Uber-rich Bang&Olufsen fans must be rejoicing as Samsung and the luxury tech brand have finally announced the eagerly expected Serenata F310 music phone. As you can see from the image above — and more images after the break — this is one quite strange device. Not that I’m saying anything bad about it, except that with the retail price of 1400 Euro ($2000), it’s way out my reach.

In terms of specs, expect the built-in HSDPA connectivity support, 4GB of on-board memory (we were hoping for more), big speaker, 2.4″ 240×240 px 262K color touchscreen, and click wheel navigation for browsing through your music collection. In addition, it’s also worth mentioning the Serenata comes with very cool lookin’ dock and that B&O argues this device could actually function as a decent home entertainment system. Now, that’s one thing we’d like to test.

The detailed specs along with two more press shots follow after the break. Read more »

The Gadget: T-Mobile’s Samsung Beat, a music flip-phone with 2GB microSD support, 1.3-megapixel camera, Stereo Bluetooth streaming, Quad-Band GSM, myFaves, IM support, and a round green speaker on the front for impromptu dance-athons.

The Price: $99 with two-year contract.

The Verdict: For $99, this is a pretty decent music phone. The green circular speaker on the front is plenty loud for music on your own—we don’t recommend it on the bus or anything just out of general principle—and the external music control buttons next to it are plenty convenient. The internal music UI isn’t atrocious, which is a step up for music phones not from Sony Ericsson or Apple.

It’s relatively small, which is good, and has good incoming and outgoing sound quality (someone said it made my voice sound deeper. Unconfirmed!). The keypad also has a nice graphite-esque texture, which adds to the overall appeal of this low to mid-range phone. Overall, we’d give it a thumbs up for regular folks who aren’t interested in smartphone functions.

gizmodo.com