New Legend Pocket PC Phone... With Flip!

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.hi-pda.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=148543&fpage=1&sid=z41u8z' target='_blank'>http://www.hi-pda.com/forum/viewthr...ge=1&sid=z41u8z</a><br /><br /></div>Legend seems to be one of the few Pocket PC Phone manufacturers that is actively breaking traditional form factors. Their latest creation is a Pocket PC Phone with a touchscreen and a <i>rotating</i> flip -- similar to some of the new Samsung phones.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040102-LegendPocketPCPhone.jpg" /><br /><br />By using a flip, you've got built-in protection for the screen, and a formfactor that might be a bit more pocketable. It's still fairly large, but more manageable: it's 4.2"x2.57"x.94" (presumably closed) and it weighs about 6.2 ounces. From those stats, I'd assume it has a 2.8" display. It also has an external display, .35MP camera, 400MHz XScale, 64MB of RAM, and it runs WM2003. Of course, in my case it's a moot point: it's only GSM 900/1800, which means that it won't work in North America. As usual. :|

[Chris Spera]

Wouldn't this work on T-Mobile or AT&T?


Christopher Spera

[Tom W.M.]

:drool: I want one! But the price must be 8O.

I've never heard of Legend. Do they make any other devices?

[R K]

Wouldn't this work on T-Mobile or AT&T?

No, I'm afraid it wouldn't.

Of course, in my case it's a moot point: it's only GSM 900/1800, which means that it won't work in North America. As usual. :|

North American GSM providers only use the 1900MHz spectrum, with AT&T developing on the 850MHz range.

[Mike Wagstaff]

This could be a form factor to watch out for - if this makes it to the UK (my fingers are crossed), I for one would be seriously, seriously tempted.

One area I would be interested to know more about is how good (or otherwise) a job Legend have done integrating the keypad with the UI. I really hope that its use isn't restricted to the dialler application - after all, I've finally gotten reasonably good with T9... :)

[Paragon]

Wheeew! Good thing I have unlimited GPRS after checking that out. Excellent pictures.

Finally a flip PPC PE device. I'm still a bit surprised they waste so much real estate on T9, when they could have great qwerty keyboard.

Once you make the leap to PPC with devices like this the need for a full keyboard would ge much more useful. It's not just a phone any more!!!

It's sure on the right track though.

Dave

[Andy Sjostrom]

Extremely cool! 8)

[Mitch D]

Wonder how long it'll be before Sony decides to sue for "patent infringment"? (Yes I know they might have licenced the flip screen) It is a unit I would be interested in though.

8)

[huangzhinong]

Wonder how long it'll be before Sony decides to sue for "patent infringment"? (Yes I know they might have licenced the flip screen) It is a unit I would be interested in though.

8)

The slip screen belongs to SONY? You must be kidding.

[whydidnt]

This is the PPCPE device I've been waiting for. Too bad it's not for the North American Market. :( Guess I'll be waiting awhile longer.

I guess that's the price we pay for low wireless phone charges?

whydidnt

[Janak Parekh]

I've never heard of Legend. Do they make any other devices?
They're a big player in the Chinese mobile market. I posted on another interesting unit of theirs earlier (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11570).

--janak

[Mitch D]

Wonder how long it'll be before Sony decides to sue for "patent infringment"? (Yes I know they might have licenced the flip screen) It is a unit I would be interested in though.

8)

The slip screen belongs to SONY? You must be kidding.

Too the best of my knowledge it is (I've been wrong before and I will be wrong again), they have four different Clie's that use the same flip screen setup.

[PPCMD]

While its true $ony does have many clies out that use a flip screen design I don't know if they can patent a flip screen itself but rather some portion of it. No doubt Legend figured out from $ony's errors and found a better way to do it.

One thing does buy me about the NA market in general. Why is it we have to wait so friggin long to get the best tech and toys. Forget GSM and CMDA or even TDMA how about a phone that doesn't care what t is and use just slap your SIM card into it and voila you have whatever you phone needs to be.

[cyclist]

I wonder if they've misjudged the market for this? I'm in the UK and have an existing first generation PPC phone edition. When I decide to upgrade to the second generation then a tri-band version that works everywhere in the world is an absolute must, so I won't even be considering this. If only it were tri-band, then the flip form would give it a big advantage.

