Samsung Continuum: Touchscreen Phone with Tiny Second Screen
Samsung has officially announced its next Android phone, the Continuum. At first glance, it appears to be an unremarkable touchscreen phone, until you notice the second tiny screen at the bottom of the phone.
Samsung calls the second, 1.8-inch screen the "ticker," saying it is the "first phone with a dedicated ticker display," on the company Twitter account. That may be true, but it remains to see if consumers really feel a thin screen hidden below the home button is really what touchscreen phones have been missing all this time.
The ticker screen is used to show short notices, usually about messages, news, weather or social networking updates that the phone receives. Ticker content is customizable by the user.
The Samsung Continuum also sports a "grip sensor," according to a company statement, that lets the user activate the ticker screen by gripping the sides of the phone.
The rest of the phone, however, is much more familiar . It runs on Android 2.1, which is two versions behind the most current one . It has a 5-megapixel camera that shoots 720p high-definition video, along with Wi-Fi, 8GB microSD card, 1GHz processor and accelerometer. The main touchscreen display is 3.4-inch Super AMOLED.
Samsung announced the Continuum will be available on Verizon for $200, after a 2-year contract and a $100 mail-in rebate.
