E-TEN's upcoming G500 smartphone?

Pictures (not photos, mind you) have popped up of what may be an upcoming smartphone by E-TEN called the G500. Sporting a 400MHz Samsung processor, 64MB RAM/128MB ROM, 1.3 megapixel camera with flash, quad-band GSM, miniSD slot and a 2.8-inch QVGA screen, this model would seem to be very similar to the M600 other than the replacement of WiFi with SiRFstar III GPS. Unfortunately the screencaps seem to indicate a lack of WM5 (PPC Phone Edition here), but we'll wait to pass judgement until we see an official announcement or a G500 in the wild.

[Placeman @ Jan 11th 2006 7:56PM]

Is it me or is the bottom of the screen look like it was cut off and pasted on top? Kind of like an out of sync B/W TV.

[College Cheapskate @ Jan 11th 2006 8:02PM]

Has some nice specs but I'm not sure if that looks very comfortable to hold. Plus with so much clear surface won't it get kinda dirty being help up to the face so much?

[Alcaron @ Jan 11th 2006 8:18PM]

Considering it does say "Pocket PC" just below the screen, and theres no mention of Pocket PC anywhere in its name, that might be an indicator that it does, in fact, run PPC.



Which sadly puts it right out of the running for me.

[Fred Hyke @ Jan 11th 2006 8:55PM]

NOT Smartphone; but a Pocket PC Phone. I personally am a Smartphone fan and am sick of getting excited over false headlines...

[Matt @ Jan 11th 2006 9:11PM]

I personally have an M600 and this looks exactly the same. The M600 is by far the best PDA phone I've every used. A few glitches here and there, but they have been mostly fixed with ROM updates. Visit www.eten-users.net for more on the M600. I wouldn't wait for this one however, as you will miss wifi. Instead just get a bluetooth sirfstar III gps reciever for around 130 dollars.

[fogd00d @ Jan 12th 2006 1:05AM]

How is it that tech journalists still don't know the difference between a Pocket PC and a Smartphone?



Observe:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/downloads/default.mspx

[E71 @ Jan 12th 2006 5:57AM]

You know the competition in the pdaphone market should be "Who can cram in the most features" and not "Who can comprimise features to make way for other features". So far, in the lead: HP HW6900 - except they still need to bump up the supported versions of Bluetooth and Wifi and switch that damn screen to full QVGA.

[CurlyBoy @ Jan 26th 2006 2:42PM]

Hmm. Looks only slightly different than the Mio A701 to me. Almost same specs, too ...

[Matt @ Jan 26th 2006 2:48PM]

who makes the maps for the gps function??

[Visotor @ Jan 26th 2006 9:01PM]

Just wondering why some of you would prefer a smartphone instead of PPC version? I personally use my PPC for all sorts of things, and would prefer it's text entry and interactive capability. The smartphone is mostly information out, and less interactive. (My understanding of it anyway). Can any of you elaborate on why you prefer the smartphone version? Just wondering, not looking to start a flame war. Thanks all.

[CurlyBoy @ Jan 30th 2006 4:16PM]

Can't really tell you why some prefer one over the other, but there's really two major difference between a Smartphone and a Pocket PC device when comparing cellphone capabilities, and it centers around the distinction between the OS being phone-centric (Smartphone) or data-centric (Pocket PC).

First is form-factor. Smartphones are thinner. Smartphones tend to use the 176 x 220 screens (1:1.25 ratio) while Pocket PCs use the 240x320 screens (1:1.33 ratio).

Second is input method. Pocket PC devices stylus and touch-sensitive screens. Smartphones do not have touch-sensitive screens and generally just use the softkeys and the numeric keypad for input.