Joining HTC and Samsung, Taiwan-based MiTAC steps into the Smartphone 2002 camp with the introduction of the Mio 8380, sporting tri-band GSM/GPRS and a digital camera.
Taiwan-based MiTAC has after a brief flood of rumours now introduced its Mio 8380 smartphone, based on Microsoft's Smartphone 2002 platform. Joining HTC and Samsung as manufacturers using this platform, MiTAC delivers the most fully featured device based on Smartphone 2002 thus far, with the clamshell 8380 sporting tri-band GSM/GPRS, J2ME, MMS, MPEG4 playback and even an integrated digital camera.
 | MiTAC's new Mio 8380 is the first Smartphone 2002 device to feature an integrated digital camera and J2ME support
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As a phone, the GPRS Class B, Class 10-compliant Mio 8380 supports 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz cellular networks, as well as SMS and MMS out of the box. Powering the device is a 200 MHz Intel XScale processor, joined by 16 MB of internal RAM and 32 MB of ROM.
The Mio 8380 incorporates a digital camera with a resolution of 110,000 pixels, complete with digital zoom, using the Mio 8380's internal 2.2" 16-bit transflective TFT display as a viewfinder. As a clamshell device, the Mio 8380 also has an external display, which displays the time, date, battery status and whether the battery is charging or has completed charging in a 64 x 48 pixel resolution.
Its compliance with the Java MIDP 2.0 specification makes the Mio 8380 the first Smartphone 2002 device able to download and install J2ME applications out of the box. Also available is an SD Card expansion slot for storing applications and additional data, as well as backup software for users to safeguard SIM data and other key information. In addition, the Mio 8380 also includes an MPEG4 encoder/decoder to allow users to record video clips with its camera, as well as play back content stored in this format. This comes in addition to Microsoft's Windows Media Player, which handles Windows Media formats and playback of MP3 files.
Measuring 97 mm x 51.5 mm x 29.6 mm and weighing 143 g, the Mio 8380 compares fairly well with similarly feature-rich smartphone currently on the market. Its 1050 mAh, rechargeable lithium polymer battery is listed as providing up to 3 hours of talk time, and up to 100 hours of standby time. Also, the cradle of the Mio 8380 will provide a spare slot for recharging an additional battery, hinting that the battery of the smartphone is indeed replaceable.
Additional hi-res pictures of the Mio 8380 are available on the following pages.
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