A spy shot of the Samsung i770 next to its predecessor, the i760, emerged on Tuesday courtesy of Howard Forums member TK093. The upcoming i770 is longer and a lot slimmer than the i760. The i770 maintains its slim profile by shedding the slide out keyboard of the i760 in favor of a full front Qwerty keyboard. The front of the phone is dominated visually by a giant silver ring that encircles an optical touchpad. Similar to the i780, the optical touchpad can be used to control the onscreen cursor. Confused by the idea of a touchpad on a touchscreen device? Don’t worry, there is a toggle switch on the side of the phone that allows you to switch from this unique virtual mouse mode to regular D-Pad mode. According to TK093, the i770 still has the top power button that is used to wake up the phone. Ugh, a minor annoyance but at least there is a system setting that allows you to switch between “wake up with the power button” or “wake up with any button”. No release date or pricing has been announced. We can only hope the release is soon as the aging i760 really needs a replacement and Verizon desperately needs some fresh, new Windows Mobile Professional phones, even this mediocre offering, in its lineup. Hit the jump for a snapshot of the ultra-slim side profile of the i770.
