The ViewSonic VCP08 and possibly even the unnamed VIA MID phone may beat it to market, but ITG continues to forge ahead with plans to release the xpPhone we've been following since its debut in June.
I've been in touch with the company's export sales manager for a few months now and received an email early this morning about the MID phone's latest and greatest feature: customization. While the slider unit's specs have always included a 4.8" WVGA touchscreen, unspecified AMD Super Mobile CPU, and of course Windows XP (original specs here), a new customized order option (see below) broadens the device's offering with choices of 4.3" and 7" screens, WSVGA resolution, CPU clock speeds of lower or higher than 1GHz, a 5-megapixel camera, and Windows 7.
Pricing for the original model hasn't been released (there's talk of it starting at $500 to $700, depending on configuration), so it's unclear how much higher each of the upgrades would raise the price.
The ITG xpPhone, in whatever form, still doesn't have a confirmed release date, though discussion in the company's forum indicates that the product will hit the market in December. This seems rather unlikely, as preorders are still unpriced and these new customizations would obviously delay production, but we'll just have to wait and see.
The 7″ screen would have to fit on an HTC Shift-like case, not an OQO one as pictured.
7″ screen phone? I think it crossed the border way to much
A 4.8″ screen, “over 1GHz” processor, lots of RAM and Win 7 in a phone would be a game changer for me. However, with the upcoming LTE/WIMAX battle I refuse to jump into a communication device soon to be obsolete. ITG’s plan to have replaceable communications modules solves that risk completely. Ah, if it really materializes.
What Phone service would this before…Verizon maybe?
AT&T, Orange, and Vodafone according to the “preorders are still unpriced” link at the end of the article.
Goodbye Driod!
“Operating System : MS-DOS”
That’ll be interesting. The DOS phone? Or how about the Windows 95 phone? Then we’ll really be cooking with gas.
I would buy one of these in a second. But I am curious as to how they integrate the Phone GUI into the Full Windows XP / 7 OS. Windows Mobile 6.5 is built around the Phone GUI feel. Not sure if they could blend a full OS in a way that would still make the phone usable for simple things.
Phone GUI is shown here: http://bit.ly/16z3fr
Well, I thought that the xp phone weighted too much, but the 4.3 screen may be indicative of a less bulky device, good. Also, the 5mp camera gives a fairly decent cellphone camera, and the over 1ghz performance may give good juice over the past efforts of the geode cpu.
A pocketable windows 7, 200gr, 5mp camera, over 1ghz cpu, 4.3 inch screen, 80gb hdd, 1 gb ram, with gps and all the connectivity to think of, I’m getting one of those inmediately if the price doesn’t get incredibly expensive.
After being with OQO and UMID M1, I must admit that 7″ rules. 5″ is simply too small for a PC, 9″ is too large. xpPhone seems really know what they are doing, they just need to release the damn thing ASAP.
ITG xpphone comes with 4.8-inch WVGA touchscreen display, AMD Super Mobile CPU and Windows XP pre-installed, ITG is set to offer upgrade options for everyone who orders, which include adding a 5-megapixel camera onboard, a 7-inch touchscreen, and even Windows 7 for an OS.
Great!!!
When will it be out on public?