Vodafone to Sell Two New Hewlett-Packard Smartphones

Hewlett-Packard's iPAQ Voice Messenger and Data Messenger phones will be sold through Vodafone's business sales channels starting in the U.K., with other European countries to be announced.

Pricing details also remain to be announced, and will be available on a country-by-country basis. The phones will also become available via HP's Web site, the iPAQ Data Messenger is expected to be priced at €549 (US$725) and the iPAQ Voice Messenger is expected to be priced at €449.

The iPAQ Data Messenger has a 2.8-inch touchscreen and a full slide-out Qwerty keyboard. The iPAQ Voice Messenger is a candy-bar type phone with a 2.4-inch screen, and lacks support for touch input.

The two newcomers are, apart from that, very similar. Both phones use Windows Mobile 6.1: Data Messenger comes with the Professional version and Voice Messenger comes with the Standard version.

Both can surf the Web or access enterprise applications using Wi-Fi or HSPA (High Speed Packet Access). They support fast download and upload speeds, at 7.2M bps (bits per second) and 2M bps, respectively.

There is support for A-GPS (Assisted Global Positioning System), as has become standard in smartphones of late. Users can also snap pictures using a 3.1-megapixel camera, and store data using a microSD card slot.