Samsung's Continuum For Verizon Boasts 'Ticker Display'Samsung's Continuum For Verizon Boasts 'Ticker Display'

Samsung

According to Samsung, New York City was the inspiration for the Continuum, its latest Galaxy S Android smartphone. Much like the New York Stock Exchange and Times Square, the Continuum has a "ticker" that provides alerts, feeds, and other information to the end user. It's a neat concept, but I'm not sure it will help Samsung and Verizon sell the device.

The Continuum has a smaller footprint than its other Galaxy S brothers. When put side-by-side with the Verizon Fascinate, the Continuum is notably thinner and lighter. It has a 3.4-inch Super AMOLED main display and a secondary 1.8-inch ticker display, also Super AMOLED. Both look amazing, offering sharp resolution, rich colors, and plenty of luminescence.

The Continuum runs Android 2.1 -- why not Android 2.2 -- and Samsung says it will be offering an API to developers who want to target the ticker display for content above and beyond what Samsung is already providing.

The ticker provides content such as missed call, email and message alerts; time and weather reports; RSS feeds/news; media player controls, and access to incoming calls without interrupting what the user is doing on the main screen. The ticker display can be activated separately from the main display by gripping the left and right sides of the Continuum close to the bottom of the phone. Samsung says this helps to preserve battery life, as the main display is left off. The rest of the user interface looks identical to Samsung's other Galaxy S handsets.

As for the rest of the hardware, the Continuum packs a 1GHz hummingbird processor; a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash and 720p HD video capture; 802.11b/n/g Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth and GPS; support for 32GB microSD cards (8GB installed); and a full suite of Verizon-branded software and services.

Samsung was sure to point out that it shipped its 3 millionth Galaxy S handset in the U.S. recently. Samsung didn't provide a breakdown of how many were sold of each of the four models, but any way you look at it, the Galaxy S line has been a success.

The Continuum goes on sale November 18 for $200 after rebates with a new contract. Samsung said that the device will be updated to Android 2.2 "in short order." The rest of Samsung's Galaxy S line is set to receive Android 2.2 at some point this month.