Kris Kumar
10-27-2006, 01:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/ASUS-to-become-a-big-player-in-the-smartphone-market-article-a_1637.html' target='_blank'>http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/ASUS-to-become-a-big-player-in-the-smartphone-market-article-a_1637.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"A few days ago, we reported about the Vodafone VDA IV smartphone, manufactured by ASUSTeK, Taiwan. What is more interesting is that the FCC just approved an improved version of the smartphone, adding a duo of digital cameras (it is 3G-capable phone) and Wi-Fi wireless protocol. Targeted to O2, the new O2 Graphite will be part of the carrier’s line of smartphones, which was mainly composed by HTC devices, a Taiwanese brand, leader in Windows Mobile based phones. Keeping identical design to the Vodafone phone, the Graphite will be more advanced than the VDA IV; it runs on Intel PXA270, 416 MHz processor with Intel Hermon modem. XDA Graphite has the same 128MB ROM and 64MB RAM and is tri-band GSM plus single-band UMTS, but the Bluetooth is now v2.0 instead of 1.2."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-oct2006-asusgraphite.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />Nanko Roussev over at phoneArena.com has a very good point. Is ASUSTek the new HTC? Over the weekend we had mentioned that the FCC has cleared an ASUS device for Vodafone called the <a href="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/index.php?action=expand,12640">VDA IV.</a> Unlike HTC that launches one device at a time and then changes the styling to re-brand the device for each carrier/vendor, ASUS has launched two very identical looking handsets but they have big differences on the inside. The 02 Graphite has Wi-Fi, camera and a more powerful processor. Also, this unit uses the standard pocket Internet Explorer instead of Opera. The FCC documents can be viewed over <a href="https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=880825&fcc_id=MSQO2G1">here.</a>