BenQ's P30 smartphone is launched
By Peter Rojas 
posted October 29th 2004 9:15AM
posted October 29th 2004 9:15AM
It's true, we do heart BenQ. And while we agonize over whether to snap up the
Treo 650 or hold out for their slightly more spec'd out
P50 (which is due out in March and has both the built-in
WiFi and 1.3 megapixel we find sorely lacking in the Treo 650), BenQ has another new smartphone for us to contend with,
the recently-launched P30, a tri-band GSM/GPRS cellphone which runs on Symbian UIQ (which is the same software you'll
find in the Sony Ericsson P900 and P910), and has a 2.66-inch, 262,000 color LCD touchscreen, Bluetooth, a built-in VGA
quality digital camera that can record video clips, an SD memory card slot, and comes with Opera's mobile browser
pre-installed (which is a bigger deal than it sounds).
[Thanks, Guttrhead]
wowee its about time! THis thing was announced 14,600 years ago!
http://www.godmode.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=782&highlight=p30
I will never be able to purchase a gadget that has a name that sounds like "bink." Is that how you say it? Bink. WTF?
Not that it sounds any better, but it's pronounced 'Ben-Que' (hence the cap 'Q').
I found out about the phone from BenQ called p31 that seams quite nice, it was announced back in jan/feb and showed at cebit in march. But I can't find out if it has been released or not, so I guess it hasn't...
It is a "upgrade" to the p30 http://my-symbian.com/uiq/p30review.php ) but I can't even find that one anywhere to buy either...
http://www.clubsonyericsson.com/featured/cebit04/day3/other/cebit04_other3_12.jpg
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/viewarticle.php?id=80
http://www.gsmarena.com/benq_p31-758.php
I found out about the phone from BenQ called p31 that seams quite nice, it was announced back in jan/feb and showed at cebit in march. But I can't find out if it has been released or not, so I guess it hasn't...
It is a "upgrade" to the p30 http://my-symbian.com/uiq/p30review.php ) but I can't even find that one anywhere to buy either...
http://www.clubsonyericsson.com/featured/cebit04/day3/other/cebit04_other3_12.jpg
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/viewarticle.php?id=80
http://www.gsmarena.com/benq_p31-758.php
It really looks like good craftsmanship...I saw it at the cebit 2004 too.
Although i dont like the antenna...
But it already won the iF design award 2004 in the mobile or Communication category. Sadly i couldnt touch cause it was behind a glass...
According to the link you posted, it only has:
"Integrated 300K VGA camera with 3X digital zoom, auto and night profiles"
has it been updated since then? Also, no keyboard? no sale!
No, it's the P50 with the 1.3 megapixel camera. The P30 only has a VGA quality camera.
For the last 15 months I've been using a phone with Symbian UIQ, Opera, 2.88in touchscreen LCD, bluetooth/IR/USB, SD slot and a built-in VGA camera which can rotate to face the user. That last point is important, because in addition to GSM and GPRS, my phone can use 3G UMTS to make live video calls to other people using 3G phones or to anyone with a broadband-connected PC running (spit) NetMeeting.
It's a Motorola A920 (http://direct.motorola.com/eng/producthome.asp?country=GBR&language=ENG&productid=29126), which Moto produced specifically for Three (http://www.three.com), who own UMTS networks across Europe, in Hong Kong and Australia. It has since been superceded by the A925 (http://direct.motorola.com/ENG/ProductHome.asp?country=GBR&language=ENG&productid=29174), which is basically the same phone with a better screen and a different shell.
So while the BenQ phone looks interesting, it's nothing that hasn't been done before.
From the look of this device, I would definitely get this or not get either (this or treo) at all. With treo cost almost 700 bucks, and no WiFi, which is BS! I could get an iPaq 6315 for much cheaper and it has both WiFi and BT.
But I'm holding out to see the specs.