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Samsung officially announced the development of the SPH-i700, a smartphone running Microsoft's Windows Powered Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition software at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today.

The SPH-i700 is a tri-band CDMA and 1xRTT device, a first for a Microsoft-based smartphone, and includes and integrated VGA digital camera, another first for a Pocket PC, which have relied on expansion options to add a digital camera until now.

Though technical details and pricing of the SPH-i700 haven't been released, it is expected to perform similarly to other Pocket PC-based phones that run on GSM/GPRS networks. It will feature familiar mobile versions of Microsoft's Pocket Outlook, Pocket Internet Explorer, Pocket Word and Pocket Excel, in addition to Windows Media Player, Microsoft Messenger and more. The i700's speakerphone capability will allow users to conduct hands-free conference calls while simultaneously accessing files and information from the Pocket PC applications. Windows Media Player, Microsoft Messenger and others

Peter Skarzynski, senior vice president of Samsung's wireless terminals division, said "this is the first of several products Samsung will announce in collaboration with Microsoft, and we plan to continue to work together to push the envelope and develop high-performance products that exceed the expectations of our consumers."

Samsung expects the SPH-i700 to become available sometime during the first half of this year.