At,CeBIT, a few smartphones based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003 software for Smartphones platform recently announced or demonstrated . The first, the myS-7 from French manufacturer Sagem, is that company's first Microsoft-based device since the unsuccessful WA3050 Pocket PC Phone of a few years ago. The second, the SGH-i250, comes from Samsung, a company that already has several Windows Mobile smartphones out or on the way. Next, you've got BenQ, which is offering a sneak peak at the P50, the company's second new smartphone after the UIQ-based (Symbian) P30, as well as MiTAC and its Mio 8390.

myS-7

Sagem's tri-band (900/1800/1900) GSM/GPRS phone has a VGA camera with 4x digital zoom, 32MB of memory, and a Secure Digital In Out (SDIO) slot for memory and peripheral expansion. Users will also be able to take and play MPEG4 video. It'll have a WAP 2.0 and Internet browser, as well as MMS support.

Sound and voice functions include Hi-Fi, polyphonic, WMA and MP3 ringing tones, an audio recorder and player, vibrating alert as well as a speaker phone and polyphonic speaker.

The smartphone weighs 4.2 ounces (120 grams) and it measures 4.3 x 1.6 x 0.8 inches (110 x 49 x 20.7 mm). A lithium-Ion battery is specified to power the myS-7 for 4 hours of talk and 100 hours standby time.

There's no word on when or where the myS-7 might be available.

SGH-i250

While the Sagem myS-7 falls at the lower-end, Samsung's SGH-i250 is more of mid to high-end device. The Samsung smartphone is a tri-band (900/1800/190) GSM/GPRS smartphone, but unlike the Sagem handset, it features a one megapixel digital camera that can also rotate and even has a flash.

It is also one of the first smartphones to support the new miniSD flash memory format. Earlier today, we reported how Lexar Media and SanDisk have released expansion cards in this format, which is half the size of standard Secure Digital cards.

Other features of the SGH-i250 include 64MB of ROM, 32MB of RAM and two 16-bit (65,536) color displays, a main display that runs at 176x220 like all Windows Smartphones and a second, smaller display, on the back of the clamshell phone. Reports state that the smartphone will include voice recognition and WAP 2.0 browser.

The Samsung's SGH-i25 should be available in Europe in the second half of the year.

P50

BenQ's P50 is a quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) GSM phone with an integrated thumb keyboard, a first for a Windows Mobile smartphone. It will run on an Intel Bulverde CPU and will include both Wi-Fi (802.11b) and Bluetooth as well as a SDIO slot for memory and peripheral expansion.

According to reports, the P50 will also have a 2.8-inch display that offers 18-bit color, which means it can show up to 262,144 colors, impressive for a smartphone. There should also be a 1.3 megapixel digital camera. Its specifications state that it can deliver 5 hours of talk and 200 hours of standby time on its battery. The P50 weighs 5.3 OZ (150 g) and measures a relatively compact 4.7 x 2.4 x 0.8 in (12 x 6 x 2 cm). There's no world about pricing or availability.

MiTAC Mio 8860

Like the BenQ P50, the MiTAC Mio 8860 has a 263,144 color 18-bit main display. The clamshell phone also has a 16-bit color outer display on the top back half of its shell. It also has a SDIO slot. Like other Mio's, the tri-band (900/1800/1900 MHz) GSM/GPRS smartphone doesn't have BlueTooth, but doesn’t run on a 200MHz Intel XScale CPU. It should hit Taiwan in the summer. There's no word on when it might land in other areas.