Samsung has finally launched its Alias 2 with e-Ink technology

Samsung has finally launched a mobile phone first in the United States with a so-called E-Ink “transforming” keypad. As it was previously announced e-ink keyboard can change its configuration to match a particular application or users' actions. 

If you hold it vertically it looks like a flip phone with a standard numeric keys however if you switch it to a horizontal position you will get a full Qwerty keypad that can be easily used to send messages and e-mails. The layout can also be changed to numerals.

Alias 2, an innovative technology from Samsung is a successor to Samsung Alias launched two years ago. 

The phone has 2 displays: main one 2.6in, 240 x 320 TFT. The second one is on the outside.
Among other features one can see a 2 megapixel camera with a digital zoom, which also supports video capture. All the data is stored in a microSD-based storage, and can be easily transferred via Bluetooth wireless networking. According to DigitalTrends there is also an optional $9.99/month RemoSync feature, which claims to synchronize calendars, email, and contacts from office PCs. The phone sports mobile email and Web clients, and can also tap into a host of Verizon Wireless services like VZ Navigator ($2.99 a day) or Visual Voice Mail ($2.99 a month), says DigitalTrends. 

The talktime is 5 hours however the company claims that you should get a healthy 336 hours of standby time. 

Now any US resident can get Alias 2 $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year contract. There are no plans as yet to launch this in the UK.