News

E-TEN has just announced the M500, a cellular-wireless Pocket PC.

E-TEN is a Taiwanese company well-known in Asia, but may be unfamiliar to many outside of that region. It has designed a number of handhelds and smartphones, especially for the Chinese market.

It's latest model, the M500, will run the Phone Edition of Windows Mobile 2003 SE for Pocket PC.

It will use a 400 MHz Samsung S3C2440 processor and include 64 MB of RAM. In addition, it will have an SD/SDIO card slot for additional storage.

The M500 will be a GSM/GPRS devices, meaning it will offer both wireless voice and data. It will support 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, allowing it to be used in just about every country in the world.

In addition, it will have Bluetooth short-range wireless networking, allowing it to use wireless headsets.

This handheld will have a built-in 1.3 megapixel camera that can take pictures with up to a 1280-by-960-pixel resolution. It will also be able to record video.

The M500 will be rather small for a cellular-wireless Pocket PC, just 4.4 inches tall, 2.4 inches wide, and 0.9 inches thick (11.2 cm by 6.1 cm by 22 mm). It will weigh 6 ounces (170 g).

This device's 1440 mAh battery is swappable. According to E-TEN, it will be able to run for between 3.5 and 4 hours of talk time, 150 to 200 hours of standby time, or 10 to 15 hours of Pocket PC usage on a single charge.

It will come with a wired headset, cradle, and a leather carrying case.

It is not known yet which carriers, if any, will offer the M500, or what it will cost.

Additional information is available on the E-TEN web site.

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