Personalize your iPaq rw6800

In conjunction with the recent launch of the iPaq rw6800, HP will also be introducing a limited-edition skin collection which the company hopes can offer users an added touch of personalization for their PDA-phones. Each skin will retail for S$30 (US$21.72) and this includes the cost of application of the skin which will be carried out by appointed third-party vendors. Users can choose from four designs in the initial collection, which includes Classic Red and Divine Fucshia for female users, Bubble Green for the younger crowd and Black Knight for professional male consumers.

HP's introduction of user-selectable skins for its handhelds, possibly a first for the company, didn't come as a surprise as its main competitors Dopod and O2 are already offering multiple color versions of their latest PDA-phones. The first collection of four skin designs is created by local designers. According to HP, other collections of skins will be made available seasonally. (Click here for larger images)

BenQ-Siemens trio headed this way

In BenQ-Siemens' case, it takes three to tango, with the company's mobile division finally confirming the launch dates of three of its phones. Originally slated for an April launch, the CL71 slider has been delayed to a late May rollout. Meanwhile, both the EL71 and E61 are firm for a June debut in Singapore.

Specs-wise, the CL71 offers the standard features expected in today's music phone. Those looking out for a musically inclined handset can expect up to 10 hours of music, with the onboard player capable of supporting MP3 and other formats, a six-band equalizer and the BenQSyncer software. The phone will come in a choice of silver and orange.

As for the other two sliders, the blocky-looking EL71 is notable for its 2-inch QVGA 262K-color display, semi-automatic sliding mechanism and microSD card slot. But it won't score any brownie points with shooters owing to a low-res 1.3-megapixel camera. This comes in Quartz Anthracite or Opal Black.

The CL71 offers more or less the same features as its EL71 sibling, but is a more stunning looker, with an iF Design Award 2006 to give it credence.

Prices for all three models were not available at press time.

More new colors for the V3x

Blink, and yet another Motorola has shed its current wardrobe for another designer set of colors. This time it's the V3x series with the US company releasing it in Ash and Licorice, two fancy names to describe what we personally think are simply silver and black. They join the current batch in Cosmic Blue and Hot Pink. Still, it's become an interesting exercise to see just what Paris Hilton-ish hue and name will emerge next from Motorola's color palette.

Meanwhile, for those who've been waiting for the Maroon and Silver editions of the V3i, they're finally out. Both now retail at S$668 without a plan, while the V3x is going for S$798 sans contract.

Moto Q: It's coming! It's coming!

Motorola's long-in-the-tooth smart phone Q is finally, from the mouth of CEO Ed Zander, on its way. Next week, to be exact, though its first public appearance will be on US shelves. As for Asia, unfortunately the local Motorola office is unable to comment on local availability as at press time. So we'll just have to drool from a distance in the meantime.

In an interview with CNET.com, the company head honcho explained that the Q's delay was due to its "complex" innards which needed multiple iterations. Will it still live up to its hype of being a BlackBerry killer nearly one year after it was announced last July? We'll have to see once the first review comes out of the CNET Labs. Surprisingly, in the year-long interim, there have been no clear challengers to the Q's claim of being the smallest QWERTY phone at a razor-thin girth of 11.5mm.

Palm's Treo 700p makes a landing in US

Well, it's not here, yet, and Asia-Pacific users may have to stretch their necks out a little bit longer for the GSM version of the Treo 700p to arrive. That is, if it ever does.

Palm has announced the Treo 700p as the second major update (the first was the Treo 700w running on Windows Mobile 5.0) to the Treo lineup for this year. However, Asia-Pacific users can only drool since the current version runs only on CDMA. Like the Treo Hollywood, which is another big question mark, Palm has not indicated whether either models will be making its way to the region.

The Treo 700p comes with several hits and misses. What has improved includes support for streaming media, increased user-accessible memory from 22MB to 60MB, compatibility with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and a 320 x 320-resolution display. There's no built-in Wi-Fi support, though, and according to sources on the Web, the SDIO slot on the Treo 700p won't support the wireless connection as well.

While we're at that, perhaps we can add the Treo 700l to Palm's arsenal for 2006--"l" for the Linux system it may run. But that's just pure speculation on our part.

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