The top/bottom touchscreen difference has the interesting effect of bringing some new features such as actually drawing out a number on the touchpad, rotating and old school dial (?), simulating a T9 dialpad, or even having both sides of the touchscreen active at once for some crazy control.

What's the point of this? Besides new features, apparently many people HATE the candybar form factor and won't even consider a phone a real phone unless it's a clamshell. Like Jack Bauer, for instance. [Unwired View]

1.4 128 160 px 65K Color OLED display
Measures 90 48.6 16.4 mm
Weighs 87.5 grams
GSM850/900/1800/1900, GPRS/EDGE
2 megapixel camera (no autofocus, no flash)
1.8 QVGA 240 320 px 262K color internal display
MicroSD memory card slot
MP3 player
USB and Bluetooth stereo connectivity
Touch-sensitive keys.
But hey, I'm just a disgruntled Motorola user, so what do I know? [PC Pop via Unwired View]

Earlier: The Helio Fin is a Magnesium-Cased Samsung Ultra Flip Phone!

Two videos after the jump, one with a Euro-kitty in the bathtub.

–Brian Lam

Howard Forums [via New Launches]

Other than the extremely long battery life, there's not much else to the phone. There's a 1.3-megapixel camera, 18MB of internal memory, GSM Tri-Band, and a secondary outside OLED display. Great if you just want a phone, but mediocre if you want to do anything beyond calling.

– Jason Chen

New Philips Xenium 9×9s clamshell. 30 days on stand-by too [UnwiredView]

VCSp Revisions 7 [Via Kotaku]

Product Page [Safe Cutters, Inc.]

Nokia 6085 Clamshell Announced [Mobiledia]

Looks like it's stoked for tunes with a pair of stereo speakers, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile), a slot for a microSD flash memory card, and it even gets to keep Samsung's user interface instead of its predecessor's lame Sprint UI. Samsung's also added a OLED external display.

This looks like a worthy candidate to fight the battle against the Razr juggernaut, fighting over who will be Prom Queen of the thinness derby. But look out everybody—here comes Apple. No pricing or availability info was forthcoming yet. – Charlie White

Samsung M610: Pictures & New Details [PCS Intel]

Sony Ericsson W43S Clamshell [Mobilewhack via TechEBlog]

Sure, this is a pink phone, but the CKT 6689 also even more girly than that, showing the ladies when they'll get their next monthly visit from that loathsome crimson companion. There's also a courageous BMI indicator that is brave enough to consistently tell that babe in no uncertain terms whether those shorts she's wearing make her look fat.

Other than those two unique features, this is not much more than a basic clamshell handset from previously-unseen Chinese manufacturer CKT. We're not thinking this menstrual prognosticator is going to be entirely necessary around most households, where mounting tensions usually make it pretty obvious when the bleeding's about to start. Around that time of month, guys, just be sure to answer, "No, those shorts have a pronounced slimming effect, honey—are you losing weight?" – Charlie White

CKT 6689 offers more to women than pink [Mobile Mentalism]

In case you were wondering, the Capri is the purple slider on the far left, and the Canary, a clamshell that's pictured in gray here, is the Motorola Razr's thinner and smaller successor. And what do you know? Compared next to each other here, the Capri and Canary are just about the same size. So take your pick, slider or clamshell. You might want to take a look at this guy's site for dozens more pictures. But we're warning you, it's not exactly safe for work. – Charlie White

Motorola Canary vs. Capri!! Flip or Slide? Its all PIMP to Me! [Bengalboy]

This GSM handset is nice and thin—just 14.6 mm—and weighs a bit less than 3 ounces. It has an MP3 player with controls on the front, and a 1.3-megapixel camera with video recording, an FM radio and voice memo. Pricing and availability weren't announced yet. – Charlie White

LG-KG810, the new slim from LG [Akihabara News]

A large 2.6" screen inside a flip-and-twist phone lets you view the quality pictures taken on the 3.2-megapixel camera. Add to that MP3 support that's rated at 19 hours of playback—longer than most dedicated music players—and a miniSD slot for expanded memory, this phone is functional as well as good looking. Two traits no one can say about Paris Hilton.

Press Release [via i4u via Digital Lifestyle Magazine]

When you flip the phone open, the body becomes a track for the screen to move up. There's enough room for the standard keys plus an iPod like click wheel. This design seems like it will make phones more compact, but thicker. Is that a sliding-clamshell in your pocket or did you just have genital enhancement surgery?

Samsung Invents Sliding-Clamshell Design [Mobiledia]

A pretty basic phone with a 200x176 pixel display, it has Bluetooth capability and video recording and playback. Not a bad looking clamshell in either silver or gold colors; look for it in Q3 of this year.

Press Release [Sony Ericsson]

Sony bundles a measly 64MB memory stick micro with the phone but you can get your own memory stick that's available in sizes up to 1GB, and use that to store and transfer multimedia content. The thing even has an FM radio, and supports all the usual suspects when it comes to music file formats. It has Bluetooth 2.0 with high data rate support (HDR), and you can also stream Bluetooth in stereo to listen to music with wireless headsets. Sony says this quad band/EDGE phone, available in colors it calls Twilight Black and Metallic Sand, will be shipping in Q3.

Press release

The K510 raises the bar a bit with a 1.3-megapixel camera and a screen that offers more colors but is the same size as the K310. It raises the ante for onboard memory to 28MB and adds Bluetooth 2.0. Both are the same size, about 4 inches tall and -inch thick, and are capable of seven hours of talk time in 360 hours on standby.

Then there's the K530 clamshell phone, also with 2 MB of memory and adds a Memory Stick Micro slot. It has the same 128x160 display as the K310 with a monochrome screen on the outside. All three of these phones will ship during the next quarter.

Sony Ericsson eyes up low-end camera phones [Reg Hardware]

Nokia's trickling out the phones this month, this time announcing a simple quad band GSM/GPRS clamshell. The 6125 isn't a 3G phone, but it does have its perks, like a 1.3-megapixel camera, FM Radio and a media player that supports MP3, AAC, WMA and MP4. And along with Bluetooth, infrared, USB and a hot-swappable microSD mamory card, it's also one of the first Nokia phones to come with a Macromedia Flash Player. Should be available second quarter for about $280.

Compact Nokia 6125 offers excellent performance in stylish folding design [Nokia]

Moto V191 [Sogi (via Phoneyworld)]

Here's a nice-looking 3G clamshell phone from Asus, which apart from the little antenna isn't a bad deal. With two cameras—a 1.3-megapixel in the front and a 2-megapixel in the back—it also has a loudspeaker and a built-in MP3 player. Though you only get 4MB of built-in memory, it does have a miniSD slot and comes with a 128MB card. Also loaded with the usual basic crap: Java games, world clock, to-do list, reminders, alarm clock and currency exchange.

Presenting the Asus M303i - a sleekly designed beautiful clamshell [Phoneyworld]