Athena To Be Launched Next Week

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20070125PD203.html' target='_blank'>http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20070125PD203.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Dopod International, a brand-poduct unit of High Tech Computer (HTC), will begin to market HTC's first ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) as the Dopod U1000, in the Taiwan market starting next week, according to Dopod president Jack Tong. The launch comes much earlier than originally scheduled, said market sources, who had expected HTC to launch such a device by the end of the first quarter at the earliest."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/hisham-20070125-dopodu1000.jpg" /><br /><br />I thought the launch was close, but not this close! Dopod is reportedly on the verge of releasing the Athena in Taiwan, which means it'll probably be in general release in the Asia-Pacific region in about a month or two. Maybe they got wind of the O2 Flame release and decided to go head to head? Whatever the case may be, it's coming out to be a fascinating year on the hardware front. For more pics of the Dopod iteration of the Athena, you can find them <a href="http://www.phonedaily.com/mobile/phone/?prod_id=2571">here</a> (sorry, no translation available for this page).

[hfann]

Based on the Chinese report, it is a Pocket PC Phone Edition device! :lol: I am sure it will be faster than any UMPC with Windows XP or Vista!

You definitely need a bluetooth headphone to do any calling! :!:

[jlp]

Based on the Chinese report, it is a Pocket PC Phone Edition device! :lol: I am sure it will be faster than any UMPC with Windows XP or Vista!

You definitely need a bluetooth headphone to do any calling! :!:

Faster? at doing what? Internet browsing? certainly not and with a tiny VGA screen, probably unable to format web pages correctly!!!

Most sites are at the very least 800 pix wide, internet browsing must be... a mess at best. Now REAL UMPC can do 1024x600 too.

And is it doing real VGA or just pixel doubling? from the screen shots it look like its doing pixel doubling so web surfing will be as aweful as on any PPC I'm afraid.

Then if the number 39,900 at the end of the page is the price in Taiwan New Dollars, then my converter says that's over $1,200.

That's 25% more than the ASUS R2H, a REAL UMPC that has 1,000% the features &amp; capabilities.

So an Origami and a BT cell phone is a much more interesting &amp; capable solution than that sort of thing that pretends it's a UMPC.

And you still can bring your tiny phone along much more discreetely and leave the REAL UMPC behind if you don't need it.

[ADBrown]

And is it doing real VGA or just pixel doubling? from the screen shots it look like its doing pixel doubling so web surfing will be as aweful as on any PPC I'm afraid.

Uh, VGA PPCs don't do pixel doubling except on incompatible programs like games.

Then if the number 39,900 at the end of the page is the price in Taiwan New Dollars, then my converter says that's over $1,200.

That's 25% more than the ASUS R2H, a REAL UMPC that has 1,000% the features &amp; capabilities.

And several times the size, as well...

[RobrechtV]

Uh, VGA PPCs don't do pixel doubling except on incompatible programs like games.
VGA Pocket Internet Explorer does pixel doubling.

[SteveHoward999]

VGA Pocket Internet Explorer does pixel doubling.


Yeah but you can easily instal SE_VGA or something and fix that.

[beq]

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/htc-x7500-athena-has-tri-band-hsdpa/

This unit to have triband HSDPA/UMTS and quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE? 8O

[jlp]

And is it doing real VGA or just pixel doubling? from the screen shots it look like its doing pixel doubling so web surfing will be as aweful as on any PPC I'm afraid.

Uh, VGA PPCs don't do pixel doubling except on incompatible programs like games.

Well I guess it's not what I meant then. What I mean is that VGA PPCs and this device too display in pseudo VGA. The menus, menu bar, title bar, windows, etc. all display in the exact same aspect ratio as QVGA devices, thus taking 4 times as much screen area (pixel wise) as real VGA screens or devices. And thus the content area has much less space to display its data.

Also it's a well known fact that Pocket IE is extremely lousy at displaying web pages. And again every website (but the very rare ones specifically made for tiny screens, i.e. 0.000000001% of all internet pages) displays with a minimum of 800 pix wide.

These 3 facts alone will be a deal breaker for most people. And that's even not counting the much lesser features.

Then if the number 39,900 at the end of the page is the price in Taiwan New Dollars, then my converter says that's over $1,200.

That's 25% more than the ASUS R2H, a REAL UMPC that has 1,000% the features &amp; capabilities.

And several times the size, as well...

Since both aren't pocketable anyway, that won't make much difference for most.

AND the Asus R2H is available here and now :twisted:.