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Feature phones aren't dead yet: Samsung REX series is announced

Posted: , by Nick T.

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Feature phones aren't dead yet: Samsung REX series is announced
Nope, feature phones haven't gone extinct yet, although their market share is surely dwindling. Samsung just announced a whole new lineup of feature phones tailored for the needs of emerging markets. The Samsung REX series, as it is called, consists of four handsets priced from Rs. 4,280 up to Rs. 6,490 ($80 to $120).

The Samsung REX 90 is the leader of the gang with its 3.5-inch touchscreen with resolution of 320 by 480 pixels. It also offers a 3.2MP camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 1,000mAh battery that should provide 15 hours of talk time. Next up we have the Samsung REX 80, which has a smaller, 3-inch touchscreen display with resolution of 240 by 320 pixels. There's a 3MP camera on its back and features like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are supported. Its battery also has a capacity of 1,000mAh.

The Samsung REX 70 comes pretty close to the REX 80 in terms of features, but sports a camera of only 2MP and has no Wi-Fi support. And the Samsung REX 60 is the least capable phone among the four with its 2.8-inch resistive touchscreen and 1.3MP camera.

All Samsung REX phones come with the company's TouchWiz UI, home screen widgets, access to social networks, EDGE cellular connectivity, microSD card slots for storage expansion, and basic internet access via Opera Mini. Moreover, 10 free games come pre-loaded on them, courtesy of Gameloft. All models will come in both single- and dual-SIM variants.

The Samsung REX feature phones are bound to hit the shelves in India soon. At this time, we have no information whether any of them will be available in other markets.


source: Samsung

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posted on 14 Feb 2013, 05:55 13
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1. ogy_dogy (Posts: 453; Member since: 29 Jun 2012)


Talk about milking the galaxy design cow :-\

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 07:46 4
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9. evil_slayer (Posts: 50; Member since: 23 Nov 2011)


yeah.there's already waaay too many galaxy devices followed the S3 design/colors
and now they are even doing it with the noun galaxy devices x(

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 20:32
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21. hepresearch (unregistered)


A lot of people seem to like the Galaxy design themes... they sell well. That cow makes a lot of milk to go to market...

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 05:57 2
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2. mohammed2222 (Posts: 31; Member since: 07 Feb 2013)


only for when needed for accident , but the specs suck

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 05:58 2
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3. mohammed2222 (Posts: 31; Member since: 07 Feb 2013)


only for accident , but the specs suck

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 07:46 4
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10. No_Nonsense (unregistered)


What part of a budget/ featurephone is not understandable to ya?

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 20:27
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20. hepresearch (unregistered)


Even if you are looking for smarty-phone prowess, why bother blasting a feature phone for not being a smart phone? Plenty of folks cannot afford the smartphone, or its associated data plans, and would prefer something that just works the basics well enough to... you know... work. If it has a decent 2 Mpix camera (adding a LED flash might be a nice touch) and a music player, in addition to just being a great phone for voice calls and maybe texting, that might do it for many folks. You know, they tried to dumb the Cingular/AT&T Nokia N75 down to be more like a feature phone, so why not make a phone with a decent small touch screen, nearly the specs of the N75 in terms of camera, video, music, and connectivity, and maybe add Samsung's TouchWiz, and... WHAM! Killer feature phone! Can't compete with any modern smartphone, but it isn't even trying to, so who cares? If it works, and it's cheap, then it works for cheap!

I could go with a REX 70 and get a lot of use out of it... as long as the photos come out as good as the N75's 2-Mpix shots do, though I'm not sure its all that likely without the flash and nicer optics... but who knows?

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 20:44
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22. hepresearch (unregistered)


Well, okay... so I would need it to have dual-band US 3G on 850 and 1900 MHz to get the service that my N75 gets, and that's not likely to come down the pipe if this is going to emerging markets only. Yeah, okay, so it might not work after all. But if they made one for US the market, then it would be interesting to me.

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 06:02 2
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4. GALAXY-STORM (Posts: 328; Member since: 13 Oct 2012)


There goes the low end market.

