Samsung to take on iPhone

Samsung's Ultra Smart F700 mobile phone.

SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung plans to unveil a new mobile phone that features some of the sleek design and functions of Apple's iPhone.

Samsung's Ultra Smart F700 will be exhibited at a Barcelona telecommunications show next week, Samsung spokeswoman Sonia Kim said. Mobile phone makers have been scrambling to match the iPhone, introduced last month by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The device, which will be available starting in June, marks the iPod and Macintosh computer maker's entry into the mobile phone business.

The ultra-thin iPhone is controlled by touching the screen a large touch screen, plays music, surfs the Internet, and runs a version of the Mac OS X operating system, among other functions.

Samsung said its new phone also has a full touch screen as well as a traditional key pad that slides out. The phone can also access the Internet, play music, take pictures, show videos, handle e-mail and share photos, said Samsung officials.

Its processor is faster than the iPhone's and it has a 5-megapixel camera, compared to the iPhone's 2-megapixel camera. "The Ultra Smart F700 is a good example of how [the] mobile phone will evolve in the future," said Choi Gee-sung, president of Samsung's Telecommunications Network.