SamSung Electronic’s Haptic series line of extremely popular touch screen full screen cell phone continues with not so much of a radical difference but mostly another new ad model up front to shine the way . still this is the smallest and lightest ‘Haptic’ so far with a few ‘fun’ stuff added . so tomorrow SamSung will be rolling out the first cell phone since acquiring figure skating champion and idol star Kim, Yuna as their official AnyCall cell phone brand ad model .

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one joyous ad that is sustaining Korean spirits
in a time of political FUBAR in the Korean Penninsula,
.. though a very very expensive ad
– the kind that raises your cell phone price tag

for those wondering from the video ad : touch screens on recent SamSung as well as LG cell phones do the page-rolling by your fingers like Apple iPhone or iPod Touch (iPhone without phone capabilities sold in countries where Apple don’t have carrier contracts with local telecommunication companies), but are a noticeably “duller” versions compared to Apple . but between the two : SamSung is slightly softer in feel than LG whose screens are more precise but rigid .

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so make-believe you’ve bought it AND glooming over yourseLF

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now Yuna shows you how you can make your daily schedule more cuter

named AnyCall SCH-W770 for SK Telecom and SPH-W7700 and W7750 for KTF and LG Telecom carriers . containing ability to edit diary like a blog and to record popular restaurants and movie theatre showing information . interchangeable back cover hit popular nerves with preceding Boys Over Flowers Cell Phone SCH-W750 is continued on this new model . another interesting specification is its ability automatically enable and disable touch screen sensibility depending on the distance between your face and the cell phone .

KTF carrier model will be released first then gradually for LGT and SKT . 3 choice of colors are Snow White, Sweet Pink and Noble Black . full retail price is over W600,000 but will sell for almost W400,000 for a 2 year subscription with the carrier . (there are lower price available even half of this but you will have to sustain hefty monthly call rates)

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and here’s her ‘Making-Of’ .. Video

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[ purchase and use outside South Korea ] and no, you cannot have someone buy this and send it outside South Korea and then insert your own SIM card to work in your country -_-
Korean cell phones are NOT locked by SIM cards but is double-locked : first it is network locked usable only with dedicated telecommunication carriers, then second-fold all cell phones sold in recent years are user-locked on the phone itself for 3 months from the point of first use, to prevent burglary (you won’t believe what teenagers will do to purchase the latest popular cell phone nowadays).

I regularly receive inquiries on how to get such latest cell phones to use abroad in SouthEast Asia or Northern America . but understand current Korean cell phones are sold intact with a specific local carrier, i.e., telecommunications company and the price is adjusted to match the manufacturer’s contract with the said telecommunications company . however because a large population of Koreans now live abroad in major cities WorldWide, some Korean cell phone stores will hack Korea-specific cell phones to be used there because a good percentage of Koreans still prefer Korean menus on their cell phones . but hacking takes time so trying to use the latest Korean cell phones outside South Korea is virtually impossible unless you give them say .. 3 ~ 6 months from the time of first sale in Korea, often even a year later . so if you are overseas and really want such a model : I suggest you go to the area where Koreans work and live in your city or country and inquire at a phone store there run by Korean people .

I know for a fact there are at least two stores in either coast of the States run by Koreans offering such practice but cannot endorse it for I have no direct experience with them, not even mentioning its legality . you will need to search on-line in Korean characters for both are in the much Korean-concentrated Korea-Town West of L.A. and in Manhattan, or over on the Jersey side of Fort Lee – Good Luck !

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let us make-believe we’ll get through this recession in one piece
with Yuna’s ScreenSaver for your virtual PC

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finale encore due to popular demand
(yeah right, you wish she will be cast in the next, next episode of ‘Twilight’ TriLogy ‘Eclipse’)

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so a FareWell kiss now from the fairy-on-ice “V”

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[ mid-June SCH-W7700 Price Update ] incredible to imagine how cell phone price drops PLUS new ways of discount purchase .

[1] purhaps due to continued recession prices are dropping in unprecendented speed AND amount . the lowest price so far on this “Kim, Yuna Cell Phone” a.k.a. “Haptic Mini” is W170,000 up-front for 2 years subscription to W7700 models dedicated for KTF carrier . (W770 for SKT and W7750 for LGT carriers about to begin now) for new users as well as switching carriers = retaining the same number . (sorry, most of these bottom-low discounts are NOT applicable to foreigners residing in South Korea even if you have official Alien Registration) extra terms are :

  • includes W140,000 purchase price support from carrier, where you will have to re-emburse penalty of this sum divided by remaining months, should want to disconnect prior to the full 2 years,
  • W10,000 deducted from penalty from above support price every month you use the cell phone more than W40,000 (this is aproximately the average usage for daily Koreans where seldom users will pay roughly W10,000 per month on calls and high-users over W70,000)
  • first registration fee of W30,000 will be billed for the first 3 months, unless you have history of using KTF carrier before, then it will be W10,000,
[2] until last year major discounts on cell phone purchase was offered from independant on-line shopping malls while on-line user communities (called on-line “Cafes” in Korea) existed mostly as a separate entity set-up by early adopters (those who go out to buy the latest electronic gadgets). the “Cafes” offered a wide array of information regarding each cell phone model even a “2nd hand store” where members can resell their used phones . but now these small retailers are opening “Cafes” and offering a members’ discount enabling the slashed discount above .. the end result is that because they are run by profit-seeking private companies (rather than pure information-sharing communities) the information exchanged are basic at most .

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OK if you are ready now repeat after me
because this is her catch-phrase for the ad :

20 years old –
there’s so much you wanna do at this age !
diary of a 20 year old –
Yuna’s Haptic !

– Korea Tech BLog, May 2009 –