BenQ P50

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The BenQ P50 smartphone PDA

The BenQ P50 is a Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition-based smartphone PDA. Combining the features of a quad-band (World ready) GSM/GPRS cell phone and a fully-functional PDA, this device allows you to carry the "best of both worlds" in your pocket.

Specifications

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The P50 Smart Phone is a quad-band GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) mobile phone based on Microsoft Corp.'s Pocket PC operating system. BenQ unveiled the phone at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and said it will be available worldwide next month for about US$800.

Wireless LAN capabilities, coupled with the other mobile connectivity options, provide the phone with better synchronization and improved access to voice and data applications on virtual private networks and shared networks, according to the company.

The mobile phone supports Java applications and comes with Microsoft's Word, Outlook and Excel applications. It can also synchronize applications with a PC through Bluetooth, infrared and USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0. The phone has a thumb keyboard.

Although the P50 is aimed at corporate users with its network connectivity and productivity software features, a number of bells and whistles also make it attractive to the casual user. The phone has a 1.3-megapixel CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) digital camera with integrated flash and digital zoom. Users can record and play MP4 (MPEG-4 Structured Audio) files, play video games, and have MP3 audio files as ringtones, according to the company.

The phone has a 2.83-inch (7.18-centimeter) 18-bit TFT (thin-film transistor) LCD (liquid crystal display) touch-screen, 64M bytes of flash memory and 64M bytes of SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM). It weighs 170 grams and measures 4.7 inches by 2.4 inches by 0.8 inches (11.93 centimeters by 6.09 centimeters by 2.03 centimeters).

It’s powered by an Intel PXA272 416MHz processor and packs-in 64MB of SDRAM and 64MB of Flash ROM. The display is a generous 2.83-inch QVGA TFT LCD with touchscreen and supports a resolution of 240x320 pixels. It’s quite compact too, measuring 122x60x20mm and weighing just 170g.

If that’s not enough, the P50 integrates a 1.3-Megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom and can handle most of the major audio/video formats for playback. You can even set MP3 clips to be your ringtones. Connectivity options are aplenty - you can choose from WLAN, GPRS, Bluetooth, IrDA, USB, and SDIO, and it comes with all the standard applications that you would expect out of a PDA/Phone.

Talk time is estimated at 4 hours and standby time at 120 hours. Bundled accessories include a travel charger, leather case, stylus, cleaning cloth, screen protector film, User Manual, Headset, USB Data Cable and BenQ Companion CD. More details can be found here.

• 1.3 megapixel camera with LED flash
• support for major audio/video formats
• Intel PXA272 416MHz processor
• 64MB SDRAM and 64MB Flash ROM
• 2.83" QVGA TFT LCD display with touchscreen, 240 x 320 pixels
• dimensions: 122x60x20mm
• weight: 170g
• WLAN, GPRS, Bluetooth, IrDA, USB, and SDIO

The Verdict

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What Others Say

• C|net Asia review of BenQ P50
• mobile-review.com review of BenQ P50 (Google cached copy, the original is apparently no longer available)
• InfoSyncWorld preview of BenQ P50