PDA News - Dual slot dual radio PocketPC, New Year game sales, Vodafone dumps MS

Asus PocketPC with BT/WiFi/CF/SD coming in January

The rumors of a new PocketPC from Asus that were going around a few weeks ago have been proven true. A few days go, the Taiwanese company showed off the new machine to a group of local technology corresponents, and intimated that it was planned for a January release. The PocketPC features built in WiFi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, as well as both CompactFlash and SDIO expansion slots, a 400 MHz processor, 64 MB RAM, and 64 MB ROM. Since the A716 hasn't officially launched yet, definite pricing information isn't available, however it is expected to be about $500.

The A716 will mark the first true PocketPC to offer two built-in wireless options and two expansion slots on the U.S. market. The only other dual-slot dual-radio PocketPC is the Fujitsu Loox 610BT/WLAN, which is not available in North America. Curiously, the A716 looks nearly identical to the 610BT/WLAN, possibly indicating some common heritage.

Asus PocketPCs have a reputation for speed and quality, but have been hampered in gaining a significant portion of the market due to limited availability. In addition to manufacturing their own line of PocketPCs, Asus also builds palmOne's Tungsten line of handhelds.  

New Years sales on Astraware and iNDUSTRY games

http://www.indus3.org/

As the last entry in its December promotion, Astraware is offering the Bejewelled: Game of the Year edition for $7.45, until Jan 1st. Astraware is also alluding to some kind of big New Years sale to be revealed on January 1st.

Vodafone puts Smartphone on hiatus

Global telecommunications giant Vodafone has placed a hold on any plans to introduce Microsoft Smartphone devices on its networks. Arun Sarin, CEO of Vodafone, stated of MS Smartphone that "In our view, it´s not quite ready for prime time."

This is bad news for Microsoft and their Smartphone efforts for a whole host of reasons, apart from the obvious. Vodafone is not just the world's largest cellular provider, but its Vodafone Live! service is considered to be ideal for this sort of thing, and if they don't consider MS Smartphones to be ready for use, it is going to raise questions for other carriers--even more so considering that T-Mobile, the #2 worldwide provider, recently made a similar decision.

However, even by the most forgiving standards, Vodafone has more than enough reason to doubt the usefulness of Microsoft's platform. MS Smartphone has not exactly been endearing itself to users. Even traditionally pro-Microsoft websites such as MSMobiles have railed against the enormous list of flaws that MS Smartphones suffer from, which may shed light on another reason for carriers' reluctance--a desire to not have to provide tech support for Microsoft's premature field trials.