First 802.11b/3G cellphone to hit Japanese shelves in July?

News about cellphones with WiFi, or chips for them, is coming thick and fast at the moment. Mixed in among the rumours and announcements, we came across one that'd slipped past us—a prototype 3G/WiFi phone from NEC that was announced last December. Scuttlebutt among the cellphone otaku on BBSs around the Japanese web is that this one is going to finally surface in July/August as the N900iL—presumably in somewhat more fully-featured form than the rather ordinary-looking December design. NEC's prototype may answer one question about how WiFi in cellphones will work, though—you apparently will get two phone numbers and be able to use the phone in either WiFi, cellphone or dual modes, with the latter unsurprisingly meaning that if you're in both WiFi and cellphone range, calls to either number will get through.

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