As a follow up to my last post about the different pricing for the ITG xpPhone in this post, here’s another post explaining the differences in the range of pricing options for the device. There are three pricing options – RMB 2,999, RMB 3,500 and RMB 3,999 (RM 1,492, RM 1,742, RM 1,990). The cheapest option doesn’t have the 3G module inside – which means no voice nor data calls, so it will function as a mobile internet device (MID) only (heck, I wouldn’t even call it a MID, because it doesn’t have embedded 3G!). The middle option does come with the 3G module, so it will function as a phone as well as a MID, but it will only come with DOS, while the most expensive option will come with 3G as well as Windows Embedded Standard (WES) 2009, which will function like Windows XP – so, there’s no point trying to save a little money getting the DOS version and having to hunt down the WES software to install, because it’s really hard to find, trust me!
If it ever came to Malaysia with some form of official support, at RM 1,990, it’s quite cheap for a dual OS machine that I would probably be interested enough to get one for its novelty value. One strange thing I found about the 3G specifications is that it only supports EV-DO which is the standard used in the US and not Asia. I’m wondering how the mainland Chinese as well as Hongkong residents are going to be able to utilise it fully, given that Hongkong uses the GSM/UMTS standard which is a different standard compared to EV-DO?
