New world phones just in time for Christmas

Gary Krakow Columnist • E-mail

I've just had the pleasure of testing three new world phones — each one a gem in its own right.  But one of the models may just be the most beautiful cell phone ever made.

It’s called the Serene and comes from the Danish masters of beautifully designed electronics — Bang and Olufsen (B&O).  It costs more than you would probably want to spend on a cell phone.  But until you actually hold one in your hand and marvel at how it opens and closes you won’t understand why you need one.

The Serene is this year’s ultimate holiday gift idea.

The phone itself was designed by David Lewis and is manufactured for B&O by Samsung.  It is a GSM world phone — but unlike most world phones available for sale in North America, the Serene works on both bands of world GSM frequencies  (900 and 1800 MHz) and just one U.S. band of frequencies (1900 MHz).  Most other world phones we see here have both U.S. bands (850 and 1900 MHz) and one (or maybe two) world bands.  Basically, the Serene is a phone for the rest of the world that also works here.

The phone itself is quite small — 2.17 by 2.76 by 0.94 inches — and weighs less than 4 ounces. The battery is said to be good for 3 hours of talk and up to 250 hours of standby.  There’s a low-res camera (300K pixels with the lens discreetly buried on the camera’s side), Bluetooth, and a WAP browser. It can also sync with Microsoft Outlook to deal with your calendar and to do lists.

You'll discover the Serene’s ability to astound when you try to open it. Just a light prying touch engages a silent motor that gently pries open the clam shell design. No need to exert much pressure. Serene is ready to respond when called upon. Closing Serene also requires the lightest nudge to get the motor to help do the job.

Inside, you’ll find the dial on the top and the screen on the bottom. B&O say they like it that way.  Notice I used the term dial. That’s because Serene has a circular keypad. Inside the keypad is a thumb-controlled wheel to switch between functions. I found that for me it took a day or two to get used to dialing in the round.

The docking station allows Serene to interact with other B&O telephone devices. If you receive a call or text message while Serene is charging the phone automatically opens so you can handle the incoming message.  My test sample came with a European round-prong AC charger along with a U.S. flat-prong adapter.

I got to play with Serene on two recent trips to Europe. It did its job very well in England and France in big cities, as well as some very rural areas. It was a little less successful in the United States where, at times found itself searching for a network signal.

You can buy your Serene at your local B&O boutique store. I’ve seen Serene selling on the Web at prices from $1,150 to $1,500.  The Serene is sold as an open or unlocked phone (not attached to or sold by any one particular cellular provider) and can be used with service from T-Mobile or Cingular here in the Unites States

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