Samsung flaunts Focus S and Focus Flash Mango phones

Samsung is showing off the new Windows Phone 7.5 Mango handsets the company announced last month, the Focus Flash and the Focus S, set to hit AT&T in Q4 this year. The Focus S is the big boy of the pairing, packing a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display despite only being 8.55mm thick (at its thinnest point); in comparison, the Focus Flash has a more mainstream 3.7-inch Super AMOLED screen.


Both, however, get 1.4GHz single-core processors – Microsoft has said that dual-cores are in the pipeline, but argues that, as it stands, Windows Phone on a single-core is just as fast as rival platforms running on dual-cores – along with dual cameras. The Focus S has an 8-megapixel main camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, while the Focus Flash downgrades the main camera to 5-megapixels.
Still no word on pricing at this stage, nor exact release dates beyond Q4. Samsung is playing its cards close to its chest, but the Windows Phone market is likely to get a whole lot more competitive after next week, when Nokia is expected to reveal its first batch of smartphones running Microsoft’s platform.

Sprint unleashes the HTC EVO Design 4G, available October 23rd for $100

 

That HTC EVO Design 4G leaked a couple months ago? Oh, it's real -- and Sprint's finally ready to share its story with the world. The tale of the EVO Design 4G is simple enough: for a penny under $100, you can have a WiMAX-capable device with GSM roaming that features a 4-inch qHD (960 x 540) display, 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 CPU, Android 2.3 with HTC Sense UI, Mobile Hotspot, a 5MP rear camera with HD video recording (720p, we presume) and a 1.3MP front-facing cam. In summary, the Design 4G is basically the Hero S with WiMAX and global roaming capabilities. Look for this device to show up online and in stores on October 23rd, and look after the break for the press release.