HP dumbs down smartphone

APPARENTLY there's a niche for smartphones aimed at the "I only want to make calls," brigade. And HP with its Windows Mobile 6 based iPAQ 514 thinks it's got it covered.

The 514 offers full support for 'push email', for example. So busy executives can receive urgent emails OK. But it ain't got a keyboard.

Yet execs still need to reply. No problem. They can simply push a button and speak into the phone. The iPAQ will then send the reply as a .wav attachment.

Another voice centric capability is support for voice control. This is HP's own - not part of Windows Mobile because that doesn't support enough different languages.

[image_library_tag 10091, title='Hello, thanks for the spam' align='right',default] There's another crafty angle to this handset. All the settings can be managed remotely thanks to technology HP acquired when it recently purchased Bitfone.

Another key feature of the 514 is built-in WiFi support so that it can offer VoIP/Internet telephony. Apparently, HP is going to customise this handset to include support for UMA - Unlicensed Mobile Access.

That means it will work with BT's Fusion service so HP has done a deal with the former Brit telecoms monopoly.

Incidentally, if the INQ heard the Beast of Redmond correctly yesterday, Windows Mobile 6 ships with full versions of Office applications.

So you don't need a document reader/converter. You've got the whole thing. A bit bizarre since in this case, it would be very difficult to actually edit an Excel spreadsheet.

The handset should become available mid-2007 and cost around 350 Euros. µ