New QDA-700 Smartphone from PiTech and Qool Labs

Posted By: Ryan Tuesday, September 28, 2004 10:22:12 AM

Portable Innovation Technology Limited (PiTech), the world's first PalmSource-certified original design manufacturer (ODM), and Qool Labs, today introduced a new Palm Powered smartphone, the Qool QDA-700. The Qool QDA-700 is also the first Palm OS smartphone to include a 1.3-megapixel camera.

The Qool QDA-700 is based on the smartphone platform developed by PiTech and built on the Palm OS Garnet operating system. It is a tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900mhz) smartphone targeted at the consumer market.

The Qool QDA-700 comes with rich multimedia features including a 1.3-megapixel camera, a high-resolution, 2.8-inch color QVGA (240x320) display, 32MB or RAM, 802.11 SDIO support, WAV/MP3/MIDI ring tone supportability, MP3 player and MEPG4 video capture and playback capabilities. In addition, the device is bundled with productivity applications such as Documents-to-Go and PalmSource Mail, designed to appeal to prosumer and business customers.

"We are very excited about the launch of the Qool QDA-700 based on Palm OS," said KH Lim, CEO of Qool Labs. "We are honored to work with PiTech, one of the best technology companies in the industry."

"The launch of the Qool QDA-700 validates PalmSource's efforts in working with ODM partners and their customers to bring cutting-edge smartphones to market," said Gabi Schindler, senior vice president of worldwide marketing at PalmSource." We look forward to working with our ODM partners and channel distributors to expand the reach of Palm Powered smart mobile devices into new markets across the globe."

The Qool QDA-700 smartphone will be launched across multiple markets in Asia and Europe in November 2004.

Thanks to Mobinaute for the device photo.

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Where did that come from!

Token User @ 9/28/2004 2:07:02 PM #
They kept that quiet - must be a lot easier to do if you don't need to get the FCC involved :)

Nice looking phone - I prefer a flip to a candy bar. Would love to see this in a US market.

~ "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." - DV ~

RE: Where did that come from!
JonathanChoo @ 9/28/2004 3:36:58 PM #
Personally I prefer 'candy bar' format.

I like some flip phones but this looks to much like one of the old Motorola proprietary smartphones.

The specs looks nice though. But where is the new Treo?

Actual Photos Link

LiveFaith @ 9/28/2004 2:30:00 PM #
http://www.mobinaute.com/mobinaute/article.php?id=20040928124012

Pretty snazzy for the other side of the pond.



Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

RE: Actual Photos Link
LiveFaith @ 9/28/2004 2:32:40 PM #
Pretty comparable to the Treo 800g.

http://www.churchoflivingfaith.com/images/treo800g.jpg

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

Bluetooth?

Amanco @ 9/28/2004 3:24:26 PM #
did i miss reading a BT included?

Pretty "Qool"

ronhoney @ 9/28/2004 3:42:53 PM #
Good looking arangement; I also prefer the clamshell design, but get rid of the damn camera and put a 2nd SD slot (on top so you can use GPS, Blue Tooth, etc. adapters).

Ron Honey

240 x 320

rsc1000 @ 9/28/2004 5:30:12 PM #
If this info is correct - i think going with 320 x 240 is a BIG mistake. PalmSource now supports this res (this was mentioned today in the news about Cobolt 6.1 aswell) and other companies have gone with this (was it Acer or somebody else?) but no apps support this what-so-ever. Now, apps that just use standard Palm OS controls for the interface will work fine (they'll just map the 160 x 160 co-ords to 240 x 320 the same as they do to map it to 320 x 320 or 320 x 480) but games and other apps that don't use Palm OS controls do not going to support this. Its taken awhile to have a lot of the major games support the treo (because the 600 is OS 5 but uses old 160 x 160). But there are still popular titles that don't work on the treo (Legacy is about as popular a Palm OS game as you can get - and no treo support). I think PalmSource should be stricter in its lisensee requirements for screen res. 160 x 160, 320 x 320, 320 x 480 (w/virtual grafitti) are all fine. But this is just asking too much of developers to support an awkward QVGA resolution for an obscure device like this.

RE: 240 x 320
patchwork @ 9/28/2004 6:18:57 PM #
QVGA is in fact one of PalmSource's supported resolutions.

In fact, the Palm OS 5.4 Simulator supports the following:

* 160x160
* 160x220
* 240x240
* 240x320
* 320x320
* 320x480

So it's safe to assume that a licencee may choose any one of these for a device.

