MWg's (ex-O2 Asia) first handheldsWhen O2 announced that it would be selling its Asia device business to the management under the name MWg (Mobile and Wireless Group), we wondered if that was the beginning of the end for the Xda line of devices. But lo and behold, as promised earlier, MWg has announced its 2008 lineup. The names of the two new Windows Mobile 6 Professional products along with some of their specifications were announced last week though pictures were unavailable. But since then, Expansys, an online retail store which is also an investor in MWg, put up digital renderings of the devices along with more specifications on its Hong Kong site. From the original images, it looks like both the new Atom V and Zinc II handhelds will have modified Today screens with large clocks and buttons, not unlike those found on the newer HTC devices like the Touch Dual. Expansys has since changed the images so they show only the standard WM6 Today screen. Check out our product image galleries for the original screens. Both devices will have a slew of connectivity features including HSDPA, Wi-Fi and GPS, among others. One disappointing feature though is that they will both come with just 64MB of RAM each. This is half that of devices like the HTC TyTN II and PDA-phones in the i-mate Ultimate series. More RAM allows more applications to be run at the same time, thereby improving the responsiveness of the device when multi-tasking. In its original statement, MWg expects the Atom V to be available in Q1 and the Zinc II in Q2. No pricing information is available yet though Expansys Hong Kong lists the Atom V at HK$4,720 (US$604.50) and the Zinc II at HK$5,245 (US$671.70). Head on over to the next page for more information about the new PDA-phones. |
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