Hot on the heels of the XDA IIs, Vodafone launches their own Windows Mobile communicator with nearly identical features.
Vodafone, the world's largest mobile carrier, has announced a Windows Mobile-based device dubbed the Vodafone Personal Assistant III, or VPA III, offering cutting-edge connectivity.
 | The VPA III is one of the most connected devices to date
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The VPA III is a communicator-type device that is worthy of the title "uber-connected". Starting with a quad-band GSM/GPRS radio at 850/900/1800/1900 MHz for phone connectivity, it also offers 802.11b Wi-Fi support for wireless LAN connectivity. It then adds Bluetooth support for connecting to Bluetooth headsets or other accessories. In addition to the expected USB connection to a PC, it also offers an SDIO-capable Secure Digital slot, all of which together make it one of the most connected devices on the market.
All of that connectivity is backed by a 16-bit color display measuring 240 x 320 pixels, standard for a Windows Mobile communicator, and a slide out thumbboardusing the European-targeted QWERTZ layout rather than the more English-centric QWERTY layout. It also includes a VGA camera. Under the hood the VPA III offers an Intel XScale PXA263 processor running at 400 MHz, 64 MB of ROM, and a spatious 128 MB of RAM. The Lithium Ion Polymer battery is rated for 5 hours talk time or 200 hours standby.
Despite being a communicator, the VPA III runs Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC Phone Edition. All of the usual Microsoft software is included, including support for both POP3 and IMAP4 email.
All of those features have their price, however. The VPA III measures 125 x 71.6 x 18.7 mm and weighs in at a hefty 205 grams. Overall it is nearly identical to the recently announced O2 XDA IIs and T-Mobile MDA III, save for the casing and memory capacity.
The cost of the device and when it will be available are not yet known.
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