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Once upon a time the difference between a Pocket PC Phone and a Windows Smartphone was profound. The Pocket PC handset closely resembled its non-cellular Windows Mobile cousins, especially in size, and the latter looked like a traditional cell phone; with more limited capabilities than a Pocket PC to boot.

Today, the lines between the two are blurring.

Take Fifth Media's just announced AXIA A308, for example. The Malaysian manufacturer asserts the Pocket PC is the world’s smallest PDA Phone. While it is indeed quite small for a Pocket PC Phone, we're not so sure about the smallest tag, at 0.8 x 1.9 x 4.5 inches. It weighs a mere 4.5 ounces.

There's at least one smaller Windows Mobile handset in the 0.75 x 1.84 x 4.32 Cingular 2125 (based on Taiwanese ODM HTC's Tornado design), but that phone is a Windows Smartphone and not a Pocket PC Phone. Yet while the Cingular and AXIA models look vaguely similar, candy bar style with dial-pads, the A308 should prove more powerful overall because it is a Pocket PC; with a 2.2-inch 240 x 320 pixel (QVGA) resolution touch screen and full PDA functionality.

Putting the "smallest" tag aside, the Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) GPRS/EDGE A308 - due to be unveiled at CeBIT trade show in Hanover, Germany next week - is chock full of features.

It runs on Windows Mobile 5.0, a 416 MHz Intel XScale CPU, 64 MB of RAM, and 128 MB of ROM. There's also Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel camera, miniSD slot, and a removable/rechargeable 1500mAh lithium-polymer battery for four hours talk and 120 hours standby time.

Fifth Media will shop the A308 to carriers at CeBIT. “We believe that the AXIA A308’s debut in CeBIT next month will garner considerable interest. The device is targeted at the international market, especially Europe, where Wi-Fi networks are already widely available,” said Mr. Julius Grohe, Fifth Media’s Director of Global Sales. “During the exhibition, we hope to reach out to major telcos to adopt the product, as well as importers to take the device into their home markets."