During the 3GSM World Congress last week, Microsoft and its partners made several announcements indicating that the Smartphone 2002 platform is slowly picking up its pace.
Although the 3GSM World Congress was to a large extent dominated by mobile phone manufacturers and Symbian OS-related announcements, Microsoft and its partners also issued several press releases indicating that Smartphone 2002 is - ever so slowly - starting to pick up its pace. Among these were the news of a successor to the Orange SPV, a new reference design from Microsoft and Intel and also operator T-Mobile announcing plans for introducing a Smartphone device this summer.
 | China-based Wistron will be the first manufacturer to produce a smartphone based on Microsoft and Intel's new reference design
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Preliminary dubbed the SPVx, the successor to Orange's current SPV will be based on the previously exposed Tanager reference from Taiwan-based HTC, which also manufacturers the Canary reference design on which the SPV is based. Although for the most part similar, the Tanager is equipped with an improved display, 32 MB of RAM and sports a miniature joystick. Orange said it plans to have the SPVx commercially available within the next six to eight weeks.
Another Taiwan-based manufacturer, MiTAC, was also showing a clamshell Smartphone 2002 device which the company said would be available later this quarter. This device, named the Mio 8380 Smart Phone, uses Intel's PXA262 processor, which combines 32 MB of flash memory and a 200 MHz Intel XScale processor in a single package. Also, the Mio 8380 will be the first Smartphone 2002 device with an integrated, 110K pixel digital camera.
The U.S. will also shortly be graced with a Smartphone 2002 device this spring, as Compal's AR11 is on its way courtesy of little known operator Everlink Wireless. The operator will launch the smartphone under its red e brand as the SC1100, along with accessories in the U.S. market although no details were disclosed concerning pricing nor in what markets the operator has presence.
Operator T-Mobile will also be joining the Smartphone bandwagon this summer, by means of HTC's Tanager reference design according to sources. Slated for its major markets, no details of the smartphone were as of yet revealed, except for the general capabilities of the platform. Phillipines-based SMART Communications, however, beats both Orange and T-Mobile to the Tanager as the operator is already now working to make the its "Smart Amazing Phone" available to subscribers in the Phillipines.
Also shown at 3GSM was a hardware reference design based on a concept design developed by Microsoft and Intel based on the Intel Personal Internet Client Architecture (Intel PCA). China-based Wistron, known for manufacturing Dell's Axim line of handhelds, is the first manufacturer the first to make use of the concept design and intends to have a device available later this year. Based on the reference design, the Wistron smartphone will offer an Intel PXA262 processor, a 176 x 220-pixel color display, an integrated camera and up to five hours of talk time.
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