Samsung bags best handset award for its "Ultra Edition 12.9"

Samsung Electronics Co., the chief subsidiary of South Korea's giant Samsung Group, boasted Wednesday that one of its slim phone models has been given the best handset award at a prestigious global technology exhibition.

In a press release, Samsung said the slide-type slim phone Ultra Edition 12.9 bagged the BEST GSM Mobile Handset Award at the annual 3GSM conference in Barcelona, Spain for its superior functions and improved user interface.

The Ultra Edition 12.9 is one of the new "Ultra Edition" series of cell phones which includes 3 handsets namely the Ultra Edition 6.9 (X820), the Ultra Edition 12.9 (D900), and the Ultra Edition 9.9 (D830). This 12.9mm thin high-end slim phone model features a high-resolution 3.13 mega-pixel camera and also includes other latest multimedia functions. Since its launch in August 2006, Samsung said that it has sold more than 3.5 million worldwide.

The 3GSM World Congress, the world's largest trade shows for mobile services and devices is a forum for leading communications companies from around the world. Started in Barcelona, Spain, earlier this week for a four-day run, the show aims to showcase the cutting edge of the wireless industry.

Samsung, which competes against bigger rivals Motorola and Nokia and smaller rival Sony Ericsson, said the award is the world's most illustrious one for handset models. This is not the first time Samsung has achieved the award; instead the world's third-largest producer of mobile handsets received the award for another model in 2005.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday Samsung also unveiled the world's thinnest handset, named U100. A part of the South Korean company's Ultra Edition II range, the device is a mere 5.9mm thick. The U100 has a three mega-pixel camera, a higher specification than the one in Apple's much-hyped, yet to release iPhone, and the ability to store music. The device is scheduled to hit the markets this spring

Samsung also announced the U600 and U700 models at the Barcelona show, which come in at 10.9mm and 12.1mm and also include cameras. In addition, it introduced three multimedia phones, the F700, F520 and F510, which have large colour displays and TV capabilities.

Samsung also gave the first European demonstration of its mobile WiMAX broadband system at the show and said that it expects the system, which is faster and more stable technology than current WiFi standards, to have over 100 million subscribers in the US by the end of 2008 and at least 170 million by end-of-2010.

The electronics company also announced that while it sees sales potential in developing countries, it has no immediate plans to attain the profit from such markets with cheap and accessible alternatives to its new high-end mobile handsets.

Though the company is interested in emerging market, but the company would not compromise with its high-end image to move in to rapidly growing emerging markets, said CEO of Samsung's Telecommunications network division Chang-Soo Choi at the annual 3GSM conference.