has something it quickly loses it's coolness...