Samsung Continuum: First Thoughts

Preconceived Notions

When I first read about the Continuum a few weeks back, I felt that it was kind of odd.  It had that weird ticker, a gimmick, as far as I was concerned.  “Oh, great, a tiny main screen with this odd little screen below,” were my exact thoughts.  It seemed weird to me to go that route, especially with the fact that Samsung has been touting the efficiency of the Super-AMOLED screens.

Was I Wrong?

I personally thought this was only about saving battery life by offering the “ticker” screen below.  While that might play a part, it certainly does not do justice to the idea of the ticker screen.  The ticker offers the ability to see RSS, Sports and News, Weather and Time, SMS, Voicemail, Incoming and Missed calls, as well as your social feeds.  It really does give you the information that you want RIGHT NOW, with a minimum amount of input.

How Is The Ticker Initialized?

Remember “Antennagate”? Of course you do, if you read any news site, be it print, online, tech, or even local news…you know of Antennagate.  Well, as countless videos have showed, there is an area, when gripped, that caused the iPhone 4 to drop its signal.  If you take your Continuum and grip it at almost that exact spot, you will cause the grip sensor to turn on the Ticker.  The 1.8 inch Super-AMOLED screen fires up.  You can swipe from side to side to read the information that you like.  Weather and Time is the default screen, when pressed takes you to the WeatherBug application.  If you desire a different main screen, I believe you can create a default.

Other Features of the Ticker Display

If you are reading a webpage on the main screen and a call comes in, instead of being kicked out of the browser you see the caller’s name and number pop up in the ticker.  You can choose to answer or ignore the call.  If you are using VZ Navigator, the main screen displays the map and the ticker shows the turn by turn directions.  This is actually one of my favorite features of the Ticker display.  As time goes on, I can see developers creating new and yes, innovative uses for this screen.

How Do I View the Continuum now?

To be honest, I came away impressed.  While not a groundbreaking, game changing, or completely new and improved Galaxy S device, it is something that I believe might be different enough to really spark some interest.  I like the Ticker display.  I LOVE the possibilities that I imagine developers might offer.  I also see the real possibility of battery life being increased as TweetDeck, Google Voice, Handcent, or any other information based applications begin to incorporate the ticker.  I am very much interested in spending more time with this device and seeing how much the Ticker display may change how I use this phone.  I think it could drastically alter my routine.  It very well might be possible that I fall in love with the Ticker.  For that to happen, support for the secondary display will have to be built into some of those apps mentioned above.

Could It Replace My 4.3 inch Device?

For my main phone, I highly doubt it.  As a secondary phone, I could see this being my daily driver for a solid month.  Would I be willing to suggest this phone to a new smart phone user? Without a doubt.  I am a big fan of the Samsung Galaxy S phones, and this phone should be no different.  How about a power user?  I think so.  A huge screen is not a necessity for most users.  I would love to see this phone in the hands of developers as soon as possible.  I am willing to go out on a limb and say that this is a very good phone that may fit the needs of a great majority of users.  It also might help to continue the HUGE push of the Galaxy S line in the United States.  Last night we were told that Samsung has eclipsed 3 Million Galaxy S phones in the United States so far.  With the holidays coming is 5 or 6 million beyond the realm of possibilities?

And of course, the full specs can be found here