ASUSTeK Computer Inc (ASUS), today previewed - together with Microsoft - one of the most compact 3G smartphones in the world to date – the P305 and the first Windows Mobile powered UMTS Smartphone anyway.
As a Windows Mobile 5.0 powered 3G Smartphone, the P305 offers powerful multimedia and productivity features that allow users to be more productive and truly experience a mobile lifestyle.

Essentially representing the ultimate 3G technology, video calls have become the signature requirement of any 3G mobile phone, but this is often met with poor processing power that limits streaming capabilities and handicaps the primary purpose. ASUS has overcome such hurtle, by possessing video telephony technology that is both ready and available now. The high-speed CPU in the P305 Smartphone offers superior processing speed that outperforms any 3G mobile phones in the market with 384Kbps downlink/uplink transfer rate. This translates into fluid and smooth video call on the P305, letting users fully enjoy talking and seeing each other.

Running on Windows Mobile 5.0 with Direct Push Technology, the P305 will provides instant updating of Microsoft Office Outlook Email, Calendar, Contacts and Tasks when synchronizing with Exchange Server 2003 to ensure users are always up to date while on the move. The P305 also provides an outstanding multimedia experience with Internet Explorer and an integrated multimedia suite (including Windows Media Player 10 Mobile) for users to enjoy music and video in a variety of audio formats, including MP3, AMR, AAC, WAV and WMA, as well as streaming MPEG-4 video.

With built-in compatibility for Bluetooth 1.2 and IrDA, the P305 to be used as a diminutive mobile storage device for any files types and multimedia content. The mini-SD expansion card slot also allows for additional memory for storing a wide range of content including music, games, photos and video.

With 3G capabilities along with the power and functionality of Windows Mobile 5.0 in a small and sleek form factor, the P305 offers endless hours of fun while serving as mobile business companion.

"The P305 has superior processing power that can be leveraged for 3G services and multimedia enjoyment. It is the first 3G phone that is both compact and offers mobile office capability as in PDAs, making it a terrific all-around business companion.", said Jonney Shih, CEO of ASUSTek Computer Inc.

"The launch of the ASUS P305 is timely considering the growing momentum for 3G in Europe and Asia. With an increasing number of 3G phones, users are able to leverage their devices to increase productivity and enjoy a superior multimedia experience," said Pieter Knook, senior vice president, Mobile and Embedded Devices Division and Communications Sector Business, Microsoft Corp. "We are happy to partner with device makers like ASUS to offer users a diverse range of devices to meet their specific mobility needs."

Neither a price nor an expected release date was given yet.

Cheers ~ Arne

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This isn't the first Windows Mobile powered UMTS smartphone - The HTC Universal has been out for several months now.

Not really since the Universal is - by Microsoft's own definition - a Pocket PC Phone Edition (using Windows Mobile for Pocket PC) while the Asus P305 is using Windows Mobile for Smartphone which makes it the first UMTS Windows Mobile Smartphone.

Ahh, I see where you're coming from.  Actually, I was wondering myself recently what actually defines a "smartphone".  I guess it's been long accepted that the Microsoft OSs, Symnian Series 60, 80 and UIQ, and Palm all would make a phone a "smartphone" (in my way of thinking at least).  But what with regular phones becoming better and better, the gap is certainly closing.  Things that were once the domain only of smartphones - A fully featured internet browser, QVGA screens, QWERTY thumb-boards - have all been assimilated into the masses of "dumb-phones".

Perhaps it's the ability to run something else other than Java?  How would you define it?

In the GSM world itself it was defined as or at least it was used as: Mobile Phone, Feature Phone Smartphone and you are right, the line between Feature Phone and Smartphone is fading out now. I would follow your suggestion that a Feature Phone might have a full Internet browser today but is running applications in a sand boxed Java environment only while Smartphones are a little bit more "open" and allows to run apps on the native platform (Windows Mobile, Symbian, UIQ).

From the Microsoft point of view the Smartphone/Pocket PC Phone Edition definition was the following:

Smartphone: Voice centric with data support
Pocket PC Phone Edition: Data centric with voice support

Today I would define it as:

Smartphone: Keyboard only input
Pocket PC Phone Edition: Touch screen input which also supports additional keyboard support (today, with Windows Mobile 5.0)

hi arne,

do you have any idea if the screen size is QVGA or the dreaded 176 x 220?

brian