Grundig B700
Expected
2007 9th March 2007
We've had our eye on Grundig Mobile
for a little while, which despite its German-sounding
name is actually a brand used by the Spanish mobile
phone manufacturer Vitelcom.
One of Grundig Mobiles's latest offerings
is the Grundig B700, a BlackBerry-like messaging phone
running a version of the Linux operating system.
It looks like it has a QWERTY keyboard,
but we understand that the Grundig B700 uses a version
of SureType with two letters per phone, as with the
BlackBerry
Pearl. The screen is a large 2.4" 320x240 pixel
TFT display in 262,000 colours and the Grudig B700 also
features a 2 megapixel camera, microSD expandable memory
(with 100MB of internal memory), an MP3 player, FM radio
and Bluetooth (although it is not stated whether the
B700 supports stereo Bluetooth, but it certainly does
have stereo output to the supplied wired headset).
Of course, a device like this is designed
for email and this is where it gets a little vague -
Grundig Mobile say that the B700 supports a "POP3
Push Email Client".. but POP3 is a Pull technology.
However, as Vitelcom also owns the mobile technology
firm Purple
Labs, it's quite possible that something clever
has been developed in house. Remember, the B700 is a
Linux device so the software can potentially be adapted
for a number of email solutions.
Impressively, the Grundig B700 weighs
just 89 grams and is only 10mm thick. That makes it
only about two thirds of the weight and thickness
of the new BlackBerry
8800, although the BlackBerry has a full QWERTY
keyboard and a much better battery life. It's a quad-band
GSM device with GPRS and EDGE data, and Grundig Mobile
quote the battery life as a minimum of 2.5
hours talk and 6 days standby time.
Certainly in terms of features the Grundig
B700 looks to be a very competitive device with quite
a lot of potential, although at present Grundig Mobile
haven't given an estimate of price or availability.
It's quite possible that it might turn up with something
other than the Grundig Mobile name as Vitelcom work
closely with networks such as Bouygues Telecom of France and
Telefónica from Spain (who also own O2), plus
SkySpring of Korea and the Chinese firm Xcute.
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Grundig
Mobile B700 at a glance
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Available:
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Unknown
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Network:
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GSM
850/900/1800/1900
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Data:
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GPRS
+ EDGE
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Screen:
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240x320
pixels, 262k colours
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Camera:
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2
megapixels
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Size:
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Slim
messaging device 105
x 68 x 10mm / 89 grams
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Bluetooth:
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Yes
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Memory
card:
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microSD
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Infra-red:
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No
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Polyphonic:
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Yes
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Java:
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Yes
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Battery
life:
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2.5 hours talk / 6 days standby
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