AT&T has announced it will begin offering the Samsung Solstice phone online and at its retail locations beginning August 2. The Solstice aims to appeal to folks who want the features of a consumer-oriented smartphone…without actually buying a consumer-oriented smartphone.
The Solstice sports a 3-inch touchscreen display, a 2 megapixel pixel camera, a virtual QWERTY keyboard for messaging and email, and an accelerometer that enables automatic display orientation and motion-sensitive games. In addition to Web-browsing, email, and the now-standard Internet tricks associated with 3G phones, the Solstice sports Samsung’s “TouchWiz” interface that puts frequently-used applications just one touch from the home screen; applications include ties into Facebook, MySpace, and Yahoo oneSearch—we assume that will quietly become Bing soon.
The Solstice sports an MP3 player, video and audio streaming capability, a selection of pre-loaded games, a microSD card slot for up to 16 GB of storage, and Bluetooth wireless networking. The main features missing seem to be Wi-Fi, assisted GPS for location-aware applications, and (of course) the potential to add applications and features via an application store.
The Samsung Solstice will be priced at $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate, with a two-year service agreement.