The SCH-B250 isn’t the first satellite phone from Samsung, but recent market and usability tests in Seoul — the only market where the phone is currently available — have returned promising results, and nobody is denying that satellite video phones aren’t the future of mobile content.
Korea’s TU Media and its roughly 200,000 have had access to the service, called satellite Digital Multimedia, for a few months now. The phone, currently priced at $700, does not work outside of South Korea yet.
TU Media had to build a vast network of transmitters throughout Seoul to ensure decent access to the satellite content because buildings in the city tend to block out reception to the satellites, and the company even placed a number of “gap fillers” in the city’s subway system so users could enjoy video content under the city as well.
Thanks to the company’s work, a number of different recent tech reviews have raved about the SCH-B250, including Martyn Williams at IDG News Service, who said the phone worked “flawlessly” during a several hour test throughout Seoul.
“Even on subway trains between stations, deep under the city streets, the gap fillers provided a strong enough signal that I could continue watching TV without interruption--much to the interest of fellow passengers,” Williams said.
Currently the phone’s resolution stands at 320 pixels by 240 pixels, which Williams said was enough to see even small characters with ease. At five ounces it is heavier than most high-end phones on the market, and at 3.8 inches by 1.92 inches by 1.14 inches thick it’s also bigger, but the technology, according to Williams, is quickly improving.
“The good news,” Williams said, “is that the B250 is Samsung's smallest satellite DMB phone yet.”
No word yet on when Samsung plans to bring the phone stateside.
