For those that love the concept of the Epix, currently available on AT&T, and the Treo Pro, the touchscreen and keyboard market is about to get a bit hotter. We first heard of the BlackBerry Magnum, which is a device from Research in Motion that combines a front-facing QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen yesterday, and now we are hearing reports of a Samsung device that does the same.

The device is dubbed the Samsung Pivot and is still a concept from the AT&T PowerPoint slide. It will feature Windows Mobile 6.1, according to the slide, have tri-band 3G and quad-band EDGE/GSM, and support a crazy 4 GB/2 GB ROM/RAM memory. In addition, there will be WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS support.

The initial slide mockup shows a device with a landscape screen over the keyboard, which is different from the Epix’s and Treo Pro’s screens, which features a 320 X 320 square display. A landscape oriented VGA, WVGA, or even QVGA screen would mean that more programs would be compatible as opposed to the odd screen resolution and square format. However, even a 480 X 480 square screen would be welcomed as the 480 dimension would be based on VGA specs, adding compatibility while keeping the screen small so that the device would be more portable.

The fight continues between Research in Motion. Jack or BlackBerry Curve? Pivot or Magnum for the touch and keyboard variety?

(via: EngadgetMobile)