Pharos Traveller 117 Aka VM103 Clears FCC: Still Not Got Pricing Right

By Chris Davies
pharos_traveler_117

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.

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If you compare the FCC shot of the Traveller 117 with the VM 103, here, you'll see just how little has changed.  The front panel has two new buttons – with 'send' and 'end' moving down and a Windows key and 'OK' key introduced - and there're two new silver stripes running around what looks to be the same soft-touch black shell, but otherwise it's identical.

  • Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz)
  • Tri band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA connectivity (850 / 1900 / 2100 MHz)
  • 2.8 inch resistive TFT touchscreen display with 480 x 640 pixels
  • GPS and A-GPS
  • Wi-Fi
  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • USB 2.0
  • 2.5mm headset jack
  • 2MP camera
  • Secondary VGA camera for video calls
  • 400MHz Qualcomm MSM7201 processor
  • 128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM
  • MicroSDHC cards support
  • 2G talk time: up to 7.5 hours
  • 3G talk time: up to 5 hours
  • Standby time: 200 hours
  • 4.44 x 2.28 x 0.6 inches
  • 4.8 ounces

    • The Pharos Traveller 117 is already available to order from the company's own website; it's unclear whether they've secured any deals with US carriers as yet, which given Velocity Mobile's struggle would seem a good place to start.  Otherwise that $529.95 SIM-free price – higher even than what VM were asking – is not going to win the any favors.

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    [via Unwired View]

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