Press Release: A cooperation between Bang & Olufsen and Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Business has resulted in a unique mobile phone concept that breaks with conventional assumptions.
The phone is pure, simple, and of the highest quality, and the name ‘Serene’ reflects this. The idea behind Serene was to create a mobile phone that is dedicated to one prime purpose: to enable comfortable and convenient communication.
Since early 2004, the two companies have cooperated closely to realise this idea and the result is a truly unique product. In every aspect of the design and technology there is a carefully thought through relationship between form and function that makes both the minimalistic design and the use of the phone elegantly simple and straightforward. The name of the phone, Serene, reflects the core concepts of elegant simplicity and refined minimalism.
The intention is to provide an alternative for those customers who demand the highest quality, for whom simplicity and quality are important factors, and for whom less can be more. It is a phone you want to keep. It is timeless in use, in design, and in technology, freed from unnecessary functions and instructions.
By combining Bang & Olufsen’s concept development and design skills with Samsung’s leadership in mobile phone technology, engineering and quality, both companies saw an opportunity to realise a totally different mobile phone concept. “Serene is the result of our vision to constantly push the boundaries of mobile phone development and bring to our customers unique and exciting products”,says Kitae Lee, President of the Telecommunications Business in Samsung Electronics.
“We wanted Serene to become a precious item, an item that is a personal expression of quality and convenience. The coherence to other Bang & Olufsen products is experienced through the design and a very simple user operation,” says Torben Ballegaard Sørensen, CEO of Bang & Olufsen.
Serene consists of two equal parts that are tied together by a beautifully crafted aluminum hinge. The display and microphone are placed in the lower shell in a landscape orientation and the circular keyboard and loudspeaker is placed in the upper shell with an elegant thumb operated wheel in the middle taking care of all primary operations.
Accordingly, the colours, fonts, screen format and size have been specially selected with logical operation in mind. The relatively large, wide format display makes reading and writing on the screen even more pleasant. At the same time, restricting the number of features on the handset makes it possible to limit the number of menus, which in turn makes the experience of using Serene both logical and intuitive.
Serene comes with a triangular charger/docking station made in polished anodized aluminium with a cut-out for the phone. If the phone is placed in the docking station or the phone is used in a table mode it can be used as a mini-laptop as the display can turn 180 degrees for convenient use in this position as well.
As a special feature for Bang & Olufsen customers, a special DECT docking station is available which enables Serene to synchronise its phonebook with the domestic cordless system of telephones from Bang & Olufsen.
Serene will be launched in Europe, Russia and Ukraine during the 4th quarter of this year. It will be distributed through Bang & Olufsen stores and in select high-end Samsung distribution partners. It will retail in Bang & Olufsen stores for approximately 1100 Euros inclusive of a special Bang & Olufsen DECT accessory and in Samsung retailer partners for approximately 1000 Euros without the DECT accessory.
More info: http://www.serenemobile.com/
looks like those things my wife takes so we don’t make no babies.
It looks like a stadadium seat
The arrangement of the buttons suck. Cramps the thumb around numbers 4-6 range.
PS. forces the hand to reposition itself.
Hmmmmm….. very retro huh, looks like something out of the set of the Three Stooges, lol
U can get a more detailed review (with loads of pics) here …
http://mobile-review.com/review/samsung-e910-serene-en.shtml
it’s a chick phone.
Looks like a compact or a birth control pill container.
magic word is “think”
as in think before you post this you moron.
Why would I want the screen on my MOUTH instead of on my ear? Whould that F up the screen realy quickly? Turn your iPod upside-down and try to navigate, the screen gets in your way. hitting keys in a circle is rather counter-intuitive. Do people design rounf keyboards? Do they expect you to dial #s? Size is relative, Id like to see it in person.
As nobody has yet to comment on the price, allow me:
Eleven hundred… wait, that’s EUROS???
OMFG!! You’ve GOT to be kidding??? It’s a PHONE!!!
As Marcellus says in “Hamlet, “something is rotten in the state of Denmark”.
Nicely copy-pasted press release, MDN!
Actually, B&O has always had very nice industrial design. And, yes, the ROKR fails in that department.
that’s about $1325 in US dollars.
and some folks think I paid too much for my computer.
No sharp edges in personal items please.
MDW: Space….waist of?
B&O designs arent so hot in truth, they look very sleek at firt glance but it becomes apparent that its often design for designs sake, and that type of minimalism is a bit to 80’s. my friend has a system in his house and the remote control is a mess ugly and dumb, the speakers look like bread bins and the smoked glass door on the cd changer is a gimick and prone to dropping off.
nah they are over rated
I currently live in Copenhagen…. was initially impressed with B&O. I have to say… all design, but the functionality is lacking. I was suckered into buying several land line phones for my business. If this offering is anything like what I bought, then Apple has nothing to worry about.
I do love the look of their audio and video equipment… it’s a shame because they do have a great design team, but that’s probably due to the Scandanavian design philosophy… KISS
took a look at some reviews and am even more sure this is over priced design for designs sake, its the sort of design that appeals to pseudo sophistication, (technically that is truism). with apple the design would be beautiful, friendly and yet logical, with out the ‘chill’ of nordic design.
While I don’t like it enough to go for it even at a lower price I have to admit that it has more design than most phones I see. Things like this push the market a bit and, at some point in the future, we might benefit.
Ugly. As. Hell.
B&O have taken design minimalism to a point way beyond functionality.
There are people with more money than sense and don’t mind that.
not great looking, but at least B&O have tried to push the envelope a bit, design wise.
Apple could/should do their own phone, even if it were some sort of clip-on cover for motorolla interior workings, but a complete design would be better.
Who was the copywriter? That text was boring!
If you like it (for now); you will likely to buy it then TRASH it after a while of using it… because you will find yourself another stupid consumer
If you don’t like it, you will have saved yourself quite an amount of money buying other cool and useful gadgets from Apple…
I don’t get it? Is it a joke? I am really starting to think that it is. It looks like the least functional phone I’ve ever seen, and the design doesn’t make any sense. The case looks difficult to hold or talk into, the screen is placed awkwardly, the buttons look difficult to push and the scroll wheel looks difficult to maneuver with hitting unwanted buttons.
In the phone’s defense, the website is god awful, which may be what makes the phone look so bad. I can’t really be sure about it until I see several photos from several good angles that give some persepective and some idea of the size. But the website bores me and I don’t want to put that effort into it.
I really think this must be a joke. It’s not even remotely attractive.