14 DAY TRIAL // Most of you probably remember the weirdly designed but also very appealing (to some) device that has spawned from the Samsung Electronics Mobile Business and Bang & Olufsen join-venture. The phone's name is Serene and the designer's is David Lewis, a designer that sees serenity in two equal parts of the mobile phone that are united with the help of an aluminum joint, giving the Serene phone a clamshell form-factor.
The Serene has a 2.4 inch QVGA TFT LCD screen and a 0.3 megapixel digital camera, not very much considering today's standards, but you have to think about the fact that this is a device meant for people that go for the design and don't keep their minds stuck on details such as features or the humongous price of 1275 $.
If you do want to get it, you have to know that you won't waste your money for nothing because the Serene is a tri-band working on 900/1900/1900 MHz GSM networks and also offers WAP 2.0, GPRS class 10, E-mail with Outlook synchronization and wireless Bluetooth connectivity so you won't have to ruin the sleek touch offered by it using some dull and annoying wired headset.
If you are the type of individual that likes to customize its mobile phone, you're not lucky with this one: Samsung and Bang & Olufsen have blocked the access to the background image change feature to maintain the general look of the device, but at least, you'll end up using a handset that never has a display background not fitting in the phone's general design.
The Serene will be available beginning with November 2006 in the Bang & Olufsen stores throughout North America, at the 1275 $ price I've already mentioned and will also get you a charging/docking station and a travel charger.