Currently the handsets that work are the LG CU500v, Samsung a707, Samsung a717 and Samsung a727, with 9 to 11 compatible devices sold by AT&T by year's end. Also, like anything else, you need to pay extra for the service. It's $4.99 per month for 25 minutes (cumulative, not continuous) and $9.99 for 60 minutes. There's also an a la carte plan that's 35 cents per minute which actually sounds like the best deal of all. How many times a month are you going to be at the grocery going, "Hey, which variety of miniature eggplant do you want?" and really need the video. What's cool is that only the transmitting phone is charged for the service, though both need to be signed up one way or another.

It may occur to you to ask, as I did, whether or not you can save the video you transmit. The answer is, "Absolutely." The video you stream is cached to memory as you go. If you run out of memory, it stops saving the video, but keeps streaming it. I was a little bummed that the recipient can't save the video—AT&T says it's for privacy reasons. Hopefully we'll get some video of Video Share up so you can see it in action. I'll confess the reason I can't is because there's no AT&T HSDPA service in my densely populated NYC suburb. An issue that will have to be resolved before AT&T can become a tru playa in the Northeast. (Not just HSDPA. Even iPhones can only venture so far into our fair countryside before losing all connectivity, but that's another story. Or is it?) [AT&T Video Share]

They remind me of the Samsung Sync phone, both in sleek angular style and in their ability to sideload music from Napster and Yahoo (and, I am guessing, other PlaysForSure services you may subscribe to).

The badass app for these phones is Video Share, which we first saw demoed during the introduction of Motorola's RAZR 2. While you are talking, you can stream video in one direction as sort of a show-and-tell. (Your listener must have a compatible 3G phone as well, of course.) AT&T says its got over 160 markets with HSDPA, meaning throughput of 400 to 700 Kbps on average. Jump for close-up shots and facts straight from the horse's mouth. – Wilson Rothman

AT&T AND SAMSUNG UNVEIL NEW ULTRASLIM HANDSETS

New Clamshell and Bar-Style Phones Lead Growing Portfolio of AT&T's 3G Devices

SAN ANTONIO and DALLAS, June 1, 2007 - AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung) have announced the availability of the Samsung SGH-a717, a clamshell-style phone, on June 4, and the SGH-a727, a bar-style phone that will be available in the coming weeks. Both devices offer a rich multimedia experience in an ultra-slim form factor.

The a717 (12.9 mm) and a727 (8.9 mm) are currently the slimmest 3G phones available from AT&T. They also offer a multitude of services a customer would want in a device, including AT&T Mobile Music, Cellular Video, access to MobiTV™ and MobiRadio™, Bluetooth® technology, a microSD™ memory card slot and multiple messaging options.

"The a717 and a727 are packed with the advanced features our customers demand and are stunning additions to our growing portfolio of 3G devices," said Carlton Hill, vice president of product management for AT&T's wireless unit.

The phones will also support AT&T's forthcoming Video Share service, launching this summer. Video Share allows users to add a live, one-way video stream to a standard voice call, allowing the called party to view what the caller is seeing during a voice call. Both customers must be in an area served by the company's 3G network and have a Video Share-enabled phone.

AT&T Mobile Music features connectivity to allow customers that allows customers to use Napster or Yahoo! Music to load music onto the devices, and also includes Music ID, XM Radio, music videos, The Buzz music news portal, and more.

"The a717 and a727 are our slimmest handsets optimized for AT&T's 3G network," said Peter Skarzynski, senior vice president, Samsung. "Both devices embody Samsung's commitment to developing slim, stylish devices that boast a number of multimedia, messaging and music capabilities."

Additional features of the a717 and a727 include:
• 2.0 and 1.3 megapixel cameras, respectively
• Quad-band GSM technology (1900/850/900/1800 MHz), which allows AT&T customers to make calls in more than 190 countries and to download data in more than 125
• Dual-band 3G (850 MHz, 1900 MHz) which provides average download data speeds between 400 and 700 kilobits per second with bursts of more than 1 megabit through AT&T's HSDPA (High Speed Download Packet Access) network
• Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD™ memory card slot
• SMS, MMS, Instant Messaging and Mobile E-mail
• MobiTV and MobiRadio

Pricing and Availability
The SGH-a717 is available June 4 through select AT&T retail locations, formerly Cingular Wireless, or via www.att.com/wireless. The SGH-a727 will be available soon. The a717's and a727's suggested retail price is $149.99 and $99.99 respectively, after a two-year contract activation and a $50 mail-in rebate.

Both phones make Nokia's 6120 (another slim HSDPA phone) seem like a whopper by comparison. They also feature a microSD slot and built-in camera. I just hope their battery life isn't as thin as their waistline. – Louis Ramirez

AT&T Gets Slim Samsung A727 and A717 [Phone Arena]