HTC Reportedly Prepping WM Smartphone with Slide-Out Keyboard

There are several Pocket PC phones on the market now with slide-out keyboards, but so far no company has introduced a Windows Mobile Smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard that can be hidden behind its screen.

(view large image)

This will change when HTC releases the Vox, if a report from msmobiles.com is correct.

Like all devices that use this general configuration, this device's QVGA screen will be able to rotate between portrait and landscape modes. This wouldn't be significant if this was going to be a Pocket PC, but no current WM Smartphones offer this capability.

In addition to being a quad-band GSM phone, the Vox will reportedly offer EDGE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

Supposedly, this smartphone will be out around the middle of next year, raising the possibility that it will run the next version of Windows Mobile, code-named Crossbow. If this is true, then it may be one of the first WM Smartphones to ship with a version of Office Mobile, allowing users to view and edit Microsoft Office files.

According to this report, the Vox will have 96 MB of RAM and 128 MB of ROM, plus a microSD card slot for additional storage

This WM Smartphone will also have a 2 megapixel camera.

Related Articles

• Next Version of Windows Mobile Smartphone Might Offer Office Mobile
• Cingular Now Offering Two New Windows Mobile Devices