News

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given Dell permission to release in the U.S. at least two new Pocket PCs which will be part of the Axim X50 series.

When a wireless device is given FCC approval, all the documents that were filed with this government agency as part of the approval process are posted on its web site. However, a confidentiality request has been submitted to the FCC, which means that many of the documents about this device that normally would be available to the public are being withheld.

Nevertheless, by carefully scrutinizing the documents that are available, Brighthand was able to determine that this approval is definitely for the Dell Axim X50.

In addition, the documents filed with the FCC make it clear that there will be at least two devices in this series. One of these will have both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networking. A second will have only Bluetooth.

There are no good images of exactly what the X50 will look like, but a picture of the front without the casing on and a picture of the back show that this model won't be shaped exactly like either the Axim X5 or the Axim X3.

Update: More information on the handhelds in the X50 series has been found in the FCC filing. One model will have a 3.7-inch, 640-by-480-pixel (VGA) screen, a 624 MHz Intel XScale processor, and either 128 MB or 64 MB of RAM. A second model will have a 3.5-inch, 240-by-320-pixel (QVGA) screen, a 520 MHz XScale processor, and 64 MB of RAM.

Another detail that is included with the FCC filing is the fact that this handheld will use a 1100 mAh battery, with a 2200 mAh extended battery available separately.

This isn't confirmed by the information in the FCC site, but all versions of the X50 are expected to have both a CompactFlash slot and an SD slot.

According to the terms of the confidentiality request, the FCC is allowed to reveal all the documents it is currently withholding on Friday, September 24. This means that even if Dell hasn't officially announced the Axim X50 by then, the FCC will still post all the details of this model on its web site on that date.

Update: Dell has submitted an updated confidentiality request. This asks the FCC to withhold from public view the details of the Axim X50 until November 8, which indicates that Dell currently doesn't plan to introduce this handheld for another couple of months.

Thanks to James and Duncan from FirstLoox.org for the tips.

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