With Velocity Mobile’s 103 (not to mention its other handsets) conspicuous by its absence in the market, the company’s ODM supplier, Invantec, is back with a new brand and a very slightly tweaked device. The Pharos Traveller 117, which has just cleared the FCC, looks like it’s coming to the US, bringing with it a 2.8-inch VGA resolution touchscreen, quadband GSM, triband UMTS, WiFi and GPS.
We kicked off the week with some high-profile reviews here at SlashGear, putting the latest MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops through their paces. If you’re considering one of these slick new machines – or are wondering what style features other manufacturers will be copying over the next six months – make sure to check them out! We also played with a more budget computing option in the shape of the ASUS Eee PC 1000HA.
Meanwhile cellphones have been on the test bench, with Sprint’s pair of new Samsungs – the messaging Rant and the musical HighNote – squaring up against Velocity Mobile’s 103 smartphone. We had to leave our desks to try out Blackline’s GPS Snitch, however, but were back in before curfew to play with some toys: WowWee’s Bladestar remote control helicopter, for one, and a rather more unusual review of the WowWee Femisapien.
With the current economic climate and the hotly contested smartphone war, it’s either a great time or a ridiculous time to be launching a new cellphone. Velocity Mobile as a company aren’t that green – in fact Phone Magazine played with their handsets earlier this year - but they’ve only just got around to commercially launching their first device, the 103. With a VGA touchscreen, 3G HSUPA, WiFi, GPS and, as is the fashion these days, a custom GUI sitting on top of Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro, we’ve been putting the 103 through its paces over the past few weeks.
Video demo, unboxing and Velocity Mobile 103 gallery after the cut
Two significant events on the tech calendar this week, with both CTIA Wireless and Apple’s fall iPod launch hitting sunny San Francisco. SlashGear has been at both, and huge numbers of you joined us on Tuesday morning for our by-now traditional Live Blog of Steve Jobs’ slick new PMPs. Make sure to check out our unboxing videos of the new iPod nano 4G and iPod touch 2G.
Velocity Mobile were a surprise introduction to the Windows Mobile smartphone industry at CTIA back in April, and many assumed the company’s 103 and 111 handsets would never get beyond the drawing board. We met with Velocity this week, however, and found that rather than fading quietly away, the company is planning even more of a assault on the market. We spent hands-on time with the 103, a VGA touchscreen based 3G device launching initially in the UK by the end of September, as well as the QWERTY-equipped 111 and a new entry-level GPS smartphone, and will be reviewing the 103 over the next few days.
Update: Unboxing video of the Velocity Mobile 103 is added after the cut
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