Samsung to Launch Cell Phone with Two SIM Slots

One phone for work, one for play. One SIM card for the U.S., one for overseas. There are lots of reasons why people might (and do) carry two cell phones, but might there be a way for those who need two SIMs to do it all with just one phone, and without having to swamp SIMs endlessly?

Well, there is: The Samsung DuoS (also known as the SGH-D880) is set to be the latest (if not the absolute first) cell phone with two slots for dual SIM cards.

The DuoS is a slider phone with a profile very similar to Samsung's other slider models (like the D807), and on the surface it's a pretty straightforward (though plenty beefy) handset: Standard numeric keypad, 3-megapixel camera, microSD slot, stereo Bluetooth, and an FM radio.

The difference is under the hood, with two SIM slots side by side when you pop the battery cover off. Mobile Gazette says both are active simultaneously, and can work with different countries or data types: You can have one for voice and one for data, for example. But no 3G support, sorry.

Now for the bad news: Right now this is a phone for Russia only (though you'll probably be able to find it on the import gray market), and even then it's expensive: $720 at today's exchange rates, so start saving your rubles. A different dual-SIM model can be found in India, and in other parts of Asia they're said to be fairly common.

Will we see dual-SIM products in the U.S. in the near future?

LINK: Two SIMs in one phone