Samsung Soul, the last of the the Ultra Edition phones

Samsung have launched the new Samsung Soul, a new mobile phone from the company that actually has a name, rather than an awkward array of seemingly arbitrary letters and numbers (who could forget the charmingly-named Samsung SGH-P310 for example?!). Samsung chose the name Soul as it stands for "Spirit Of ULtra" (yes, really!), and it apparently "honours the completion of its exclusive 'Ultra Edition' series." Not entirely sure why "soul" denotes the end of something, but it does imply that this will be the last in the extremely successful and highly-rated Ultra Edition range of phones, thereby paving the way for an ever better crop of phones from Samsung for the rest of the year

The Soul is Samsung's new flagship phone, meaning it's a high-end monster packed full of features. Better still, continuing Samsung's recent theme, these aren't just gimmicks - each feature is designed to work and work really well, rather than just acting as padding for the spec list.
More pics and full details of the Samsung Soul after the jump.
Overview of the Samsung Soul mobile phone

So what do you get with a Samsung flagship phone? Well, no flag, but you do get the following rather tasty array of features:

* 5 megapixel camera
* Power LED Flash
* Face detection, image stabilizer and Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) for enhanced picture quality
* 7.2 Mbps HSPDA connectivity
* New "Magical Touch by DaCP" user interface
* Slide form factor
* 12.9mm thin
* Bluetooth 2.0
* MP3 player with Bang & Olufson Digital ICE Power amp and headset

A few features of note here. Firstly, the camera. Not only 5 megapixels, but a wide range of advanced features to help you get the best picture of your subject. Secondly, not just HSDPA, but HSPDA running at a superb 7.2Mbps (if your network supports it of course, and dependent on contention ratios). Thirdly, an MP3 player that gives great sound thanks to a Bang & Olufson amplifier.

Finally, the somewhat oddly-named "Magical Touch by DaCP" user interface. What be this, you ask? It's a new interface whereby the navigation indicators on the keypad change according to the feature you're using. Select the camera, for example, and the icons on the keypad change to reflect camera-specific options (see pic below). DaCP, in case you were wondering, stands for Dynamic Adaptive Control Pad, and as you might guess, it is, in reality, a small OLED screen that adapts to the requirements of the selected feature. Nice touch, though.

It's a shame the Samsung Soul will the see the end of the Ultra Range. There were some great phones in that range, stylish, fully-featured, and even several "world's thinnest" phones. Still, with Samsung on a bit of a roll at the moment, having overtaken Motorola to second spot, I'm guessing the replacement range (Son of Ultra - Hmmm, SoUL II - perhaps?!) will be better still, with some rather tasty new phones to watch out for.

The Samsung Soul is out now across Europe, and will be released in other markets throughout 2008.