'Peabody' smartphone...

[Guest Madeye]

I've just seen this phone...

over at MSMobileNews.

From what I read it's a more 'basic' model of smartphone than the ones currently available. It states that it will ship with a full version of WM 5.0, so I'm guessing it's the hardware that is restricted.

Am I wrong?

If I'm not wrong then why would they do that? I was under the impression that people who bought smartphones did so for the enhanced features and usability, otherwise a standard mobile phone would be sufficient.

I was just wondering if anyone had any initial thoughts on the idea -

Would you buy a 'cheaper' more 'basic' smarthone?

Does anybody know which way it will be more 'basic'?

How much cheaper will it be? / would it have to be for people to buy one?

Personally I like the way it looks (is that a scroll wheel in the middle???), but I want more functionality in future smartphones - not less! :|

[Guest Madeye]

Apologies for the double post but I didn't want to edit the first one as I'd still like replies to what was said.

I've been reading around elsewhere and have determined that maybe the hardware won't be less "featureful" afterall. Just cheaper... how?

Surely making a good phone, but for less money, would involve skimping on decent parts.

I'm going to remain wary until someone with the knowledge gives me the go ahead. I'll go sit in a corner now.

:roll:

[Guest smeg36]

The impression I get is that they are trying to do for Smartphones what Dell did for Pocket PC's. Dell provided a product that was similar in quality to other products, but at a much cheaper price. There were several reasons they could do this, but the end result was enormous sales with a greater overall profit than a higher priced product with less sales would have generated. It also helped the Pocket PC gain mainstream recognition. Hopefully this can do the same for Smartphones.