The mid-end handsets will be available in Q2 2006

Mar 9, 2006 16:19 GMT  ·  By

BenQ Mobile, the new business division of the BenQ Corporation, announced today six new handsets at the annual CeBIT trade show, held this year in Hannover, Germany.

Beyond award-winning design, the new handsets also demonstrate expertise across multimedia functionality and innovative display technologies, such as OLED. With a total of 12 new products launched since January, BenQ Mobile has already carved a distinct position in the industry offering consumers worldwide a broad and engaging portfolio that contains the combined strengths of Siemens and BenQ.

The P51 smartphone, the successor of BenQ P50, upgrades the operating system to Windows Mobile 5.0 and adds WLAN 802.11 b/g support as well as GPS features. The handset is expected to be available in July 2006. The main features of the quad-band GSM device include full QWERTY keyboard, QVGA 65k color TFT touch display, 1.3 megapixel camera with flash and video capture, 128 MB SDRAM and 128 MB Flash memory, SDIO memory expansion slot, music player (with support for MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, WAV, WMA, Midi files), video player (with support for WMV, MPEG4, .3GP, H.264 files), VoIP via WiFi support and Bluetooth/USB/WLAN connectivity.

The EL71 looks like an ultra-slim tri-band GSM phone with slide form factor and metal finish. It will probably be out on the market in April 2006. Its main features include a 2.0-inch QVGA 262k color TFT display, 1.3 megapixel camera with flash and video capture, GPRS/EDGE high-speed data, 16 MB internal memory, microSD memory expansion slot, music player (with support for MP3/ AAC/AAC+ files), music playback and streaming, and Bluetooth/USB connectivity.

The CL71 seems identical to the EL71 slider phone. It was introduced under the name Cupid, when rumors about its features surfaced the net for the first time. The phone contains a 2.0-inch 262k color TFT display, 1.3 megapixel camera with CMOS sensor, 24MB internal memory, microSD memory expansion slot, MP3 player, 3D surround sound, Video Recording and Playback, Built-in speakerphone and Bluetooth v1.2/USB 1.1 connectivity.

The C81 tri-band GSM phone has a bar-designed and it is expected to hit the market in Q2 2006. The main features are as follow: 262k color TFT display, 1.3 megapixel camera, GPRS/EDGE high-speed data, RS-MiMC memory expansion slot, music player (with support for MP3/AAC-e/AAC+ files), Video player (h.263, MPEG4 support), Video and Audio streaming, and Bluetooth/USB 2.0 connectivity.

The CF61 is a low-end tri-band GSM phone with clamshell form factor and interchangeable covers in different colors. It will be available in Q2 2006 and displays a 262k color TFT display, 1.3 megapixel camera, Openwave 6.3 Internet browser, MP3/AAC/WMA player, 3D surround sound, microSD memory expansion slot and Bluetooth/USB 1.1 connectivity.

The E61 is another bar-designed music phone, also known as Hermes B when information about it leaked on the net. The handset features dedicated music buttons, placed on the top side, music player with supporting MP3 format and a VGA camera. This one should be available in Q2 2006 too.

As we can see, all of the new phones launched at CeBIT 2006 in Hanover, Germany ? EL71, C81, CF61, CL71, E61 and P51 - feature multimedia capabilities such as MP3 and 3D surround sound, meeting a wide range of consumer needs. The P51 also brings multimedia functionality to a high performance smartphone. It incorporates Windows Mobile 5.0, W-Lan and VoIP with an integrated GPS receiver to offer professional users a complete navigation and communication solution.