Paragon hipi dual-mode GSM phone

Paragon Wireless released the world first commercial GSM/VoWLAN dual-mode smart phone, hipi, in March 2006 and was my pick to be a winner in this years' TMC Labs Innovation Awards. With a tri-band GSM/GPRS (Class 10) radio and an IEEE 802.11b WLAN chipset, hipi enables users to enjoy broadband multimedia services at WLAN covered homes, offices, hot spots/zones as well as reliable GSM/GPRS service anytime anywhere. Featuring a 2.4 inch TFT touch screen, QVGA, with 260k Colors, the hipi also supports STUN-based NAT traversal, the SIP standard, as well as G.711, G.729a/b, and G.723 codecs. It even has some gadgety-bling via it's built-in MP3 player and a QVGA/QCIF camera. The hipi can perform SIP-based seamless handover between GSM/VoWLAN. Importantly, it utilizes a unified phone book for both GSM and VoWLAN dialing and a unified GUI for the main applications i.e. phone, E-mail, QQ (IM), and browser.

EXCLUSIVE! The current hipi is based on Linux, but I asked about a Windows Mobile 5 version since there are many popular 3rd party applications written for Windows Mobile and they said that a Windows model was indeed in the works - with some beta trials currently and plans for release later this year. You heard it here first - the first dual-mode Windows Mobile 5 phone out later this year! According to Paragon, the Windows-version will have comparable battery/performance characteristics of their current Linux model. It will be Quad-band phone which means it will work just about anywhere in the world.

The hipi has excellent performance in power management, mobility management, security, mobile VoIP, and voice quality. hipi has passed most of regulation certification programs and has done interoperability testing with over 40 VoIP service providers, system integrators, and infrastructure equipment vendors worldwide. I should point out that Paragon is part of the MobileIGNITE program, an open standards approach to network convergence provides an end-to-end solution that enables communications service providers to rapidly deploy mobile to VoIP roaming services. (Bridgeport Networks is a well-known company that is part of the MobileIGNITE program.)



Standby time >100 Hours (GSM on, WLAN on) >200 Hours (GSM on, WLAN off). Talk time on VoWLAN is 3.3 Hours and for GSM it's 7.8 Hours. With such excellent battery talk times and standby - even with two radios operating - hipi is an ideal device for fixed mobile convergence. Check out the specs...

Hardware Specification (Linux model)
• Intel PXA271 processor with embedded Linux
• 2.4 inch TFT touch screen, QVGA, 260k Colors
• Built-in speaker/microphone, 2.4mm stereo and headset
• 1.3M pixel CMOS camera
• USB slave
• Mini SD
• 1100 mAh Li-ion battery

GSM Specification
• Frequency bands: 900/1800/1900 MHz
• GPRS Class 10
• SMS, MMS, WAP applications
• FTA/CTA certification
• FCC/CE certification

WLAN Specification
• IEEE 802.11b
• RF channels: US: 11, ETSI: 13, Japan: 14
• High-gain internal antenna
• WEP 64/128 bits, WPA, 802.1x
• EAP PSK/LEAP/PEAP/TTLS/SIM
• Power saving modes
• Fast roaming between access points

VoIP Specification
• SIP: IETF RFC 3261
• Codec: G.711, G.729a/b, G.723
• Acoustic echo cancellation
• Dynamic jitter buffer
• Voice activity detection
• Stun-based NAT traversal

Input Methods
• Handwriting Recognition > English > Chinese > Numeric characters
• Soft Keypads > Qwerty > Standard phone dialpad > Symbol

Power Management Features
• Standby time >100 Hours (GSM on, WLAN on) > 200 Hours (GSM on, WLAN off)
• Talk time > VoWLAN: 3.3 Hours > GSM: 7.8 Hours
• MP3 play time > 5.8 Hours (GSM on, WLAN on) > 6.2 Hours (GSM on, WLAN off)

Fixed Mobile Convergence Features
• Simultaneously activated GSM and WLAN air interfaces
• Handling simultaneously GSM and VoWLAN incoming calls
• SIP-based seamless handover between GSM/VoWLAN
• Automatic/manual switch for out-going calls between GSM and VoWLAN
• Automatic/manual switch for data applications using GPRS or WLAN
• Unified phone book for both GSM and VoWLAN.
• Unified GUI for applications (phone, E-mail, browser, QQ)

Call Features
• Call hold
• Call waiting
• Call mute
• Call forward
• Call transfer
• 3-way conference
• Voice mail
• SMS over SIP
• Phone book - (1000 entries with photos)
• Incoming call prompt with picture
• View phonebook during call
• Enter sketch pad during call
• Adjust volume during call
• Auto-answer/flip answer
• Quick silence
• Turbo dial
• Manual/Auto/Earphone redial
• Call history (20 entries) Data Application Features
• POP3 E-mail client (SSL support) > 100 full E-mails with attachments up to 200KB > Document viewer for MS-Office and PDF files
• Web browser: HTML4.01, JAVAScript1.5, SSL3.0, HTTP1.1, CSS1.0
• Instant messaging: QQ Multimedia Features
• Video format: MP4, 3GPP
• Audio format: MP3, WAV, MIDI, AMR
• Picture format: WBMP, BMP, JPEG, GIF
• Camcorder: QVGA, QCIF
• Media Player > Audio: MP3 player > Video: up to 30 frames/second QVGA MP4/3GPP PIM Features
• Calendar
• Schedule management
• Alarm clock
• Voice recorder
• World time
• Currency converter
• Anniversary Other Features
• English <-> Chinese dictionary
• Calculator
• World time
• Notepad
• Sketch pad
• File transfer
• Counter
• Timer