[Nurhisham Hussein]

http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/HTC...cle-a_1643.html

"Yesterday we voiced our opinion that ASUSTeK may soon be one of the main players in the Smartphone market … but it seems they will be one of the leaders in all Windows Mobile-powered phones’ market, as the FCC also revealed information on the Asus Mars II Pocket PC Phone, which will be available as the O2 XDA Zinc."



While I don't subscribe to the notion that HTC is faltering in designing and releasing new Windows Mobile devices (they do get many things right, and you can't fault their record of updating their devices - OEM or ODM), ASUSTeK has certainly come up with a worthy competitor. Apart from a few minor shortcomings that has turned off certain segments of the market (I want VGA! SDHC would be nice, too) the HTC Hermes design is certainly the current reference standard. The Asus Mars II comes close, but falls short with only tri-band GSM and single-band UMTS (no HSDPA), but trumps the Hermes with a 2.0MP autofocus camera - the Hermes' 400MHz Samsung is arguably as fast as the 520MHz Intel sported by the Mars II. The Mars II will be released as the O2 Xda Zinc, though no information is yet forthcoming on availability. We'd guess based on previous experience you should see it within the next 3 months in Asia and Europe.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/HTC...cle-a_1643.html

"Yesterday we voiced our opinion that ASUSTeK may soon be one of the main players in the Smartphone market … but it seems they will be one of the leaders in all Windows Mobile-powered phones’ market, as the FCC also revealed information on the Asus Mars II Pocket PC Phone, which will be available as the O2 XDA Zinc."



While I don't subscribe to the notion that HTC is faltering in designing and releasing new Windows Mobile devices (they do get many things right, and you can't fault their record of updating their devices - OEM or ODM), ASUSTeK has certainly come up with a worthy competitor. Apart from a few minor shortcomings that has turned off certain segments of the market (I want VGA! SDHC would be nice, too) the HTC Hermes design is certainly the current reference standard. The Asus Mars II comes close, but falls short with only tri-band GSM and single-band UMTS (no HSDPA), but trumps the Hermes with a 2.0MP autofocus camera - the Hermes' 400MHz Samsung is arguably as fast as the 520MHz Intel sported by the Mars II. The Mars II will be released as the O2 Xda Zinc, though no information is yet forthcoming on availability. We'd guess based on previous experience you should see it within the next 3 months in Asia and Europe.

[PiatekHS]

O2 UK yesterday told me that the O2 Zinc and another XDA device will are due for a Jan 15th release date....

[beq]

I wonder why HTC phone models can seem to cram in the broadest range of cell frequencies while many new models from the competition (and not just ASUSTek) cannot? :?:

[virain]

Originally Posted by beq

I wonder why HTC phone models can seem to cram in the broadest range of cell frequencies while many new models from the competition (and not just ASUSTek) cannot? :?:

Because it doesn't make a business scence for other manufacturers to do that, yet. HTC is trying to establish a dominant role in a smartphone market, so they would do anything to stay ahead of competition. But others will wait for further development in the US wireless market and once there's enough demand, they will jump in. Why do many manufacturers make tri-band and not quadband phones? Because 850 mhz is used primarely in USA, along with 1900mhz, which by the way covers most of the markets. So, save a penny, make a buck. :wink:

[Eugenia]

I saw this yesterday and I really liked it, except the fact that it does not fallback to EDGE and doesn't support 850 Mhz.

[saru83]

nothing special about it but the processor!! has a lot of things missing.. IMO

[srmz]

The keyboard looks better as less space seems to be wasted by the border as compared to the Hermes. Furthermore it will probably not have the infamous screen allignment problem which has plagued the Hermes