MS Stinger based Z100 next year now

Earlier this year Microsoft took a stake in UK company Sendo, which makes a variety of mobile phones usually re-branded by others, and which hoped to first have its phone/PDA available for this year. But Sendo said that it will not release the machine, based on the Microsoft 'Stinger' operating system, until it is certain the GPRS platform is reliable and stable.

The Z100, which is a combined trible band phone/PDA and which initially will be manufactured in bonny Scotland, is likely to use GPRS class eight, weight around 99 grams, and include a 176 x 220 screen supporting 65,536 colours.

The GPRS standards are not yet stable enough for Sendo to risk releasing the device, said Hugh Brogan, Sendo's MD.

Nor will Sendo release the unit with Bluetooth capabilities, said Brogan. Although he claimed that was because of interoperability problems between different Bluetooth implementations, the real reason could be cost - the chips are still bulky, the Sendo would need a Bluetooth antenna too, and that would add cost and weight to the unit.

Sendo wants to sell the Z100, initially in the UK, for around $300-$600, depending on the configuration.

The specs of the Z100 are pretty interesting, and at a press conference in the frankly weird St Martin's Hotel yesterday, Sendo was able to show a product that booted. Its first Z100, like so many of these things, only had a wooden heart and shell.

The Z100 will support 60 kilobits per second download, include IRDA, USB and RS-232 interfaces, support both MMC and SD (secure digital) micro multimedia cards, initially at 256K but up to 1GB by the end of next year.

It is powered by a combined ARM7/ARM9 processor, in a Texas Instruments implementation, supports the MS Smartphone platform operating system, and uses a frontlit reflective TFT screen. This alone, we estimate, adds around $55 to the cost of the Z100.

The unit also includes a hands free speakerphone, voice dial, and an internal antenna which is Sendo proprietary.

Brogan claimed that since Sendo started talking about the Z100, it has attracted 1,000 developers to its accredited programme, which, he said, can be found "somewhere on the Web site".

Stinger was attractive to Sendo because of the large developer community and he said that although it was possible for his firm to develop using an open standard OS, the size of the developer base was much smaller. The next release of Microsoft Digital Studio, he said, directly supported Stinger.

The Z100 will be aimed at three distinct groups of people, but he said that corporate customers was likely to be the biggest because of the way the unit could be used to access client server systems and the like. Early adopters were also likely to take to the Z100 because of its gizmo value, while the unit was also likely to appeal to the 18-25 agegroup.

Business-to-business applications will include sales force information, and he also expects developers to produce screaming video, navigational devices like maps, PIM, Web and WAP apps.

Software for the Z100 will include a Stinger version of Microsoft Outlook which will sync with a PC, and also have a voice menu. The inbox will be integrated SME-email, and support POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP. There will be a compact HTML (CHTML) version of the browser, while the unit will also support HTML 3.2, Jscript and SSL security. The unit will also support Microsoft ActiveSync, include Java virtual machine, and come with Solitaire and other games and accessories.

It also plays MPEG4 files in stereo.

Brogan claimed that Sendo was already in discussions with a "major games company" to produce "3D stereo games" for the Z100.

Optional accessories for the Z100 include one of those Palm-like folding keyboards, a stereo headset, a USB sync cable, RS232 sync cable, cigarette lighter adaptor, leather case, a mini digicamera 640x480 which attaches to the machine and lets you use the TFT as a viewscreen.

See Also
Microsoft takes big stake in Sendo
Sendo phones get the picture