Sprint, the third largest mobile carrier in the US, together with Samsung Mobile, announced today the release of Samsung Ace, a stylish and powerful smartphone powered by Windows Mobile 6 and Sprint's Mobile Broadband Network.

Samsung Ace (also known as Samsung SPH-I325 or Samsung I325) is slimmer than Samsung Blackjack, it has quad-band capabilities and can operate globally on GSM/GPRS and CDMA networks - where Sprint has international roaming agreements. Users can make and receive calls in almost 180 countries, or they can surf the web, access professional and personal email, view documents and files and sync their Outlook calendar in almost 100 countries. Moreover, leveraging on Sprint's Mobile Broadband Network in the US, the Samsung smartphone offers core PDA and organizational features, clear voice calls and quick access to exclusive Sprint content like On Demand (for up-to-date information on news, sports, weather, money and more) and Sprint TVSM with about 50 TV channels and on-demand video/audio clips.

"Mobile professionals and consumers alike need to stay connected wherever they are," said Danny Bowman, vice president of customer equipment for Sprint. "The Samsung ACE combined with the benefits of SprintSpeed, competitive rates and expansive coverage through multiple technologies makes it one of the strongest Windows Mobile devices on the market today, a clear value for customers in the U.S. and just about anywhere else."

Samsung Ace measures 4.65 x 2.32 x 0.46 inches (118 x 58.9 x 11.6 millimeters), weighs almost 4 oz (about 110 grams) and packs a full QWERTY keyboard. Furthermore, the handset offers a 2.3 inch TFT color screen, Slide Click Wheel for an easy navigation between all applications, Stereo Bluetooth, 1.3 Megapixel camera (with zoom and video recording) and microSD card support for up to 2GB. Running on Windows Mobile 6, Samsung Ace comes with Microsoft Outlook Mobile and Internet Explorer Mobile and allows users to view Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

"Samsung is thrilled to be working with Sprint and Microsoft to bring this powerful and comprehensive networking device to our loyal customers in the U.S. to use in the States and around the world," said Bill Ogle, Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung Mobile. "The Ace is what Sprint and Samsung customers have been waiting for, a smart, sleek device that can deliver unlimited connectivity anywhere in the world."

Samsung Ace is available as of today in business sales channels, on-line at Sprint's website, for $199.99 with a two-year contract and a $100 mail-in-rebate. The smartphone will also be available in Sprint retail stores from March 2008.