Wireless News

Reviews of Philips’ new X800 touchscreen phone are starting to hit the wires ahead of its release, and while it’s a plenty attractive phone with a lovely 2.9-inch WQVGA display, the relic of a GPRS radio — you know, the same kind your great grandparents used during the Crimean War — makes it very difficult to care, unless you happen to be in an area without EDGE or 3G, nor the hope of either technology making an appearance in the forseeable future. On the plus side, that very same black mark on the X800′s record should lead to a pretty aggressive pricing strategy for a form factor typically associated with the highest of the high end.

Philips’ first ventures into the touch were unveiled today by Philips. The new devices are all touch, with both having very large touch screens, and according to Philips very good battery life. The Xenium X800 device will be based off of a proprietary operating system by Philips, while the X-Connect will be powered by Windows Mobile.

The Xenium X800 will feature a 2.9 inch 262,000 color display. The display resolution is 240×400, providing high resolution. It is not mentioned, but I would assume it would support some sort of screen rotation to view videos and browse the web with. It has a 2 megapixel auto focus camera, full Bluetooth, and MicroSD expansion.

The X-Connect ups the ante a little bit. It features a larger screen than the X800, at 3 inches. The exact resolution of the device is not known, nor what type of touch screen technology. The device will sport HSDPA, and as such does not have any WiFI connectivity. The device will have GPS, and full Bluetooth. The whole package is powered by Windows Mobile 6.