Click to View

The Gizmondo subsidiary of British Global Positioning System (GPS) specialist Tiger Telematics will ship its eponymous new gaming handheld, Gizmondo, on October 29th in the United Kingdom.

According to Gizmondo Europe's Managing Director Carl Freer, "the timing means that the highly anticipated multi-entertainer will be available in time for the Christmas trade." The GPS-enabled mobile device should roll out to other parts of the world, including the United States, in 2005.

Gizmondo is part of what Jupiter Research defines as "hybrid" devices. Other handhelds in this category include TapWave's Zodiac and Nokia's N-Gage.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of Gizmondo is, not surprisingly, the integrated GPS chip that provides location-based services. As a result, some Gizmondo games will incorporate a player's physical location into the game itself—blurring the line between play and real life.

Gizmondo runs on Microsoft Windows CE.NET and is powered by a Samsung ARM9 400MHz processor that incorporates a 64-bit graphics accelerator. It boasts a smallish 2.8-inch color screen.

The handheld can also serve as a MP3 music player, MPEG4 movie player and a digital camera. Users can send multimedia messages over a GPRS connection that also allows for wide area network gaming. This lets you play games against other Gizmondo owners worldwide.

Integrated Bluetooth lets you play games wirelessly too, except in this case the players are in the same room. 64MB of on-board storage comes courtesy of M-Systems' mDiskOnChip solution. And a Secure Digital slot delivers memory and peripheral expansion.

When Gizmondo ships in the U.S. it should go for between $300 and $400.