December 27 - 3:35pm EST   Samsung's impending F490 and P720 touchscreen phones have been spotted outside of official press events with new details to match, says Russian site Mobile-Notes. The F490 (shown) is now known to include haptic feedback, vibrating the phone when a user touches a control on its 3.2-inch display; though slim, it has a 5-megapixel camera and (currently Europe-only) HSDPA 3G access. Its interface is better than that of the LG Viewty it will challenge on launch, the Russian report says. [full story]

December 24 - 11:10am EST   Samsung is gearing up for at least two new touchscreen phones early next year, a visitor to a Ukraine press event has noted. The F490 should be a silver version of the Croix that strips out the physical keyboard entirely, relying instead on a virtual keyboard for all its input. It should still preserve the unusually tall 240x432 screen, 5-megapixel camera, and HSDPA access, though whether it will support North American networks at 3G speeds is unknown. The F490 recently appeared in an FCC filing and suggests at least basic support in the US. [full story]