Sprint launches Samsung Moment Android smartphone with AMOLED touchscreen

Samsung M900 Moment

Today at the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment show in San Diego, Samsung unveiled its latest Android-powered smartphone, the Samsung Moment for Sprint. The Samsung Moment is the first device offered by Sprint to feature an AMOLED^(INFO) touchscreen display. The wide-screen display measures a respectable 3.2 inches across the diagonal, and is capable of displaying up to 16 million different color shades. Unlike Sprint's current Android offering, the HTC Hero, the Samsung Moment features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard with 4 rows of keys.

The Samsung Moment will feature all of the normal Google apps that are commonly found on Android devices, such as Maps, YouTube, Gmail, and Search, and also includes the Android Market application store. All of those apps should run quite nicely on the phone's 800MHz processor, which is significantly faster than most of the processors used in smartphones today.

Other features of note include the optical joystick navigation device the autofocus-capable 3.2 megapixel camera. The built-in microSDHC^(INFO) memory card slot allows for up to 32GB of additional storage space to be added to the phone (a 2GB card is included), while Bluetooth stereo and a 3.5mm headphone jack will give users good wireless and wired options for listening to music on the phone. There is no mention of support for the Sprint Music Store, but the Amazon MP3 store comes pre-installed. The companies claim that the Moment integrates with popular social networking sites Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr, too.

Sprint services such as Visual Voicemail, NFL Mobile Live, and Sprint Navigation are on-board. Email is covered by Microsoft Exchange and IMAP/POP support as well as compatibility with typical mail systems like AOL mail and Hotmail. WiFi compatibility provides speedy local data connections, while Sprint's EV-DO Rev. A 3G data is available when out and about.

Samsung claims that the Moment's battery will offer up to 5.5 hours of talk time from a full charge. The Moment measures 116.8mm x 59.4mm x 16.0mm (4.6in x 2.34in x 0.63in) in size and weighs 161.7g (5.7oz).

Sprint plans to make the Moment available for purchase on November 1, 2009 at a price of US$179.99 with a two year contract, after a $50 instant rebate and a $100 mail-in rebate. Interested customers can pre-register for the device at Sprint.com/moment.