Samsung just launched the Samsung Continuum in NYC on Verizon’s network. The Android 2.1 phone is using Samsung’s Galaxy S hardware platform and features a “secondary” 480×96 display just below the main screen. We say secondary in quotes because it is really one big physical screen that is superficially separated by the Android buttons. It will be used by Samsung apps to prove alerts and notifications apparently.
The screen is activated by holding the phone (or touching it), thanks to capacitive sensors on the bottom of either side. Samsung calls it “grip sensor”, but given that it is not based on pressure, they should really call it “touch sensor”.
It would be interesting to see if using the grip sensor to consult time and other small bits of information actually saves the battery life (versus using the large screen), but that’s not really proven. It’s an interestingattempt, though. Specs in the full post…
- Android 2.1
- Primary display: 3.4″ Super AMOLED
- Secondary display: 1.8″ Super AMOLED
- “Grip Sensor : to active the secondary display
- Hummingbird Processor @ 1GHz
- 3G Hotspot functionality
- Motion Sensor
- 5 Megapixel Camera, 720p video capture
- 8GB MicroSD included (32GB max)
- $199 with a new contract and a $100 mail-in rebate
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