Click to View

A new Hewlett Packard smartphone is be landing in consumers' hands. And we don't mean the already-announced iPAQ h6315.

Here's the story: Last month, HP announced several upcoming handhelds, including the eagerly anticipated h6315—the computer and printer giant's first smartphone. While the Pocket PC phone has everything iPAQ devotees could want in a mobile handset, you need to sign up for GSM/GPRS service from T-Mobile to get it.

That leaves CDMA customers in the cold.

Enter the iPAQ rw6100, a handheld that appeared briefly on HP's website in June, but was not included in HP's July product unveilings.

It turns out that yes indeed; the rw6100 is a CDMA smartphone. But no, you won't be able to purchase it in North America and Europe, as the smartphone is slated to only ship in South Korea. In fact, the rw6100 is a rebranded LG SC8000 Pocket PC phone. So it differs a bit from HP's GSM iPAQ.

The rw6100 runs on a 520 MHz PXA270 Bulverde Intel XScale processor and a localized Korean version of the Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition operating system. The phone interface comes courtesy of HP's own proprietary phone user interface. Unique to this Pocket PC phone is a retractable keypad that slides down from beneath the display. (Most Pocket PC phones require you to dial on the screen, often smudging them with fingerprints.)


SC8000 Pocket PC Phone with Keypad Exposed

Other features include 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM with 78MB of "swingstore" file store, which is like having a memory card integrated within the device. It also has a small 2.8-inch QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) resolution display that supports 262,114 (18-bit) colors—the h6315 has a 3.5-inch screen, by comparison.

The rw6100 measures 4.5 x 2.3 x 1.05 inches and weighs 7.2 ounces. These dimensions and weight are in line with other Pocket PC phones. Again, by comparison, the slightly more petite iPAQ h6315 measures 4.7 x 3.0 x 0.7 inches and weighs 6.7 ounces. We'd guess the extra weight on the rw6100 is due to its keypad.

For power, the rw6100 bundles a swappable 1440 mAH Lithium Polymer battery, with a 2800 mAH battery available as an option. There is also a 1.1-megapixel camera and a Secure Digital slot for memory and peripheral expansion.

Although initial reports said the rw6100 wouldn't integrate Wi-Fi, it looks like the new smartphone will feature an 802.11b radio. So you may be able to use the smartphone as a dual-mode device—a trend among high-end smartphones, such as the h6315 and Motorola's delayed MPx Pocket PC phone.

In theory, dual-mode phones can roam between Wi-Fi and GSM or CDMA cellular networks. With this capability, users could seamlessly switch from one type of network to the other, depending on which is available, cheaper and more optimal.