The Samsung/Eidicom EW-700: Wi-Fi Smartphone, Meet Ugly Stick
AVING News Network's Nikki Hwang reports that Samsung and Eidicom presented their new EW-700 Wi-Fi smartphone at last week's Korea Electronics Show. The device includes a Web browser, messenger, MP3 player, video player, USB storage, infrared communication, two-megapixel camera, camcorder, voice recorder, and Outlook data sync.
In response, there's been much grumbling in the blogosphere about the phone's appearance. Slippery Brick writes, "While it could possibly be a little easier on the eyes, the team has made what looks like an impressive product to further enhance and improve the usability of VoIP phones."
Digital-Lifestyles.info's Mike Slocombe agrees, "The EW-700 looks a fairly plain, clunky beast." Engadget's Paul Miller adds, "It looks like the samsung design kids took a breather here." And Gizmodo's Louis Ramirez is just plain mean: "As much as we like the technology inside it, the Samsung EW-700 looks like it got hit one too many times with the ugly stick," he writes.
Still, the consensus does seem to be that, despite its looks, it's a solid Wi-Fi smartphone. At Engadget, Rohit Kapur comments, "If it really does everything it says well, I'll buy it. I'd love to have VoIP and a regular phone all in one… from a reputed company with the other basic features included. Looks aside, I like."