Ever coveted a Windows Mobile smartphone? Now you can own one. With the tag line "My Very First Smartphone", the i200 Windows Mobile Standard smartphone was released some months ago. Aimed at the low-end market, the price of the smartphone has been lowered to make less of a dent to the wallet. At £190 (about $295), you get a HSDPA device with a 2.3 inch QVGA screen, 2MP camera and Windows Mobile Standard, though it unfortunately does not include Wi-Fi support, and the 3G support is only on the European 2100 MHz band.

Samsung’s R470 CDMA flip phone has gotten the FCC’s approval, though whether you’re a fan of the striking orange color is a separate issue. The phone has some rather interesting external controls, which strongly hint that the phone will be geared towards music fans. While Bluetooth and a microSD card expansion are included, there isn’t any mention of EV-DO just yet.

Best Buy is offering a pink version of Samsung's Instinct. The phone will be contract-free, though you'll have to pay the full $599.99 price for the phone, which is a tad expensive. Of course, if pink is a must have color then you'll probably have to start counting your pennies. If you're the patient type, Sprint should be offering the pink Samsung Instinct somewhere next month, which shouldn't set you back more than $200 if you agree to a contract.

Paying royalties is never fun, and Samsung probably doesn't enjoy it too much as it is now working on WiMAX and LTE chips, which would be a nice move for the company to reduce costs. Apparently Samsung is already sampling these chips to partners inside and outside the company. By coming up with their own chips, Samsung would drastically reduce the reliance and royalties to Qualcomm.

Hello Kitty fans will certainly want to get hold of the Hello Kitty Samsung U600 handset. Aside from the Hello Kitty branding on the phone, the features of the phone are exactly the same as the standard U600. The phone will be going for anywhere between $229 and $399, depending on which online retailer you pick. As we mentioned, the Hello Kitty Samsung U600 will have the same features as the normal U600, which include:

• 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus
• Bluetooth with A2DP connectivity
• Integrated FM radio
• MP3 playback
• WAP 2.0/xHTML browser

Pictures of Samsung's S8300 phone have appeared online. The S8300, which is slated to be released on March 2009 has a rather weird looking orange and black color scheme, but maybe Samsung is hoping that users want a change from the usual black or white. It isn't a smartphone, but if you're keen on a good camera and GPS, this might just be the phone for you. Specifications of the Samsung S8300 include:

• 2.8″ AMOLED touchscreen display, WQVGA resolution, 16 million colors
• 8 megapixel camera with auto-focus and dual-LED flash
• Integrated GPS
• FM radio with RDS
• Bluetooth 2.1
• 60MB internal memory
• 7.2Mbps HSDPA

Fans of Samsung’s i8510 INNOV8 cell phone should be happy to see the device show up at the FCC and it should be heading to AT&T with the model number i8510M, supporting AT&T’s 3G network. Features of the phone should be similar with the standard INNOV8, which includes the 8-megapixel camera and Wi-Fi. Hopefully AT&T won’t keep us waiting for too long and make this phone available soon.

In this current economic climate, nobody is going to enjoy being sued, and Samsung certainly won't be happy with losing the suit that China-based Holley Communication filed against it. Samsung will be required to pay $7.3 million to them for infringing on its patents for dual-mode cell phone technology which allows phones to work on CDMA and GSM networks. Even worse for Samsung, Holley officials have stated that this pay-out is only the first piece of compensation that they would be seeking.

Looking for a simple cell phone on MetroPCS and don't want to break the bank? You could always check out the Samsung Byline SCH-R310, which comes in red and black, and it certainly isn't going to challenge for the most hi-tech gadget of 2008. Features of the phone include:

• Push-to-talk capabilities (Walkie-Talkie with ChatLINKSM)
• 1.77" CSTN internal display with 128 x 160 pixels and 65k colors
• 96 x 96 pixels CSTN external display with 65k colors
• Bluetooth connectivity
• SMS, EMS and MMS support
• metroWEBSM
• Advanced Voice Recognition
• Speakerphone

Having a cell phone that's targeted at senior citizens might not help you come up with an iPhone killer, but that doesn't mean that these phones won't be popular. Samsung has a new cell phone called the Anycall Origin, which will be targeted at said group of people. The phone even has GPS, which should be quite interesting for them to play with. Features of the phone include:

• 2.6” active matrix OLED LCD display
• 2 megapixel camera
• Integrated FM radio
• 8GB internal memory
• GPS navigation
• E-wallet function

Those of you using Samsung's Omnia most probably like its Widget feature, and the good news before Christmas is that there is a leaked firmware, DXHL1, which features quite a few new widgets, and even seems to have the ability to download more widgets from Yahoo!. Do note that this leaked firmware is a beta, meaning it might not be stable, and it even excludes some functionality like streaming media. Some of the new features include:

• New Favorite Settings
• Customize widget (Show/Hide widget)
• AccuWeather widget
• Yahoo Finance widget
• CNN widget
• Google Search widget
• New Opera build 15233
• Samsung Mobile Blog

Google's Android platform is certainly gathering momentum, and Samsung is also doing its best to come up with its own Gphone as soon as possible, with the period set for Q2 of 2009. The Android-powered device by Samsung is set to be released on Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile, and it will reportedly sport a full touchscreen, similar to that of the Samsung Omnia, only sleeker. With more and more Android-powered devices popping up, it looks like Microsoft will have to come up with something new and innovative to fend off the iPhone and these new Android devices.