The Samsung F480 is the first in a series of touchscreen phones hitting the market this year.  It will feature a new and unique TOUCHWiZ user interface.  I’m particularly interested in testing out the 5-megapixel camera featuring auto focus and a CMOS video lens.  CMOS lenses are commonly found in high-end or prosumer DSLR cameras so it’s an amazing feature to have on a phone, especially one measuring only 11.6 mm thick by 98.4 mm tall and 55 mm wide.  In addition to CMOS, the F480 also feature automatic face detection technology and a sophisticated image stabilizer – again, these features aren’t commonly found on a phone.

The ‘smile shot’ mode is another groundbreaking feature to appear on a phone, that enables the F480’s camera to detect when your kids, girlfriend or mom is smiling and automatically take a picture.  Other features include 240 MB of internal memory, a microSD card slot supporting up to 8GB, HSDPA and USB 2.0.  It has a battery capacity of 1000mAh with an estimated talk time of 3 hours and 250 hours of standby.

The quick and simple ‘drag and drop’ GUI feature gives you instant access to favorite functions at a moment’s touch. A unique menu of widgets display functions such as the clock, radio player, music player and more personal elements including photos and birthday reminders, which you can ‘drag and drop’ onto the home screen. Samsung’s so-called “differentiated tactile technology” also gives you a “tangible and pleasing feedback sensation” when items are selected – we’ll have to see if this haptic feedback is any better than on earlier Samsung phones, which have tended to just vibrate whenever the screen is tapped.

The launch will be supported with a European advertising campaign. The F480 will be available from June in major European markets and soon across other GSM regions. To learn more about the F480 and Samsung’s mobile technology and handsets, check out www.samsungmobile.com.