Dual Windows Mobile ‘BlackBerry’ Style Devices

Apr 23, 2006 | blog

So there are two awesome thin new phones coming out soon that are similar in layout to traditional BlackBerry devices. Say hello to the Motorola Q (top), which you’ve probably read about, and the Samsung SGH-i320 (bottom).

The two phones both run Windows Mobile 5 and will be available in the coming weeks in the US. Both have recently been approved by the FCC for use in the USA. While we know that the motoQ is currently a CDMA phone and will be available from Verizon, the SGH-i320 is a GSM phone and could be used on either T-Mobile or Cingular (or some of the regional GSM providers) here in the States.

Unfortunately, the i320 is a tri-band phone (900/1800/1900) and would only really have decent coverage on the T-Mobile network as theirs is primarily a 1900 band network. Cingular relies heavily on the 850 band and has significant 1900 band holes everywhere. Cingular sells only tri-band phones that have both 850 & 1900MHz, or quad-band phones that support all GSM frequencies around the world. T-Mobile has recently rolled out a number of 850MHz towers and has signed a roaming agreement with Cingular for vast 850MHz streaches of the country, and in addition has also taken to selling quad-band phones or tri-band with 850/1900 band support.

At any rate, its great to see this style of phone coming out from two of the top three Windows Mobile phone vendors. Now all we need is to see an HTC version of this format, one that builds on the great layout that BlackBerry has demonstrated, and these two have copied.

For more information on either of these phones, check out these great articles:

• CoolSmartPhone (Samsung SGH-i320)
  
• Engadget (Samsung SGH-i320)
• PhoneScoop (Motorola Q)
• Motorola