The developer body would have been made aware of this quite a while ago, and it's been up to them to ensure that their software works on any devices with screen resolutions that licensees may choose to support.



-P-A-T-C-H-W-O-R-K-
A Trini Palm Nut
III - IIIe - IIIx - M500 - T|T - ??

Come visit Trinidad & Tobago at
http://www.visittnt.com
http://www.triniscene.com

RE: 240 x 320
rsc1000 @ 9/28/2004 6:56:07 PM #
Uhhh - i know its one of PalmSource's 'supported resolutions' - did you even read my post??? The problem is that it is NOT a resolution supported by game developers. And if you don't know what i mean then i suggest you do some reading on the subject. Just because it is a supported resolution does not mean games (and i'm taking about commercial games that take over the inerface entirely) will magically work - fabricating new bitmaps from thin air!

RE: 240 x 320
rsc1000 @ 9/28/2004 6:56:07 PM #
>>The developer body would have been made aware of this quite a while ago, and it's been up to them to ensure that their software works on any devices with screen resolutions that licensees may choose to support.

All well and good to just pawn it all off on developers - but the reality is that this is not the first 240 x 320 Palm OS device and yet NO current, commercial quality games support this resolution. It is costly for devs to take time to produce all new resources (and make other changes) for there application to support this res. So devs won't support this and consumers will buy this device and suddenly find that they are limited not only with games - but a lot of other OS 5 apps such pocket tunes, aeroplayer and mmplayer which all use skins for 320 x 320, 320 x 480 and/or 160 x 160. So yeah - all of the non-exciting, non-multiamedia apps will probably work fine in this 'supported' resolution. But why - exactly - did we move to OS 5 ARM devices again? oh yeah.....

The built in apps will work fine - and products like docs-to-go will proably be updated. But others will just wait to see if this prodcuts goes beyond a niche market before even thinking about adding support.

RE: 240 x 320
patchwork @ 9/28/2004 11:13:53 PM #
Sorry about that. I really didn't read your post properly before I replied. But it's not that these resolutions didn't come without warning. And further, it's also not going to be the case that every application is going to be suited to every device. After all, I think honestly, someone would be hard pressed to play any of the high action heavy hitters, like Doom, on this lil' unit. In fact, it probably doesn't even have enough hard buttons for most of the more intensive games. I doubt anyone would want to stand the chance of losing an important call because some game didn't properly deactivate the answer and hangup buttons.

Remember too that a lot of people will actually want to use this for what it's being marketed as - a phone.

Ever so often someone reminds us that we, posting here, represent the upper crust of the PDA market. We've all probably had more than one PDA in a few years, have a few accessories, and we'll invest in software, and load and unload stuff and what not. But most of the people that buy a PDA or a smartphone will never add an additional piece of software, far less buy a keyboard or anything other than a case for it. They'll use exactly what comes in the box. And if what comes in the box allows them to manage a datebook and todo list, send and receive sms/mms messages and e-mail, look up a thing or two on the web, open a couple standard format attachments or files with Docs To Go, and possibly, use a downloaded MP3 as a ringtone, it's all there in the device already.

Qool Labs is clearly not interested, in this particular product, in building a device that will compete with the Garmin or the Zodiac line, or even PalmOne's Tungstens or Zires.

They've given us a phone that runs Palm OS. And for all you know, many other mainstream apps are already quietly supporting the additional resolutions...


-P-A-T-C-H-W-O-R-K-
A Trini Palm Nut
III - IIIe - IIIx - M500 - T|T - ??

Come visit Trinidad & Tobago at
http://www.visittnt.com
http://www.triniscene.com

RE: 240 x 320
bcombee @ 9/29/2004 2:37:10 PM #
One of the big reasons for using a 240x320 display is its low cost. On the electronics parts market, 240x320 is one of the least expensive color displays to source, due to it being used in so many devices. In fact, 160x160 displays, as seen on the Treo 600, are more expensive to purchase. This is the big reason to support this resolution -- it lowers the cost of building a Palm OS device, something very attractive in the smartphone space. Also, 240x320 displays are available in a variety of sizes, ranging from the very small (as seen on the Qool phone) to the rather large (white-box PPC device).

