Samsung Continuum – A Sinking Ship Without Developers

Last night Samsung unveiled their next Galaxy S phone, the Samsung Continuum. Embracing their always mobile concept, Samsung created a device with a second smaller “ticker” screen in order to handle notifications, news, and updates from friends without having to drain the battery by constantly waking the phone. The handset offers many exclusive features that have the potential to offer some really new features to anyone who would want this kind of phone. Unfortunately I think that list is getting smaller and smaller, given Samsung’s decision to not include developers in the mix.
The Continuum’s ticker and pressure sensors are not going to be made available to developers at launch. This offers some obvious disadvantages to the device, which in turn makes it less appealing to consumers aware that their favorite apps will not be able to take advantage of the hardware. At launch, only the pre-loaded software will be able to take advantage of the software. One of the biggest examples of this is VZNavigator. Directions on the Continuum will utilize the ticker, though if you install Google Maps and use Google Nav, it will not be able to use the ticker. Combined with the pressure sensor, this could really make or break a device like this.

Samsung was not particularly helpful when it came to answering questions on the topic. It was confirmed that there will be no developer API’s at launch, but I got a maybe for later on. At present, I am waiting for a final official answer from Samsung on the matter, so stay tuned!