Samsung Galaxy Pro: A worthy challenger to the BlackBerry?

Samsung Galaxy Pro – the latest in the popular Galaxy smartphone line – was unveiled this week at the Samsung SEA Forum in Singapore, and judging by the early reports flickering across the Web today, the Pro could be another hit for Samsung. In shape, the Galaxy Pro is not dissimilar from a BlackBerry handheld: Witness the QWERTY keyboard and boxy and utilitarian shape.

But the Galaxy Pro is also likely to appeal to more than just business users. The Pro gets a range of next-gen niceties, from a 2.8-inch touchscreen to Microsoft Exchange and Flash 10.1 support. (No word yet on price or release date in the US; in the UK, the Galaxy Pro will launch this month on the Three network.)

"Samsung clearly isn’t content to rest upon the popular full-screen iPhone-like design of its Galaxy S handset," writes Kevin C. Tofel of GigaOM. Tofel notes that strong Galaxy sales helped Samsung grow its sales faster than RIM, the makers of the BlackBerry, HTC, Nokia, and Apple. The Pro, he adds, "just one of several examples of how Samsung is broadening to its Galaxy line-up to cover every potential market segment."

The Samsung Galaxy Pro is a cousin of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a tablet computer released late last year. Four carriers in the US offer the Galaxy Tab, including Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. AT&T was the most recent carrier to begin selling the Galaxy Tab; the AT&T edition comes unlocked, and users do not have to sign a service contract. In December, Samsung announced it had unloaded a million Galaxy Tab units worldwide – a strong start for the device.

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