A recent press event held by Samsung in Ukraine unveiled the company's mobile phones that will be launched in 2008 and, beside some phones that we already know about (like Samsung F700 or Samsung i550), two new handsets were showed: Samsung F490 and Samsung P720. Both devices feature touchscreen technology and present themselves as elegant high-end cell phones, showcasing the latest Samsung tendency towards designing touchscreen handsets. Actually, this is a global tendency, hence all the world-leading mobile manufacturers follow it.

The first new phone unveiled in Ukraine, Samsung F490, comes with an iPhone-ish design (resembling Samsung F700) and offers a wide 3.2 inch display with a non-standard resolution of 240 x 432 pixels. The handset packs a 5 Megapixel camera, which makes it appealing for photography lovers, and HSPDA connectivity, allowing high-speed data transfers. There are no details whether the phone will or will not feature a sliding keypad, maybe even a full QWERTY one, like the F700 model has. However, its screen features tactile feedback, making navigation easy.

Samsung P720 is the follower of Samsung P520 Armani, as it has similar specifications and design. The handset brings a 2.6 inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels and, as the F490 model, it features tactile feedback. A 3 Megapixel camera is included, as well as Wi-fi, Bluetooth and MicroSD card support. What Samsung P720 offers and the previous Armani phone doesn't is the dual SIM capability, a very popular feature in Asia. This makes us think that the handset is specially created for the Asian market.

While Samsung F490 will be available in the first quarter of 2008 for a retail price of about 600 USD, there is no info about the availability and price of Samsung P720. But being an Armani phone, it will come for around $500 or even more.