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T-Mobile MDA Compact IV in the pseudo-flesh at CeBIT!


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Guest Monolithix
Posted

[teaser]

thumb_04-Mar-2008_mdacompactiv.jpg
OK, so it's only a dummy handset...and it's locked up in a glass box, but T-Mobile are finally showing off the heir to the Compact throne. Spec's are still on the light side, but it looks like the MDA Compact IV will be sporting the following
  • VGA touch screen
  • GPS (both as expected...)
  • 4GB internal storage
  • Flush screen bezel a la HTC's Touch range
  • 7.2Mbps HSDPA

But, here's the interesting thing: those look like the home and back key's normally found on WinMo Standard/Smartphone devices!. So what's going on? Click through for more pics and info![/teaser]

The MDA Compact range traditionally run Windows Mobile Professional/PocketPC, so it's surprising to see the latest model apparently switching to Standard. However on a closer look at the pictures (check out the read link below) it seems there is a stylus slotted in and that it is indeed a touchscreen. If it is Standard where is the keypad? Either we'll be seeing a hacked in SIP of some description, or we have an extremely thin slider on our hands!

Release is touted for May 08, I think this is going to be a winner when it launches!

[Phonemag]

Guest idavid
Posted

if that has a keyboard i'll have one, my new mda plus will have to go straight on ebay. :D

Guest xorangefirex
Posted

I am really hoping for a suretype keyboard on this little beauty. The shadow is a great option(and my intended backup phone), but you cannot beat a VGA touchscreen with GPS.

Guest NuShrike
Posted

Speculation is it's a Shadow II, so it should be a slider.

Posted
Speculation is it's a Shadow II, so it should be a slider.

MDA Compact I = HTC Magician

MDA Compact II = HTC Charmer

MDA Compact III = HTC Artemis

The MDA Compact range have always been Pocket PCs with no hardware keyboard, so my suspicion is that this is not a slider.

Based completely on conjecture, could this be the device where the Pocket PC and Smartphone OSes eventually collapse into a Windows Mobile singularity using elements of both?

Guest Monolithix
Posted

I didn't think WinMo 7 was due until next year though?

Posted
I didn't think WinMo 7 was due until next year though?

The blurb by the phone from one of the Engadget photos says "Mit neuestem Microsoft Betriebssystem".

Read of that what you will, but does that mean WM 6.1, 6.5 or 7.0?

Guest Monolithix
Posted

That would appear to be the question everyone wants to know the answer to! We've seen 6.1 floating around and it's nothing special, so presumably it's 6.5 or 7...

Guest n20nine
Posted

hmm...what if...it indeed is a slider..i am guessing its a slider coz there is a gap between the screen and the d-pad and buttons....perhaps the screen slides up? wud be interesting then..

Guest JAkub Scholz
Posted

I guess its a Windws Mobile Profesional like device with touchscreen. The same buttons are also on the pictures/renders of the new ASUS P560 (link - in czech language) which is also suposed to be a device with touchscreen. So maybe it has something to do with the new versions of Windows Mobile or with some kind of new user interface.

Guest idavid
Posted

yeah, the more i think about it the less likely it'll have a keyboard of any kind. sad. :D

Posted
I guess its a Windws Mobile Profesional like device with touchscreen. The same buttons are also on the pictures/renders of the new ASUS P560 (link - in czech language) which is also suposed to be a device with touchscreen. So maybe it has something to do with the new versions of Windows Mobile or with some kind of new user interface.

Well spotted! The Asus P560 is quite clearly running Windows Mobile 6 (with the Start menu in the upper left), despite having a smartphone key configuration, and the sign next to it confirms this.

I have always been a fan of the Smartphone button combo, and I guess it would be quite trivial to replicate this on a Pocket PC, with the 'home' button going to the today screen and the 'back' button being like 'OK'.

Guest mr.wilson
Posted

:( :D :( :( like how much is it

becaz i have the first one

and i like that new one so tell me as soon as

you can plz

Guest S710demon
Posted

It is not available yet and the price is not known at the moment.

Guest Perfectionist
Posted

Excellent News !! Wasn't expecting the 4Gb of built in Memory, does it still has a MicroSD slot though ?? Would I be right in assuming it will have TouchFlo ??

Guest Monolithix
Posted

Right on both accounts iirc...

Edit - although thinking about it, we don't specifically know its a HTC device yet! :D

Posted

I doubt it will have a keyboard of any sort, as T Mobile's Compact range never has had a keyboard; only the Vario range. Also, I doubt it's WM Standard just because it has a home and back button. You can vaguely see the stylus in some photos, and I doubt a screen that large would not include touch screen! It's also flush with the device (I think) which is what a lot of touch-based interfaces have these days aka HTC Touch.

Guest Perfectionist
Posted

As this has a VGA screen ..... would all my old QVGA software need to be upgraded ..... or would it all still run ok ??

Guest Monolithix
Posted

In theory it should run fine, VGA just increases the DPI used by the graphics, the relative "size" of the stuff on the screen stays the same

  • 3 weeks later...
Guest timeline
Posted

Great specs. Wonder if they're smart enuf to do 128RAM instead of the still prevalent 64MB...

  • 2 weeks later...
Guest TheNerd
Posted

Turmoil! I was just about to purchase an HTC Touch Cruise when I find out the screen is a paltry so yesteryear QVGA. :D After having an MDA Vario for a couple of years and using the slide out keyboard about three times in total I realise the extra bulk added from an unnecessary and fairly unusable keyboard could be discarded and a much slimmer, sexier, pocketable device would be on the cards - bring on the Touch Cruise. However after discovering the bombshell weakness of a 320x240 screen I am pondering alternatives...

Then I visit a T-Mobile store and whilst trying to get details of upcoming phones the manager tells me about this MDA Compact 4, so I get back home and search Modaco for the low down. Bingo. This device looks perfect. I just hope I can get it on my current tariff rather than have some crippling sky high iPhone-like rip off bill.

Slim, big screen VGA, Bluetooth, WiFI, fast processor and plenty of memory. I wish the GPS chipset would be the leagues-above-all-others Sirf Star III, but it looks from first impressions that this will be the phone for me whatever. Where is it? When? And how much? Details please anybody.

Guest Perfectionist
Posted

Yup, I'm getting this the second it becomes available ! Hopefully in May (just in time for my birthday!)

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