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Posts Tagged ‘Velocity mobile’

MobileWack has reported on new Windows Mobile 7 designs by Velocity Mobile, the Seattle-based company that was set to revolutionize the Windows Mobile world with their over the air auto-updating system.

However when I tried to do some confirmation on their website, I ran into a Bermuda-triangle like void.  Their website had disappeared without even a placeholder page. Their flagship device, the Velocity 103 has been discontinued on Expansys.

That makes it rather unlikely these devices pictured will ever see the light, and make them about as likely to get real as our Black Slab from yesterday.

Does anyone know more? Let us know in the comments.

Talking about Velocity Mobile, Slashgear has been handling Velocity Mobile’s touch-driven Velocity Mobile 103 and has put up a review of the Windows Mobile Professional smartphone and Velocity’s user interface.

While it’s fair to say they find the features pretty good (VGA screen, GPS, HSDPA etc), they did not find Velocity’s Windows Mobile add-on layer sufficiently deep or comprehensive enough.

Their conclusion was:
Consider that it’s the first handset from Velocity Mobile on the market, though, and you perhaps become a little more accommodating. Nothing is truly bad about the 103, and some aspects – VOTA, the copious connectivity, the luscious display – are positively stand-out. The 103 is a first-generation device and, based on what little we saw at CTIA of the upcoming Velocity line-up, it’s passing the best of its DNA to its successors.

Read their full review at Slashgear.com

While Velocity Mobile has yet to widely distribute their smartphones, especially in US, it seems their ODM Inventec has found a way to get their devices to the American market after all.

According to Engadget Dell is distributing two Pharos-branded Windows Mobile smartphones, the Traveller 117 and 127. Both devices are well specced, with HSDPA 7.2 Mb/sec, GPS (of course) and 2 cameras, a 2 megapixel main camera and front-facing VGA video conferencing camera. The 127 if a QVGA messenger device with front-facing keyboard, while the 117 is a touch-only VGA-screened device. Both devices feature Windows Mobile 6.1, and the Traveller 117 is clearly running SPB Mobile Shell.

Read more about the devices at Engadget.com

CNET has reviewed the Velocity Mobile 103. This HTC Touch Diamond-like device features a 2.8 inch VGA screen, AT&T HSDPA, WIFI, GPS etc and microSD expansion.

It also features Velocity Mobile’s Odyssey user interface and other the air software updates.

CNET was rather unimpressed with Odyssey, finding it unintuitive. They liked the screen and camera, but called the speaker-phone “pretty abysmal“. They also had no love for the keyboard, which sounds as if it may have been the standard WM soft keyboard.

Read the full review at CNET.com

Via TamsPPC

While the interface was not as revolutionary as hoped, there can never be too many VGA Windows Mobile phones. Its therefore welcome news that Velocity Mobile today announced the retail availability of its first touchscreen phone, the Velocity 103. The Velocity Mobile 103, which combines an easy-to-use Odyssey Interface, Velocity Over The Air updates (Vota) and an attractive design, is available for pre-order online now through Expansys for £334.99 and will ship by the end of September.

Velocity Over The Air (VOTA) updates means no longer do consumers need to buy new phones to get the latest software. The ability to easily update devices through VOTA means the device is longer lasting and more cost effective for users. Through this service, Velocity Mobile also directly engages its customers and keeping them up-to-date with mobility.

The Velocity Mobile 103 featuring Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, a high-resolution VGA screens and ample memory. The full specs are:

Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Qualcomm Mobile Station Modem™ (MSM™) MSM7201™ chipset
GSM/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA 850, 1900, 2100
640×480 VGA touch screen
Odyssey Interface
Velocity Over The Air updates (VOTA)
256MB ROM, 128MB RAM
Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11b/g WiFi, GPS
2.0 megapixel camera, 0.3 megapixel videoconferencing camera
TV/VGA out
MicroSD expansion slot

See more about the device at the Velocity Mobile website here.

Velocity Mobile has been an exciting entrant into the Windows Mobile world, promising highly specced devices with a new, well-thought out UI.

While the devices are now close to shipping, the UI associated with these have always been kept under wraps. These wraps have now been lifted, and the results do not really live up to the hype, as little as there have been.

The interface, called Odyssey, seems to be very similar to TouchFlo version 1, but does even less. On the today screen is a weather forecast which can find your nearest city by GPS. That appears to be all the today screen plug-in does.

Twinned with this is a Taskbar application, which brings up 4 customizable shortcuts, which seems to be a more limited version of TouchFlo as found on the HTC Touch. It can be activated by a dedicated button press, or TouchFlo-like with a swipe from the bottom of the screen.

The one useful feature Velocity has developed is VOTA (Velocity Over The Air), which allows for automatic updates via direct download. Hopefully it can be used to beef up the functionality of this extremely limited interface add-on.

See the Velocity Mobile Interface Demo here.

Via Phonearena.com

Chronic FCC stalkers Engadget have outed Velocity Mobile’s FCC filling for the Velocity Mobile 103. This full-screen tablet-type Windows Mobile Smartphone has not cleared the FCC, and the filling not only bring one of the first real-life pictures of the device, but also some tasty details.

For one, the filling confirms the presence of the all-important AT&T 850 Mhz band for 3G, and usually for a device aimed at the American market, includes a a front-facing video conferencing camera. It also shows an interesting screen lock switch. The included manual does not mentioned Velocity’s custom UI overlay, but we are certainly to see more of this before the release. The device differentiates itself from most other Windows Mobile phones by the presence of a VGA screen and a trackball for navigation.

Peruse the FCC’s filling here.

See more pictures after the break.

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