Samsung maybe doing well with its touchscreen-equipped Android and bada phones but we cannot undermine the fact that Star (S5230) – running proprietary OS – was the one that set the ball rolling. Samsung has announced that Star sales have surpassed a whopping 30 million units.

Launched in May 2009, it is the second phone after E250 to sell 30 million units and have sold about 15m in Europe, 5m in Latin America, 3m in Russia and 1m in China.

Samsung Star’s success could be attributed to the phone’s affordable price and came with features like a 3-inch WQVGA touchscreen display, TouchWiz UI, 3.2MP camera, DNSe, Bluetooth, microSD card slot and more.

Clarion Hotel Stockholm in Sweden has initiated a pilot project that replaces a conventional hotel room key to a mobile phone and the first phone to be used in the project is Samsung’s Star S5230N.

Selected guests were handed out the device with the pre-loaded software which allowed them to check in or check out the hotel with the phone.

Using the service is pretty simple. A guest needs to book a room like they always do but the booking confirmation is received on the phone. The guest can later check-in to the hotel, after which a digital room key is sent that can be used to unlock the door.

Clarion Hotel is conducting this pilot to gather feedback for NFC-related services and says the new technology provides better security as the hotel can reissue new access credentials, in case the guest loses his phone.

Samsung’s Corby range might have taken Star S5230’s cheapest touchscreen phone tag but the hot selling Star is living in the form of special editions. Two special editions of Star S5230 have been rolled out in Germany – one to please the football fans and the other to please the women. The Fan Package phone allows soccer loving German consumers to show their support for the team who’ll play the FIFA world cup in South Africa this year. Samsung will sell the device in white to match Germany’s jersey color.

On the other hand, La Fleur Edition comes in dull pink hue with lovely floral designs on the battery cover and bit on the front side of the phone.

Both the phones will start selling in May for 245 euros.

Via

UPDATE: Check out a small hands-on video of the phone from Mobile-review.

Samsung’s aging Star phone has got a new lease of life with the addition of TV viewing feature. No it’s not the DMB that the Koreans are used to get in almost every phone but an analog mobile TV receiver where consumers can enjoy free-to-air TV channels. The Star TV (S5233T) has been launched in Southeast Asia and if Samsung plans we’ll see the phone in India too.

Telegent Systems is providing the analog mobile TV receiver while Samsung has brushed up the UI to provide rich graphical controls. A user can flick the screen to switch channels, one-click screen capture and record, on-screen keypad channel entry and reception of incoming SMS messages with continuous TV viewing.

With plethora of touchscreen handsets available from Samsung, this milestone was somewhat expected. They’ve announced to sell its 50 millionth unit this month ensuring touchscreen handset market is where the volume (and money) is. The total figure is cumulative of 10m units from 2008 and 40m this year.

However, if we consider the growth percent-wise, Samsung’s this year full-touch phone shipments have increased by 4 times. Touchscreen phones accounted for a total of 5 percent sales in 2008 whereas this year it has contributed to the tune of 20 percent out of its projected 200m unit sales.

Samsung’s mammoth volume is obviously the result of affordable touchscreen phones like Star (S5230) that has sold more than 10m units in just six months of its launch and now its Corby (S3650) that has recorded sales of more than 3m units since its launch in September.

Europe leads the pack for Samsung with 19m units touchscreen phones followed by United States, China and South Korea recording sales of 6.3m, 3.4m and 3.0m respectively.

Samsung’s hot selling S5230 Star has reached the iconic milestone. The phone has surpassed sales of 10m units and is the fastest selling Samsung device till date. Star achieved this figure in just 6 months, about 4 months faster than Samsung’s E250 that reached the 10 million landmark.

Star boasts a 3-inch WQVGA touchscreen, TouchWiz UI, DNSe, Bluetooth 2.1, microSD slot, 3.2MP camera with SmileShot and more.

Hello Kitty lovers in Belgium are in for a treat as Samsung has launched E2210 and Star (S5230) Hello Kitty Edition exclusively available at The Phone House. With its affordable price tag of €69 ($100), the simple E2210 comes in white and pink shade with the Hello Kitty pictured on the phone while spending €169 ($250) will give the touchscreen enabled Star, again with the same color combination. Other features remain the same.

Samsung Star (S5230/S5233) is doing well but to propel its sales further, they’ve released the phone with Wi-Fi connectivity. Star WiFi has been officially outed in Middle East and there’s a fair chance this baby will roll out in other regions soon.

Rest of the specs remain the same – quad-band GSM/EDGE support, 3-inch touchscreen display with TouchWiz UI, 3.2MP camera, Bluetooth, music player and microSD card slot.

The phone will be available in black, white, pink and silver for AED799 or USD217.

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Samsung has launched a limited edition of its fastest selling touch phone in Belgium. The Star Think-Pink limited edition will be available from October 1 and has been created to support Think-Pink, an organization that spreads awareness against breast cancer. Every limited edition phone bears a cancer ribbon at the back and for every phone sold, Samsung will donate €10.

As for the internal features, it is still the same like a 3-inch touchscreen display, TouchWiz UI, EDGE connectivity, 3.2MP camera with face and smile detection, accelerometer, microSD card slot, Gesture lock, Bluetooth and more.

Think-Pink limited edition will sell for €149 and will be available till end of December.

Samsung today announced that their cheapest touchscreen, Star (S5230) sales have surpassed the 5 million mark making it the fastest selling model in Samsung’s history. In fact, if sales continue to thrive at this rate, Star is well on track to achieve the next the 10 million milestone by November, very much in line with Samsung exec’s statement.

Star features a 3-inch WQVGA touchscreen, TouchWiz UI, EDGE, DNSe, Bluetooth 2.1, microSD slot, 3.2MP camera with SmileShot and more.

Star’s cheapest touchscreen tag will soon be taken away as Samsung Corby (S3650) will take its place in the near future.