Samsung Google phones break cover

Electronics manufacturer Samsung and Google announced a cooperation deal at CES in Las Vegas, to produce mobile phones sporting applications from the search engine giant.

Starting early this year, select Samsung handsets will come with "one-click" access to Google Search, Google Maps and Google Gmail, all with interfaces tailored for mobile devices.

Samsung has already launched the Ultra Edition 13.8 (SGH-Z720), its first mobile handset installed with Google mobile search and Gmail services. The slim 3G Z720 is only 13.8mm thick. It is HSDPA ready and comes with a 3-megapixel camera, MP3 Player, and Bluetooth connectivity. The HSDPA connectivity combined with embedded an Internet browser and Google mobile services will provide users with a rich mobile Internet experience.

The Ultra Edition 13.8 weighs in at a slim 80g , has a 2.1" 262,000 colour screen and offers 1.8Mbit/s maximum download speeds. Pricing and availability is not known at the moment, but the Ultra Edition 13.8 is likely to go on sale in Europe first, where GSM is the dominant cellular technology.