You know, I’m beginning to think that Samsung’s factory lines are rigged up like the bus in Speed. If at any time they drop below 50 newly created Android phones per month, bam! Factory falls down and Keanu Reeves never hooks up with Sandra Bullock.
Alternative Intro: Samsung and Verizon are incredibly excited about their latest handset, the Samsung Illusion. You can always tell a company is excited about a product when much of the press release is dedicated to the riveting details, like its Underwriters Laboratory score.
Before I rant on, the details: the Samsung Illusion, launching tomorrow on Verizon’s site for $79.99, is an Android 2.3 handset. It’s got a 1Ghz processor, a 3-megapixel camera, and all the standard goods (like Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g/n, etc.) inside. And… well, that’s it, really. For the curious, there’s no support for Verizon’s 4G/LTE network.
I mean, I get it. The Underwriters Lab score (and the other eco-focused-ish specs that Samsung chose to talk up this time, like the 70% recycled rear casing) give Samsung’s efforts some degree of “green” factor. But if saving the world was at all a part of Samsung’s goal, wouldn’t they stop releasing junk that they themselves seem to make obsolete the next week? Imagine the waste that goes into researching, developing, prototyping, producing, shipping, storing, and then eventually disposing of a handset that no one will remember in 6 months.
