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Average Joes can buy the Samsung SCH-i730 from Verizon Wireless sooner than expected.

You see, although the Pocket PC Phone was supposed to ship a couple of week from now, it is already available for purchase by consumers on the operator's Web site. Enterprise customers could already buy the device from the carrier as of last week.

It isn't clear why Verizon jumped the gun on the i730's release to consumers. Some have speculated demand may be lower than expected.

The i730 sells for $600 with a 2-year service contract and $650 with a single-year subscription.

Samsung SCH-i730
As with palmOne's Treo 650, the i730 boasts relatively compact dimensions (5.2 x 2.8 x 0.6 inches) and weight (5.5 ounces). It has 64 MB of RAM and 128 MB of ROM with a Secure Digital slot for storage and peripheral expansion.

The i730 also integrates a QWERTY thumb-keyboard.

Samsung one-ups palmOne in this department, however, as the Pocket PC Phone's keyboard is built on a slider. That means it sits underneath the handset's display when unused, making the unit that much smaller and easier to use as a phone.


i730 Closed

As with Verizon's edition of the Treo 650, the i730 is compatible with the carrier's CDMA network, of course. The Samsung Pocket PC Phone, unlike the Treo, supports the operator's high-speed 3G EV-DO network as well. So wherever Verizon offers EV-DO coverage, the i730 should be able to exchange data at a speedy 400 Kbps to 700 Kbps.

While Verizon's Treo 650 integrates a camera for still images and video, the edition of the i730 it carries doesn't. Other multimedia features include Windows Media Player 10, dual stereo speakers, and 3D sound.

The Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC Second Edition platform the i730 runs on supports portrait and landscape modes-excellent for Web browsing and viewing documents-for the smartphone's 2.8-inch, 240 x 320 pixel resolution and 65,536 color display.

Other features include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networking.

For more on the i730, click here.