Alias 2 on May 11th – Cool features in a mediocre package

Well, the Samsung Alias 2 was announced recently, the sequel to the first alias, a double hinged text messaging phone. It apparently sold well enough to warrant a sequel, but the Alias 2 has one feature no other mobile phone currently has: e-ink. If you don’t know, this technology (electronic ink) is used in devices like e-book readers such as the Amazon Kindle and consumes no power except when it is actually changing the image. In this case the technology is used to dynamically change the text on the keys, so you have the QWERTY keyboard in landscape mode and the regular pad in dial mode. Frankly, the phone probably won’t be used by people that mean “serious business” with its obviously teenage target demographic, but this e-ink implementation could definitely be interesting if it was implemented on other device. The phone should be available may 11th from Verizon for a fairly low price. See what Verizon says about the device after the jump.

“The new Samsung Alias 2 gives you the convenience of a QWERTY keypad in a unique flip-style format. It has the same dual-hinge design that made original Alias a hit, but Alias 2 adds a touch of magic a Magic Key keypad using e-ink technology. In phone mode, you see a standard phone keypad. In texting mode, however, the keys magically change into a full, four-row QWERTY keypad. But the magic doesnt stop there. The Alias 2 also has a 2.6 QVGA screen for crisper, clearer viewing, a 2.0 megapixel camera, and dedicated hot keys for one-touch access to some of your most used features like Bluetooth, text messaging, voicemail, camera, voice commands, games and alarms.”

-Phonearena via Verizon