BenQ unveils WLAN smart phone with camera

LAS VEGAS - Consumer electronics maker BenQ is showing off a new mobile phone with 802.11b wireless networking capabilities and an integrated 1.3-megapixel digital camera with zoom and flash.

The P50 Smart Phone is a quad-band GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) mobile phone based on Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system. BenQ unveiled the phone at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and said it will be available worldwide next month for about $800.

Wireless LAN capabilities, coupled with the other mobile connectivity options, provide the phone with better synchronization and improved access to voice and data applications on virtual private networks and shared networks, according to the company.

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

Although the P50 is aimed at corporate users with its network connectivity and productivity software features, a number of bells and whistles also make it attractive to the casual user. The phone has a 1.3-megapixel CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) digital camera with integrated flash and digital zoom. Users can record and play MP4 (MPEG-4 Structured Audio) files, play video games, and have MP3 audio files as ringtones, according to the company.

The phone has a 2.83-inch (7.18-centimeter) 18-bit TFT (thin-film transistor) LCD (liquid crystal display) touch-screen, 64M bytes of flash memory and 64M bytes of SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM). It weighs 170 grams and measures 4.7 inches by 2.4 inches by 0.8 inches (11.93 centimeters by 6.09 centimeters by 2.03 centimeters).