14 DAY TRIAL // Spotted last week, the Samsung Star II has been officially announced by the Korean manufacturer and will be available in February. The feature-phone will be initially released in Germany, followed soon by other European countries, CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), South America, India and the Middle East.
The successor of the original Samsung Star, which has been sold in more than 30 million units since its launch in 2009, doesn't come up with anything new in terms of hardware, except the presence of Wi-Fi connectivity.
The bar phone comes with a 3-inch WQVGA touch screen with 262k colors and 240 x 400 pixels resolution.
There's no telling yet if the display is resistive like the original, or Samsung decided to make it capacitive in order to improve the user's experience.
In addition to its Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n connectivity, the handset features TouchWiz UI 3.0, a 3.2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Li-Ion 1000mAh battery, QuickType T9 Trace keyboard, 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD card slot for memory expansion.
JK Shin, president and head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business, said “The original Samsung Star exceeded all expectations; with its successor, the Samsung Star II, we have delivered a stunning full-touch device that meets the increasing demand for social networking services and enables unrivalled personalization."
“With the Samsung Star II, we have worked to tightly integrate social networking capabilities and give users choice how they stay in touch with the people important to them. We fully expect it to mirror the success of its predecessor,” added Shin.
Furthermore, Samsung Star II is preloaded with social networking applications such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as multi IM 2.0, which offers quick access to instant messaging platforms including Yahoo Messenger, Gtalk and AIM. Obviously, the device features support for Samsung’s Social Hub, which enables contact integration between the phone and the users’ social networks, allowing them to interact across social media platforms from their phone.
No word on the price or release date, but it shouldn't take too long until the handset hits the shelves.
