Samsung announces Galaxy S Wi-Fi 3.6

Summary: Half phone, half something else, Samsung’s Galaxy S Wi-Fi 3.6 continues Apple’s effort to create a data-driven phone.

Samsung’s Galaxy S Wi-Fi 3.6 is an interesting little device. Lacking a SIM card, the “phone” relies completely on Wi-Fi connections to make calls and connect to the internet. If that sounds familiar it’s because that’s the same format followed by the iPod Touch, which Apple at first released in 2007.

The iPhone Touch’s success?

But can Samsung follow-up on the iPhone Touch’s success? It’s undoubtedly possible, especially as Wi-Fi networks become more and more prevalent. It’s pretty likely we will see more devices like the Galaxy S Wi-Fi 3.6 hereafter, and all of them will alter the idea of what we consider to be a “phone.” Is it simply the SIM card and ability to connect to a cellular network? The Galaxy S Wi-Fi 3.6 features neither of those things even so we can pretty confidently call it a phone — even if using it as one is limited to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) programs like Google Talk.

Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications.

...this site began as a subscription-based service called "ZiffNet" that offered computing information to CompuServe users.