LAS VEGAS — Audiovox expanded its portfolio of wireless-phone technologies with the introduction here of its first GSM phone, first push-to-talk (PTT) phone, and first PDA-phone equipped with CDMA 1x EV-DO high-speed data technology.
The PTT phone is a trimode CDMA 1X bar phone available with either Java or BREW download capability, GPSOne, voice-activated dialing, Web browser, USB interface, built-in speakerphone, color LCD, vibrating alert and polyphonic ring tones. It will be available to carriers in February.
A clamshell CDMA 1x trimode, due to carriers in March, lacks PTT, but features Java or BREW, GPSOne, voice-activated dialing, WAP 2.0 browser, USB interface, built-in speakerphone, polyphonic ringers and two color LCD screens. It weights 3.2 ounces.
The GSM phone, the GX28, is a camera-phone with high-speed GPRS data, triband (850, 1,800, 1,900MHz) operation and dual 65K color LCD displays. The built-in 350K-pixel camera features digital zoom, flash and auto timer. It also records full-motion video and plays back video in the H.263 and MPEG-4 formats. Other features include picture caller ID, photo phone book and 2MB flash memory. A ship date was unavailable.
The PPC5050 dual-band CDMA 1X phone is not only the first Audiovox phone equipped with EV-DO technology, but it’s the company’s first PocketPC-phone to use Microsoft’s PocketPC Phone Edition technology to integrate PDA features. Audiovox’s first PocketPC phone, the Thera, didn’t use Phone Edition software.
EV-DO technology delivers data at a theoretical peak stationary rate of 2.4Mbps, with expected stationary peaks of 1.1Mbps and an average 300-400kbps in a moving vehicle.
The PPC5050 features 400MHz Intel processor, 64MB memory, GPSOne, 3.5-inch 65K color touch screen, text messaging to any e-mail address, SD/MMC slot, IrDA and MP3 player. The 6.2-ounce device delivers up to five hours of talk time or 200 standby hours on its 1,500mAh lithium-ion battery. A delivery date was unavailable.
