The current release of the Samsung Focus S Windows Phone makes it the newest player to join the smartphone market but with so many smartphones in the market, what makes the Samsung Focus S Windows Phone stand out?

The Samsung Focus S is an improved version of the Samsung Focus model released last year. It is a touchscreen smartphone that has a measure of 2.63 inches in width, 0.33 inches in depth, and 4.96 inches in height. It weighs about 3.9 oz. and comes in black. Main Display resolution is 480x800 with Super AMOLED Plus panel and display size is 4.3". Battery standby for the Samsung Focus S lasts up to 250 hours while battery in terms of talk-time lasts up to 6.5 hours.

The Samsung Focus S has 1.4GHz processor and features the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango as its OS. Camera resolution is at 8MP with 4x digital optical zoom while the front-facing camera has a resolution of 1.3MP. It also has Bluetooth 2.1 and contains the usual smartphone messaging and data features like text message, multimedia messages (MMS), instant messages, e-mail, and HTML browser. Included accessories are battery, USB cable, hands-free 3.5mm stereo headset and desktop charger.

The Samsung Focus S is one of the three phones launched that carries the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango as its OS. The other phones that were launched during the Windows Phone events were the HTC Titan and HTC Radar. The Windows Phone 7.5 is Microsoft's answer to Apple's iPhone and Google's Android that is dominating the smartphone industry.

Joe Wilcox from Betanews discussed the problem that Microsoft is experiencing in terms of dealing with the smartphone market. According to Wilcox, perception was the main problem stating that "It's the new IBM -- the stodgy has-been that built an empire on a now declining market. Meanwhile, Apple is the amazing innovator that drives the new era of computing, propelled by the cunning genius of Steve Jobs." He also emphasized that despite the fact that Windows 7 is a good smartphone in the market, most users prefer to use an iPhone or an Android phone because of the perception that it is much better that the Windows phone.

The Samsung Focus S is distributed by U.S. carrier AT&T for US$199.99 with a two-year service agreement plus a US$15 minimum data plan. No official announcement has been released regarding its availability in the Australian market.