BIOS: Technology Means Business

BenQ, not well known for its mobile phones or its smart phones, is set to release its P50 Smart Phone. Although it's not available for a few months, the P50 Smart Phone has the potential to be a Treo killer. Showcased at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, the Windows Mobile-powered phone sports built-in Wi-Fi and GSM/GPRS radios, as well as a 1.3-Megapixel digital camera. The only problem is that BenQ expects to sell the phone for around £434 (ex. VAT) - almost twice as much as its main competitor, the Treo 650. It's still worth watching out for.

Pros: Built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi; 64MB memory; FM radio
Cons: Expensive

The P50 Smart Phone is a quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) mobile phone based on Microsoft's (Profile, Products, Articles) Pocket PC operating system, Intel Bulverde PXA272 processor and 64MB of system memory.

Designed primarily for business users, the most innovative feature of the product is that it includes wireless LAN capabilities, coupled with the other mobile connectivity options, including improved access to voice and data applications on virtual private networks and shared networks, according to the company.

The mobile phone also has a thumb keyboard for easier data entry, supports Java applications and comes with Microsoft's Pocket Word, Outlook and Excel applications. It can also synchronise applications with a PC through Bluetooth, infrared and USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0.

The phone has a thumb keyboard. You also get a 1.3-Megapixel CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) digital camera with integrated flash and digital zoom and can record and play MP4 (MPEG-4 Structured Audio) files, play video games, and use MP3 audio files as ringtones.

The phone is available handset only (SIM free) and unlocked, you can use your existing SIM from any of the UK or European GSM networks (Vodafone, T-Mobile, O2 and so on).