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New Smart, Semi-Smart Cellphones Hitting Market

New York – Cellphones that are
smart or semi-smart made their debut in recent hours and days.

Two new AT&T phones available
July 17 include the HTC-made Status, an Android-based smartphone that is the
industry’s first phone with dedicated physical Facebook share button.

The second AT&T phone, the
Pantech Pursuit II, is the carrier’s latest phone to incorporate the

Brew MP platform

,
(Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless Mobile platform), which provides
downloadable smartphone-like applications to phones that feature lower end
chipsets, lower speeds and lower memory capacities than smartphones while
supporting Java and Adobe Flash. AT&T launched its first Brew MP phone
earlier this year.

 
Both the Pursuit II and Status are priced to consumers at $49.99.

 For its part, regional carrier Cincinnati Bell
has begun offering the $199 HTC-made Panache, which a touchscreen-only phone
with Android 2.3 OS, 3.8-inch touchscreen, 1GHz processor, Wi-Fi, 5-megapixel
camera with autofocus and flash, 720p video capture, and FM radio.

 For the AT&T network, the HTC Status
smartphone becomes available on an exclusive basis on July 17. It’s the
carrier’s first smartphone with Gingerbread OS and the industry’s first
smartphone with dedicated physical Facebook share button. Depending on
which application the user has open, when the Facebook button is pressed, a
different Facebook functions appears, a spokesperson said.

For example, users can post to
their Facebook wall or a friend’s wall by pressing the Facebook share button
from the home screen, take a picture or video and share it from the photo/video
app with a press of the Facebook share button, post photos automatically as they’re
taken, share something on the Web while browsing the web, and while in the
music application, press the share button to share song titles and other song
information.

The Status is the first phone in
the U.S. with a new version of HTC’s Sense user interface to integrate Facebook
in more spots in a phone’s user interface than before, the carrier added. Facebook
content is integrated in the clock, dialer, calendar, address book and photo
gallery functions.

The Status also features a
Facebook chat application that lets users continue chatting even when they navigate
away to take a call or play a game. The Facebook chat widget shows who is
available to chat.

 Other key Status features include 5-megapixel
camera with auto focus and LED flash, back- and front-facing cameras, a fixed
physical keyboard, a 2.6-inch touchscreen with 480 by 320 resolution, and
capacitive navigation buttons.

 
AT&T, Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stand-alone stores are taking
Status preorders. Best Buy is selling an exclusive mauve version.

 A less-smart phone priced the same as the
Status smartphone is the Pantech Pursuit II, priced at $49.99 after $50 rebate
in pink or green. It features Brew MP-platform, 230MHz processor, 2.8-inch QVGA
touchscreen, vertical sliding keyboard, 850/1900MHz HSDPA 3G data, drag and
drop shortcuts, 2-megapixel camera/camcorder with 4x digital zoom and fixed
focus, and preloaded social media widgets on one of three sliding home screens.
Other features include full HTML browser, USB 2.0, MicroSD slot and optional AT&T
Navigator navigation service.

 The Pursuit II will be promoted during

Dew Tour

, the summertime action
sports tour. Pantech is a title sponsor.

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