ELECTRONICS giant Samsung has unveiled a new website that it says sets a new benchmark for top consumer electronics firms.

With the website - www.uberme.com - Samsung is jostling with a host of commercial portals trying to get noticed in the increasingly crowded market.

Uberme means 'super me' in German and Samsung hopes to distinguish itself by allowing users to post blog diaries, share videos and photos as well as engage in instant chat.

It may be the most cutting-edge portal from a consumer electronics leader, said Samsung's general manager of corporate marketing.

He hopes 'it can become one of the hottest portals in Asia' through its 'UberHot' competition - a search for Mr and Miss UberHot..

For now, Uberme is available in English and Chinese in only eight countries. But Mr Henry said: 'We want to localise the portal as much as possible by creating versions in other languages.'

More importantly, he hopes that the website can create more brand awareness among its customers.

While touted by Samsung as a big deal, many reviewers say Uberme has arrived on the back of other well-established portals such as those by Yahoo and Google.

They say the new site is easy to use with exciting communications tools. Still, many point out that most of Uberme's new features, such as the posting of blogs and exchange of photos and videos, are already available on many other websites.