Joe Levi:
a cross-discipline, multi-dimensional problem solver who thinks outside the box – but within reality™

Mio A701 Pocket PC Phone Edition with Built-in GPS

It’s just about time for me to upgrade my Pocket PC (currently an HP iPAQ 4155) again. Around 2001 I had an HP Jornada 468; I looked into the future and predicted that “the next Pocket PC I buy will be a mobile phone, too.” A good deal of time thereafter a few companies flirted with “extending” the Pocket PC with cellular add-in cards (then PCMCIA format). I bought my wife a (then) Compaq iPaq 3900 series for Christmas, planning on buying her a PCMCIA “sleeve” and cellular card when they were to be released the following February. February turned into July and the cellular card was still “coming soon.” I threw in the towel.

Within a year or so Microsoft came out with their Pocket PC Phone Edition operating system, followed by devices that had phone capabilities built-in.

I’ve made due without a mobile phone for some years now, but with my recent change in employment, my wife felt it time for us to “go wireless” again. So now we’re tethered to T-Mobile for at least 2 years… and my dreams of being truely mobile are tempting me again.

I’ve found a device (“available soon”) that seems to “do it all.” It’s a high-end Pocket PC, decent screen, stanard form-factor, good amount of onboard storage, expandable via standard (not mini-) SD card, quad-band GSM, Bluetooth, with GPS (yes, global positioning!).

Now for what it doesn’t have: WiFi, 3G wireless, availability in the United States.

I’m not going to let those stop me. I figure with the “always on” GSM data connection I really won’t need WiFi (not to mention that most times when WiFi is on, phone capabilities are off, oddly enough), it’s only a Pocket PC so I won’t need blazingly fast wireless access, and I can always import it from Singapore. 😉 Problems solved!

Features:

  • 520MHz Intel XScale CPU
  • Windows Mobile 5.0 (Pocket PC Phone Edition)
  • 2.7-inch, 320×240 display
  • 128MB ROM
  • 64MB RAM)
  • 1.3 Megapixel camera
  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • Quad Band GSM
  • GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), data speeds of 32 – 48 kbps
  • Integrated GPS
  • SD/SDIO/MMC Expansion Slot

Sites that are currently taking pre-orders (or might be able to get a few):

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