Samsung launches touchscreen F490

Ah, another day, another touchscreen phone. What we've got here is the Samsung F490, a pricey touchscreen device with some decent specs. Looks like it boasts a 3.2" touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera, tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900), UMTS 2100, HSDPA 3.6, 130Mb of storage, Bluetooth 2.0, haptics feedback and a microSD expansion slot. It launches soon in Europe for an expected price of around €530. Those are okay specs but a phone with only 130Mb of onboard storage for over $700? Thanks but no thanks, Sammy.

Still, if the F490 has stoked your interest for one reason or another, you'll be happy to hear that it looks like a modified version of the handset is coming to the Sprint network at some point. The image you see to you right is a leaked photo of what's being called the Samsung SPH-M800. Apparently it's just a CDMA/EV-DO version of the F490 with a 2-megapixel camera in lieu of the F490's 5-megapixel shooter. That's all we know at this point, though we'll likely hear something official from Sprint in the coming weeks.

For more on the F490:
- see this Akihabara News story
- and this Phone Arena article on the Sprint version