T-Mobile Ameo Handheld

HTC has long been a Windows Mobile hardware innovator, but until now the Taiwanese company has produced Windows Mobile PDAs and smartphones with largely standard features; that all changed with the announcement of Athena, a Windows Mobile powered mini-tablet set to take Microsoft's mobile OS in a new direction. 

Like a traditional Pocket PC Phone, the Athena runs the Windows Mobile 5 for Pocket PC Phones OS with the standard array of software features.  Unlike any Pocket PC we've seen before, however, the Athena has an 8GB hard drive, a magnetically-connected, detachable keyboard, a 5 inch VGA display and a TV-out port. 

The HTC Athena (sold by T-Mobile in Europe as the Ameo and by Dopod as the U1000) is powered by a 624MHz Intel processor, has onboard 802.11g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 wireless radios, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSPDA wireless network compatibility, a built-in GPS receiver, a 3MP digital camera and a miniSD flash memory card slot.

This long list of features easily makes the HTC Athena the most advanced Windows Mobile device ever released.  As mentioned above, the Athena is currently set to be distributed by two companies, T-Mobile and Dopod.  T-Mobile's European launch of the Athena, which they sell as the Ameo, occured in mid-March 2007.  It isn't yet clear whether the Ameo will come to the U.S. in an official capacity, but it is possible.  Internet tablet devices have proved more popular in Europe than they have here in the U.S., but the Ameo could start a new trend.  We'll have to wait and see.

Check back here for more information over the coming weeks.

Updated March 23, 2007

 

     

   

 

     

        

         

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