Hauppauge, N.Y.— UT Starcom’s PPC-6700 PDA phone is the U.S. market’s first keyboard-equipped PDA phone based on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 OS, but it’s not the first PocketPC-based phone with keyboard as reported in the Sept. 26 issue, p. 36.
The first was UT Starcom’s PPC-6600, which is built on Windows Mobile 2003 for PocketPC platform and has been available from Verizon and Sprint since late last year.
In both models, the keyboard slides out of the phone’s body, but in 6700, the keyboard slides out
of the side, not the bottom, and automatically reorients the color display to landscape mode. The 6700 is the first such model with that capability in the United States, UTStarcom said. The 6700 features CDMA 1x EV-DO technology, unlike the 6600.
The 6700 was launched by Sprint this month through its direct-to-business channels at $629 with contract. Verizon’s plans haven’t been announced.
