Samsung Sway Breezes to Verizon Wireless, Lacks 3G

Verizon Wireless today announced its latest VCast Music & Rhapsody phone, the Samsung Sway. The phone reminds us a bit of the Samsung Soul, a popular handset in Asia with a similar slider design and brushed metal shell, but it lacks the haptic navigation display found on that device.

At $69.99, the Sway is nearly half the price of the $129.99 LG Chocolate 3 which also supports the Rhapsody music store and its subscription services. Other similarities include its support for VZ Navigator GPS navigation.

The Sway will also support microSD cards with capacities up to 8GB, but it doesn’t feature a 3.5mm headphone jack like the Chocolate 3 does, so you’ll have to buy a proprietary one while you’re at the Verizon store. Worse, the Sway doesn’t support 3G, which makes it easily half as valuable as the Chocolate 3.

Other features include a rated usage time of 4.5 hours and 312 hours of standby. The Sway measures 4.15 x 1.96 x .47 inches, weighs 3.56 ounces, and has a 2.2-inch display. Its 2MP camera comes with NightShot technology that’s supposed to help with the camera’s capabilities in dark situation (isn’t that what a flash is for?) We look forward to checking out the Sway shortly, and customers can pick it up in stores on October 14th.