Hard-drive based cell phones are likely to be available in the U.S. in the near future. Samsung made the first move last fall with a hard-drive based cell phone, the SPH-V5400. The phone has a 1.5GB microdrive built-in, making it a natural for digital still or video photography, or as an MP3 player -- or both. It is a smartphone, running on the Windows Mobile operatng system.
At $800 list, with no U.S. release in sight, it's not going to change anyone's life soon. But with convergence between the cell phone, PDA, digital cameras and Internet surfing devices the next big thing in portable electronics, this is a serious opening salvo in the next electronics war.
Bottom line: There is a cell phone with a hard drive -- released last fall by Samsung -- but it's notable mainly for the first out of the gate and won't be available here anytime soon.