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 06:13 4
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5. boosook (Posts: 1442; Member since: 19 Nov 2012)


You can get an Android entry level smartphones for the same price of the REX90 and an older android phone (like phones from 2011 approaching their end of life) for the same price of the REX80 and still have better hardware.

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 08:54 3
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12. SavageLucy42 (Posts: 211; Member since: 24 Mar 2011)


Yes, but you'd have to continue paying for a data plan.

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 06:27
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6. ReaperChief (Posts: 31; Member since: 21 Dec 2012)


Umm.. some might now want a smartphone, but a cheap phone that can do a bit more. It has Chat On so you can chat with any Android device.. Neat!

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 06:50
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7. amozhi (Posts: 130; Member since: 23 Oct 2012)


Can I install skype and viber on that?

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 06:55 1
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8. nlbates66 (Posts: 328; Member since: 15 Aug 2012)


depends, these things don't run android.

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 08:14 1
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11. amansingal14 (Posts: 309; Member since: 08 Sep 2012)


Nope, they are just Touchwiz over Java...

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 09:01
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13. Firedrops (Posts: 249; Member since: 06 Sep 2011)


I really don't understand why would people who don't want smartphones want a pseudo-smartphone. You can get a similarly priced Android for that price.

Those that don't want smartphones usually want high durability/ruggedness, long battery life, t9 keyboards and simplicity of use. These pseudo-smartphones offer none of those, yet are not good enough to compete with actual smartphones.

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 09:05
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14. SavageLucy42 (Posts: 211; Member since: 24 Mar 2011)


There are people who want a smartphone but don't want a data plan. Feature phones are that compromise.

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 10:21 2
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15. steelicon (Posts: 318; Member since: 02 Apr 2011)


These are designed to kill Nokia Asha sales. :)

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 20:03
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18. steelicon (Posts: 318; Member since: 02 Apr 2011)


A large touchscreen, dual sim, most models with 3G, Touchwiz and APPS! Surely more than a match for Nokia Asha series. :)

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 20:19
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19. hepresearch (unregistered)


Samsung REX = Nokia Asha SLAYERS!

Samsung will dominate the last of the feature phone space in the same way that Nokia dominated it, when feature phones were at their height, for the last two decades. Feature phones are not dead yet, but they are dying, and Samsung may yet squeeze everything that is left out of that sector before either Android or Windows Phone become so inexpensive that Java-based and BREW MP feature phones can no longer compete with decent affordable low-end smartphones.

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 12:22
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16. TheMan (Posts: 493; Member since: 21 Sep 2012)


The ignored portion of the market lately has been touch-only feature phones. For a while there, LG and Samsung flooded the market (remember the Highlight, Dares and NVTouch handsets?). The touch technology was balky and there was a high failure rate within 2 years. Still, I get a steady stream of people looking for the same style phone because they don't want a smartphone and feel like a flip phone is too primitive.

posted on 14 Feb 2013, 13:49 1
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17. downphoenix (Posts: 3165; Member since: 19 Jun 2010)


You know, I bet a lot of people would be satisfied with feature phones if they were just not so bad. Smartphones are great and a large part of the reason for the migration to them is how great they are, but the monthly costs are also quite crazy with them. And some features like Wi-fi for whatever reason are not available on 99% of Feature phones. Or they have terrible cameras. A lot of smartphone users only use their phones for the smae things they did with their feature phones, Im sure they would be fine with just having a GOOD feature phone.

posted on 15 Feb 2013, 00:00
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23. MC1123 (Posts: 1256; Member since: 12 Nov 2012)


lol... ASHA by nokia is WAYYYY better!!!

posted on 15 Feb 2013, 06:52
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24. steelicon (Posts: 318; Member since: 02 Apr 2011)


Nokia Asha and Nokia Lumia are damaged goods as far as image is concerned ever since the marketing fiascos that were recently exposed, not to mention the other marketing blunders long time ago. Welcome to 2013, 14 years of Nokia domination ended by their own board of directors, shareholders and most especially their CEO who for two long years struggled with the Windows Phone Lumiacy.

posted on 15 Feb 2013, 08:05
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25. hepresearch (unregistered)


Haha... Elop is a 'Lumiatic'! I love it... hilarious!

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