--
Ben Combee
http://palmos.combee.net - PDA programmer weblog
RE: 240 x 320
indesman @ 9/29/2004 7:52:56 PM #
Seems like game developers whose products run on both the PalmOS and the PPC won't have to completely rewrite their code. Isn't that what the "sharky" software is all about? Press a few buttons and, badda-bing badda-boom, your in like Flint.

Harumph!

mikecane @ 9/28/2004 6:19:39 PM #
Did anyone bother to enlarge the image to see the FILE MOVER app listed in that launcher?

No, we don't need no stinkin filesystem...

PalmOS does NOT need a Windows-style file system
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 9/28/2004 10:19:19 PM #
Give it a rest, Mike. Your constant complaining about the way Palm manages files shows how ignorant you are about technical details of PDAs. You also seem unable to figure out that PDAs don't have to be miniature desktops.

And please keep your comments civil if you can't say something intelligent or even take a joke without freaking out like you always do.



******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.

RE: Harumph!
mikecane @ 9/29/2004 10:27:33 AM #
Oh shut up. You think you know it all. Everyone here is still laughing their butts off that Sony's new CLIE is precisely NOT what *you* described it as being in your ridiculously detailed "insider" comments posted over and over and over here. Say goodbye again.

?
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 9/29/2004 9:32:25 PM #
What on earth are you prattling on about now? You certainly are a strange little man.



******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.

Post new comment wizard

Konstantin @ 9/28/2004 7:43:25 PM #
With so much experience in news posting PIC should institute another kind of "easy post" button.
Aren users tired of typing all the same 'blah blah no wifi', 'yadda yadda no BT', 'I aint no buyin blah blah, whatever yadda yadda'.

Just fill a form once with all your preferences for a PalmOS device (slider or not, color, screen res, cost, wireless options and other nuances), do's and no-no's and voila. Every time you see a news post you just press "Post new-autocomment" button, click a couple of check boxes and message based on your personal preferences will be generated, a new post bashing or praising the new gadget.

It could be further enhanced by "auto flame war" option, like quoting of your favorite archi-poster-enemy fighting back your point of view.


Konstantin.

RE: Post new comment wizard
Gekko @ 9/28/2004 8:24:04 PM #
yeah - can keep bending over and taking it up the *** from palmone/source. Some of us choose not too.

RE: Post new comment wizard
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 9/28/2004 10:27:11 PM #
Palm has said:

Who needs:
- color screen?
- MP3?
- multimedia?
- Bluetooth?
- more memory?

And every other feature people on the cutting edge have demanded over the years but Palm hasn't yet been ready/able to include in its handhelds. We stick with Palm because it's the best OS. Period. If you move to PPC because of its hardware, I think you're making a mistake.





******************************************************************
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.

RE: Post new comment wizard
Konstantin @ 9/29/2004 12:20:02 AM #
I love PalmOS period
no way I am goin PPC (yuck, yuck , spit)


As for the rest I was trying to raise up the humor, I must be a bit depressed, shure I am.


Konstantin.


Whoa Flashback! Looks like a Treo 180g!!

gfunkmagic @ 9/28/2004 11:05:01 PM #
Don't ya think?

http://www.treocentral.com/content/Products/factsheet-2-50.htm

The Treo 180g, which was the thumbboard-less version of Handspring's Treo 180, was never as popular as its thumbboard sibling. Thus, if HS back then concluded that there was no market for such an smartphone handheld, what has changed since then for make PiTech etc think that such a design will work now?

I support http://Tapland.com/

--------------------
GNM

RE: Whoa Flashback! Looks like a Treo 180g!!
patchwork @ 9/28/2004 11:38:13 PM #
It's more than just the form factor. It's what's gonna be running inside...
RE: Whoa Flashback! Looks like a Treo 180g!!
indesman @ 9/29/2004 7:50:57 PM #
Check me if I'm wrong here but the 180g didn't have a phone or a streched screen. The superficial format may be the same the devil is in the details.

RE: Whoa Flashback! Looks like a Treo 180g!!
bcombee @ 10/2/2004 1:09:22 AM #
The Treo 90 was the non-wireless model. The Treo 180 and 180g were both GSM phones with 160x160 grayscale screens, with the 180 having a keyboard and the 180g having Graffiti.

--
Ben Combee
http://palmos.combee.net - PDA programmer weblog

How get connected with gprs in India

Hemal @ 10/31/2006 8:14:24 AM #
How can I connect to GPRS via QDA 700 in India with Hutch connection?
I have tried a lot but nothing is working.

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