Samsung City Player entry level NFC phone, revenge of the Tocco, return of the Star Part II

Samsung is introducing another entry level NFC phone to its lineup, so without further ado meet the awkwardly named Samsung City Player. Just when you thought the adventures of the Samsung Tocco were over and it was safe to come out from under the stairs, its reincarnation jumps onto the scene. However, this all new and improved version of the Tocco Icon doesn’t run on Android or any other OS you may have heard of. The Samsung City Player is powered by the MIDP 2.1 platform with a Dolphin browser. We’re not sure why this stripped down OS was chosen but the Samsung City Player is a budget NFC phone after all. We wouldn’t have been so surprised to have seen a Bada touting NFC phone come out of the Korean manufacturer and we have a sneaky feeling we may see a phone that uses that OS in the not too distant future called the S5750 Wave 575. You can check out that phone on our Global NFC phones list page.

Samsung City Player NFC phone specs

There aren’t any hardcore specifications available at the moment for the Samsung City Player. We do know it has a TouchWiz 3.0 interface and it will be available in black and white flavors. The phone has already available in France since June, and we can suppose based on the price of the Samsung Tocco Icon in the UK that it may cost around £100 ($163) but no official pricing is available as yet. Below is what we do have so far in the specifications department.

• Platform : MIDP 2.1
• Display : 3 inch 240 x 400
• Design : capacitive touchscreen
• Memory : 30Mo ROM + MicroSD Slot (up to 16GB)
• Special Feature : NFC compliant
• Connectivity : 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz / Bluetooth 3.0 / Usb / Wifi b.g.n
• Camera : 3.2Mp with QVGA video recording
• Business and Office : Office viewer
• Dimensions : 107.5 x 53.5 x 12.4 mm
• Weight : 94g
• Languages : English, German, French, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Turc, Italian, Irish, Korean

Samsung City Player NFC phone summary

Samsung is also including its Social Hub on the Samsung City Player, which integrates feeds from instant messaging services, MMS/SMS, Facebook, Twitter and Myspace. Visually, the Samsung Player City NFC phone looks a little like the Samsung Galaxy Ace and not dissimilar to the upcoming Samsung Wave 575. What is clear is that Samsung intends to milk this form factor until its dry. The first version of this series of phones that includes the Tocco first appeared in 2009 and visually hasn’t changed too much since. The Samsung City Player is available for pre-order at Expansys although no pricing is available. We will be on the look out to see if the Samsung City Player NFC phone shows any signs of heading for the Unites States or any other country, and will let you know as soon and we find out more.