Velocity Mobile, a brand new handset manufacturer, announced today at CTIA Wireless 2008 (1 - 3 April) the future release of Velocity 103 and Velocity 111, two new 3G-enabled smartphones that run on Microsoft's latest Windows Mobile 6.1 OS.

Presenting itself as a collaboration between Inventec, a leading ODM (Original Design Manufacturer), and a "team of veteran wireless designers and engineers", Velocity Mobile tries to conquer a part of the rough global mobile market with the two new handsets announced today.

Velocity 103 and Velocity 111 have about the same features, the main difference between them being the fact that the second device (Velocity 111) comes with a full QWERTY keyboard, while the first (Velocity 103) doesn't. Also, the 103 packs a wide touchscreen display with a 640 x 480 pixels resolution, while 111 only has a 320 x 240 pixels touchscreen.

The common features of the new Velocity handsets include: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Qualcomm MSM7201 chipset, 128MB of RAM and 258MB of ROM, quad-band GSM connectivity as well as UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, TV-out, 2 Megapixel camera, secondary video-call camera and microSD card support. Pretty impressive, I might say.

Velocity 103 will be released during the second quarter of 2008, while Velocity 111 is planned to hit the market in the third quarter. No pricing details yet, but the producer said both devices will be available unlocked, hence offering users the ability to use them with any carrier.

Kirk Suen, vice president and general manager of the Mobile Business Unit of Inventec Corporation, the company behind the new handsets, declared: "Velocity Mobile is driven by the understanding that people want compelling mobile experiences, not merely applications and functions. Our new smartphones will deliver in the areas you would expect such as design and power, but fuse those elements with a simple and intuitive user interface so there are no compromises, making the Windows Mobile experience relevant and accessible to the broadest possible audience."

On the paper, the new Velocity 103 and Velocity 111 seem to be powerful devices, and they're also nicely designed, but we'll have to wait until their release to see if they can indeed stand besides smartphones produced by famous companies like RIM, Motorola or Samsung.