And if the competition thinks that they’ve perfected the mobile phone/PDA, they’d better think again. Samsung, the world’s leading manufacturer of consumer electronics, introduced their newest baby to the Philippine market.  It’s a device that will not only be of interest to the business professional, but to the music enthusiast, and mobile user on the go. This is the Samsung SGH-i320N mobile phone, and the Technews Lab peeps were enthusiastic to get their hands on it.

The i320N is a GSM (900 / 1800/ 1900MHz) / GPRS / EDGE mobile phone that measures 111 x 59 x 11.5 millimeters and weighs 95 grams (including battery). The phone vaguely resembles a rectangular candy bar, and is equipped with a bright 2.2-inch 65K Color QVGA TFT LCD display with a screen resolution of 320 x 240 pixels, and a full-fledged QWERTY keyboard. With its vital stats, the Technews Lab peeps have the gotten the impression that the i320N is the “Ultra Edition Smart Phone for Business and Play”.

This slim babe runs Windows Mobile 5.0 with Direct Push technology that is ideal for businessmen, young executives and music enthusiasts who often access their e-mail and documents on-the-go, and at the same time, enjoy its multimedia functions.

The SGH-i320N updates Microsoft Office Outlook E-mail, Calendar, Contacts and Tasks when synchronized with your favorite PC, Mac, or laptop, to ensure that users are always up to date while on the move. In addition to Push Mail capability, users can also view Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and images in JPEG, GIF and BMP formats, with the Picsel Viewer function.

One of the strong points which the i320N has, in comparison to competitors in the business phone arena, is that it has a 1.3 Mega Pixel camera (with flash) which can be found on the back of the phone. With this, a user can take personal pictures with up to 2x zoom, and record videos with up to 320 x 240 resolution; the images can be inserted in his/her contacts as photo caller IDs.

And if one can’t get enough of taking pictures and shooting videos, the i320N has Windows Media Player 10 Mobile that unleashes the video/music fanatic in everyone. With the portable music player function, mobile users can enjoy their favorite tunes in MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, AAC+ and OGG formats, and music videos on-the-go and wirelessly, using Bluetooth stereo headsets. The i320N has dual speakers, with SRS WOW and Digital Power Amp technology, located on the sides of the camera, which gives the user an enhanced audio and video playback experience.

If you’re worried about memory scarcity, the i320N has enough juice to carry it all. The phone’s internal memory is a whooping 120MB and has a miniSD for expanded memory. The Technews Lab peeps have some reservations about the location of the miniSD slot because it is only accessible when removing the battery cover. But who cares? As long it has one, you can be assured of its large memory capacity.

Even with these functions and features, the i320N has a few shortcomings. One is that the phone has no 3G, HSDPA, and Wi-Fi capability. Another is the battery life of the i320N. Although there are two Lithium Ion batteries included in the package, the phone has a talk time of only 2 hours and a standby time of 2 days per battery. The Technews Lab was expecting this because the i320N is a phone that has lots of applications to boot, especially when surfing the internet using GPRS. We hope that Samsung will take notice of this for the benefit of the mobile user.

But to sum it all up, the i320N is an excellent digital assistant/mobile multimedia phone. And according to Samsung, the i320N is considered a stylish QWERTY smart phone that integrates portability with business and multimedia functions. Please take note that the i320N is the Asian version of the European i320 that is physically different from each other.

The Samsung SGH-i320N is a mobile phone that has good performance features and functions that fits perfectly in the ultra life and is an ideal traveling companion. With its modern black design, elegant finish, and dynamic contours, the i320N has a very classy, distinctive appeal.