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All wireless devices must earn Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval before entering the U.S. market. Samsung recently received this okay for a new Windows Mobile Smartphone, the SGH-i270.

Compared to other upcoming smartphones from Samsung, such as the high-end SCH-i730 Pocket PC Phone, the GSM/GPRS i270 presents a pretty typical slate of features for a Microsoft-based handset in its category.

As a Windows Smartphone the i270's screen supports a rather low 176 x 220 pixel resolution. It also has 32 MB of RAM, 64 MB or ROM, a miniSD card slot for up to a gigabyte of additional storage, Bluetooth, and a one-megapixel digital camera for MPEG4 video and still images.

There is also an external 128 x 96 pixel resolution display on the back of the top half of the clamshell phone for date, time, caller ID and other information. Not much else is known about the i270. Although we expect it will support audio payback too.

Samsung hasn't revealed when the i270 would be available or how much it could cost. FCC approval doesn't guarantee a smartphone will ship, however.

Take Samsung's own SPH-i550 for example.

The FCC gave the device the okay in April 2004. Ten months later it got the old heave-ho—before it even shipped—from its expected carrier, Sprint, earlier this month.