[Kadegboye]

This device would have been the talk of the town if they did a little more research and put in a larger memory ( 128 MB RAM &amp; 64MB ROM) and make it a triband PPC-P which can be used anywhere in the world. I hope they will do this &amp; more with the next generation of this device. I would then consider trading it for my XDA II.
Kay.

[johnm]

Man I wish they would put a QWERTY keyboard on a flip device like this. I'm really getting tired my my case of Sony envy.

[Janak Parekh]

This device would have been the talk of the town if they did a little more research and put in a larger memory ( 128 MB RAM & 64MB ROM) and make it a triband PPC-P which can be used anywhere in the world. I hope they will do this & more with the next generation of this device. I would then consider trading it for my XDA II.
I suspect a number of people would. ;) The problem is that, if I understand correctly, Legend only really develops for the Chinese market. I'd be curious to find out if they're actually the OEM as well, or if someone else is.

--janak

[surur]

I'm surprised no one has asked yet. I see no mention on bluetooth, which would make using a bluetooth headset difficult, and bluetooth GPS impossible. Also exchanging pictures with others will be more difficult. This PPC-PE is the closest to a real cell phone Ive ever seen, but high-end phone users (their assumed market) are going to want bluetooth.

Surur

Edit:

Just saw the story over at Brighthand (http://www.brighthand.com/article/Legend_Announces_Lenovo_ET560)

It will include Bluetooth short-range wireless networking and the ability to act as a USB host

Brilliant. Obviously Ill stick with my XDA II for the next 10 months, but I am certainly glad the market continues to move forward. It sounds as if this might be a great phone. If only they can add that new keypad (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1990855.stm) , that can do qwerty and numbers...

Surur

[molen]

I would buy the flip phone form factor with Pocket PC touch screen ...

Wish it had....

- tri mode CDMA
- bluetooth
- QWERTY (Treo 600) keyboard

Verizon, are you listening? :D

[kingraf01]

Guess I'll have to wait a lil longer though, oh well it seems it will be worth it! :mrgreen:

[pdaisdead]

Big! Geek Big! Not going to sell well.

[Phoenix]

Now this is nice!

400 XScale
64 MB RAM
Bluetooth
Camera
Dual Displays
Rotating Flip
Touchscreen
WM2003
Looks like it may have an SD slot as well.

That's a lot for a phone. Obviously, it needs to be Tri or Quad-band. And I just wish the camera was megapixel, though - like 1.3 optical, and I wish they would put a nicer display on the outside. And the icing would be integrated WiFi as well.

What I never understand is what on earth the point is of developing a product like this with so much technology, but then only making it dual band GSM for Europe/Asia only? That's foolish. Do these people have something against North America? Developing a product like this is expensive to say the least... why wouldn't they want to maximize their earning potential by allowing it to work over here?

Then again, maybe they will. I'd really love to see something like this here. But again, apart from it needing NA-GSM, it would need to have WiFi as well, for me to bite... otherwise, I'd probably stick to a PPC and a Smartphone of some sort.

[alhamadi]

With this innovation, should we say good bye to smart phone :?:

[fletch]

With this innovation, should we say good bye to smart phone :?:

I would say yes, but then again Im guess ing there are a lot of users who want more simplicity and would therefore go for a 'smart'phone

As for the 'why dont they make it cdma for the US market comments, my guess is that the OEM GSM chips are more readily available to manufacturers and possibly cheaper and smaller.

I believe there are more GSM subscribers than CDMA subscribers internationally as there is only the US and Japan that really use it

[Macguy59]

This is deja vu. Was just commenting recently over at smartphonethoughts that the Motorola x200 would be even better if the screen was a touch screen and swiveled to collapse down over the keypad creating a mini tablet solution :D

[cessquill]

I see what people like in a QWERTY keyboard design, but on the flip side, I couldn't have a phone without a keypad. I use my phone all the time blind (sms under desks, whatever), and it would be a great shame to lose this feature. I'm also quicker at T9 input now, and fear that a QWERTY would be just too fiddly to effectively and quickly use.

Age old problem - too big for a phone, too small for a PDA, but it seems to be getting there. I'm tending to type on my PDA less and less now, using it mainly to carry information around with me synchronised (sometimes!) from two PCs, so it might not be too bad...