ViewSonic VCP08 seen clearly, largely in the wild

Last we saw of ViewSonic's VCP08 Windows XP phone was just a handful of renders. New images have surfaced of the real deal, physical model, and two things become immediately clear. First off, the company managed to stay true to the initial pictures. Secondly, this thing is huge. So huge it towers over the N97 Mini, which itself isn't really much smaller than the N97. Make no mistake, though, that in no way stops us from wanting to play with it. In the meantime, hit up the source link for a cavalcade of images.

[va jj Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:06PM]

ALRIGHT! lets throw norton 360 on this baby to make it run faster

[yulebellow Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:09PM]

I hope someday half the netbooks on the market will have this form factor.

[Needsahaircut Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:15PM]

@(Unverified)

If only this could match current netbook specs. What would it be called?
Pocketbook? haha

[yulebellow Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:20PM]

@Needsahaircut Anyone remember what a notebook actually is?

[GGG Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:26AM]

@Needsahaircut

Netphone

[Needsahaircut Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:09PM]

It's going to weird switching between a desktop and a phone IMO.

[eule Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:15PM]

How to make phonecalls with it?

[mikmik111 Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:18PM]

how can you mouse?

[xconan Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:39PM]

@mikmik111
if they added the tablet option it'll at least be touch usable like the HP tablet...

[Midnitte Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:19PM]

Should totally put Ubuntu or Fedora on that thing...

[trevinlovett Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:49PM]

@Midnitte
+1 Ubuntu

[Akodo Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:19PM]

You kinda lose all emphasis when you say how large an object is compared to another that has 'mini' in it's name.

[Akodo Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:20PM]

@Akodo its* How do I delete comments since you can't edit?

[stalemate Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:22PM]

@Akodo so a large cell phone is bigger than a mini cooper?

[Akodo Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:28PM]

@stalemate I'm talking about emphasis. (Time for time machine example) If in a review someone said "The 1996 Honda Civic hatchback is larger than a Mini Cooper' vs say "The 1996 Honda Civic hatchback is larger than 1995 model" Which causes your mind to imagine the larger vehicle? (Both statements are true, and in fact the 1995 Hatch is smaller than the mini cooper)

[pppun Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:22PM]

A modern form with an obsolete OS. What a shame...

[HardToBelieve Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:23PM]

@pppun

Just begging to be hacked and loaded up with something better.

[yulebellow Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:26PM]

@pppun I love XP

[HardToBelieve Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:30PM]

@(Unverified)

XP is a "good" operating system, but when nothing special is done with it, it gets stale.

[pppun Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:31PM]

@(Unverified) I don't hate it either but it's just... dated.

[BigD145 Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:38PM]

@pppun Dated? I'm guessing you want to put Windows 7 on this thing? I'm sure those 5 minute boot times will seem awesome since you'll be running a "modern" OS.

[xconan Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:42PM]

@pppun
a smartphone is capable of running programs. this is even better than a smartphone it'll run almost anything not just java apps and it's unlimited and customizable to infinite degree with stardock

[OddManOut Posted Dec 3rd 2009 11:51AM]

@pppun

At the rate we're going with ever shrinking CPUs Windows XP just might end up BEING Winmo 7...

[HardToBelieve Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:23PM]

If only I had smaller thumbs. Looks a bit scrunched up.

[flett Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:25PM]

i imagine this thing could run some pretty sweet games & apps. touch screen im guessing?

[Luke Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:26PM]

Please fix the bottom line of the comments system.
gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

[Balbasour Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:43PM]

cool

[Hazdaz Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:47PM]

So how small (or large) is this thing? It looks tiny... like old Toshiba Libretto tiny. Which is a good thing. I love the idea of a pocket-able PC (even if it would have to be a big pocket).

Any ideas about price range? I would hope it's in the same range as other netbooks (~$300), but sometimes these companies come up with one innovative idea and think they can charge a ton of money extra for it.

[htd Posted Dec 2nd 2009 9:55PM]

they just need to improve on the form factor and battery, with cellphone data connection and full windows... that's perfect.

[AaronX Posted Dec 2nd 2009 10:25PM]

Isn't "shanzhai" KIRF?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanzhai

[hmmwv Posted Dec 3rd 2009 12:53PM]

@AaronX

Shanzhaiben.com now covers news about notebooks, netbooks, smartphones, and UMPCs in general, not just KIRF anymore.

[NGnerd Posted Dec 2nd 2009 10:59PM]

i would totally buy this if it can be upgraded to windows 7 (which i seem to remember a previous post about) and has a constant 3G connection. Too bad the screen doesn't take up the full width of the keyboard

[avis Posted Dec 2nd 2009 11:12PM]

This is IT!

[jayeda Posted Dec 2nd 2009 11:16PM]

Xp? why not Windows 7....2010....my god that thing is thick...can also be use as a defensive weapon.

[AmandaGal Posted Dec 2nd 2009 11:51PM]

@jayeda That's what she said!

[sandra Posted Dec 3rd 2009 12:12AM]

Can't use the keyboard to text with (at least acording to the link)? fail. I totally love the concept of a phone that has windows xp, I could ditch the UMPC and go with a single all in one device, but being unable to text with the full qwerty keyboard makes it fairly useless as the majority of my phone use is texts not phone calls.

[Elim Garak Posted Dec 3rd 2009 4:57AM]

Wow, that's very disappointing. If you go to the Japanese site, you can see what we are dealing with.

Basically ViewSonic took a smallish clamshell MID and taped a cell phone to it. As far as I can see, there is no integration. The cell phone appears to be a plain old dumb version, and the whole thing is huge - about 1.5 times bigger than a regular smart phone. :-(

I hope their competitor produces an actual XP phone. IE a smart phone running XP, in the phone form factor. Not a cell phone attached to a crappy laptop.

[GGG Posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:28AM]

and how much will it cost?