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Taiwan-based E-TEN today started shipping its new quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) GSM communicator, the M500. The new smartphone is one of several upcoming handsets (e.g. Samsung's SCH-i730, Asus's P505, BenQ's P50, and Motorola's particularly unique MPx) to run on the Pocket PC platform, but in a smaller than usual form factor.

A familiar brand in Asia, E-Ten offers a number of mobile handsets in China and other Asian markets, with the M500 being its latest smartphone. Since the cellular-wireless handheld runs the Second Edition of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Phone Edition 2003 operating system, users should benefit with the ability to switch the handset's display between portrait and landscape viewing.

Like the other smartphones listed above, the M500, at 4.25 x 2.4 x 0.9 inches, is pretty small for a Pocket PC Phone and, at 6.0 ounces, light. Additional features include a 1.3-megapixel camera, 400 MHz Samsung S3C2440 processor, 64 MB of memory, an SDIO-enabled SD card slot, and Bluetooth. E-TEN specs the M500's swappable 1440 mAh battery at 3.5 to 4 hours of talk and 150 hours standby time, with 10 to 15 hours of juice for regular Pocket PC use.

Taiwanese retailers should start selling the M500 by the end of the month. It is due to go on sale elsewhere, for between $549-$599, in February.