Socket Mobile's SoMo 650 Pocket PC

The phone-free PDA is indeed a dying breed, especially in Windows Mobile land, but the SoMo 650 from Socket Mobile is just such a beast, and it really doesn't come off looking too badly. The rugged exterior isn't much to look at, but is built to withstand one meter drops, while the 802.11b/g WiFi allows for a semblance of phone capabilities, since the 624MHz Intel processor is more than enough for VoIP apps. Also onboard is a Bluetooth 2.0 radio, along with CompactFlash and SDIO slots, 128MB of SDRAM and 256MB of flash memory. The SoMo 650 should be shipping for $648 in limited quantities starting this April, to be followed by mass production in May.

[Via MobileTechReview]

[JC @ Mar 8th 2007 4:52PM]

I'm sorry, did I pull a Rip Van Winkle and sleep for decades? The last time I checked, WiFi capabilities don't give any device any "semblance of phone capabilities".

VoIP + PDA does not a cell phone make.

[xaeth @ Mar 8th 2007 5:26PM]

you are correct voip+pda != cell, but their statement was "semblance of phone capabilities", as you carefully quoted. But your equation is only valid if they had said "semblance of cellphone capabilities"....

[JC @ Mar 8th 2007 6:02PM]

True enough, but even if we're going to split hairs on the quoting, "WiFi + PDA != phone". Once you take a WiFi PDA out of range of a wireless network, it is no longer a "phone". If we're going to say that something resembles another thing if it has even a small fraction of the functionality, then a Yugo is a semblance of a Rolls Royce, an abacus is a semblance of a Cray computer, and so on and so forth. You get the point. It's a bit of a ridiculous comparison to make.

[OddManOut @ Mar 8th 2007 8:28PM]

@JC - Just a few additions to the discussion, not meant as an argument...

"...something resembles another thing if it has even a small fraction of the functionality..."

Actually dictionary.com's #3 of 5 definitions for 'semblance' is "the slightest appearance or trace". So by using that word, the bar is set pretty low. I mean consider cellphones from 10 - 15 years ago. They went out of range much more easily than we are used to now, does that mean they are retroactively NOT phones ?

Likewise for your landline. Most of the ones I've seen go out of range within 20 feet (or however long the cord is). Is your home phone also NOT a phone ?

That's the small scale, think about the LARGE scale as well. My PHS phone that I used throughout Japan for over a year is nothing more than a 2mp digicam now that I'm back in the US. But I've made wired+wifi VOIP calls in the US, Taiwan, Korea and Japan on my Ipaq 2215. So which one is the phone ?

It really comes down to usage patterns I guess. Within a wifi+broadband enabled house built in an area with cellular service a landline, cell phone,and VOIP enabled PDA can function almost identically as well as phones. But outside that house, choosing one IS give and take...

Just my perspective...