Here's one device you won't see in American hands anytime soon. In fact, not only won't the HP iPaq 600 smartphone be coming soon to a smartphone dealership near you; it may not be coming to the US at all.
According to the::unwired, it's quality concerns blamed on Taiwanese ODM Inventec that led to the decision to withhold the new Windows Mobile device from shipment to US vendors. European distribution, however, is strangely enough still a go, for both the iPaq 600 and its more advanced counterpart the iPaq 900 which runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition.
Is it a favor or a disservice to US users? That seems to be the prevailing question on the subject, and the right answer (as you'd expect) depends on who you ask.
The phones are 3.5 G - a boon for speed demons, for sure - and they boast a novel placement of the directional pad/track ball atop the numerical keypad - the appeal of which also depends on the individual user.
In general, the HP iPaq Pocket PC and Mobile Messenger series of PDA smartphones has been quite impressive to date. Which lends to the question: what went wrong?
Hopefully HP, who is openly considering discontinuing their relationship with Inventec, can get back in the smartphone game soon.
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