The new Samsung Rex 90, 80, 70 and 60 are nature-inspired, dual-SIM-supporting affordable feature phones for developing markets.
Samsung has taken on Apple and come to dominate the high-end
smartphone market. Now, it's more aggressively going after classic Nokia
territory, with the introduction of the Rex 90, Rex 80, Rex 70 and Rex
60—four new feature phones for what Samsung President JK Shin called
"the world's fastest-growing markets."
"Rex devices are designed to seamlessly prioritize and consolidate
essential mobile functions that matter most to customers across diverse
markets," Shin said in a Feb. 14 statement. "The result is an
extraordinary end-to-end mobile experience with the best value for
money."
The Rex phones feature Samsung's Touchwiz user interface, with a 4x4
arrangement of icons, offering one-touch access to social networks and
other frequently used services.
With its new feature phone, Samsung is also continuing the nature-themed
messages it began putting out with its Galaxy S III smartphone, calling
it "designed for humans, inspired by nature." The brushed-metal Rex
phones, said Samsung, feature "organic nature-inspired" designs and
"delicate back covers" with a "modern, sophisticated look."
Arguably more compellingly, they also support two always-on SIM cards.
This allows a user to keep work and personal calls separate, though
still receive calls on one line while speaking on the other. The Rex
phones support a maximum of five SIM cards that a user—or users, as is
sometimes the case in developing markets—can switch between without
rebooting the phone.
The Rex phones also run the Opera Mini browser—a speedy
alternative to standard Web browsers that reformats content for smaller
screens. As of this month, Opera Mini is said to have approximately 300
million active users. Thanks to the browser, Samsung says the Rex phones
offer guaranteed fast Web browsing and app support, as well as
"seamless communication through social networking and messaging
services, including the cross-platform ChatOn.
The Rex 90 features a 3.5-inch HVGA thin-film transistor (TFT) LCD
display, a 3.2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth and WiFi, Chat on Samsung
TouchWiz, 10MB of user memory, and a microSD and USB 2.0 slots.
The Rex 80 has a 3-inch QVGA TFT LCD, a 3.2-megapixel camera, ChatOn and TouchWiz Lite and the same connectivity and ports.
The display size drops again on the Rex 70, to a 3-inch QVGA TFT LCD,
and the camera drops to 2 megapixels. The full TouchWiz is onboard,
though, along with ChatOn, the same connectivity and slots as above, and
more.
Ditto for the Rex 60, which has a 2.8-inch QVGA TFT LCD and a 1.3-megapixel camera.
Samsung has had tremendous success with its Android-running line of
Galaxy devices. During the fourth quarter of 2012, Samsung shipped 63
million smartphones, for a 29 percent share of the market, and Android
was on 70 percent of the devices that shipped.
Still, looking to diversify, and likely put some space between itself
and Google, Samsung has said that this year it will also introduce
phones running Tizen, the Intel-backed, Linux-based operating system
with roots in Nokia's MeeGo OS. In January,
according to Bloomberg,
Samsung confirmed that it plans to "release new, competitive Tizen
devices within this year and will keep expanding the lineup depending on
market conditions."
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