The novel PocketSurfer 2 webpad , which is due to ship in Britain later this month, could be followed by versions in larger formats, according to its Canadian developer Datawind.
The £179.99 pocketable device is being promoted as the first to provide usable, affordable mobile web access from anywhere in Britain. It uses accelerated GSM links, which are free for twenty hours a month for the first year. Unlimited access will cost £5.99 a month.
Charges for the following year will be £40 for 20 hours a month, though it could be free if Datawind can get sufficient revenues from ads and click-throughs. The company is effectively a virtual mobile operator, bundling the Pocketsurfer 2 with a data package.
Chief executive Suneet Tuli said Wifi-enabled versions, as well as larger formats, may be offered in future.
He admitted that the lack of Wifi support in the current version, while helping to keep the price down, could be costly because it will force flat-rate subscribers to use GSM bandwidth that Datawind has to pay for, rather than a cost-free (and probably better) local wireless link.
"Wifi is something we could include in the future… We left it out because we wanted to keep the complexity down," he said.
Also costly for Datawind could be the lack of on-board storage, apart from 45Kbyte of cache. Tuli said users will get 25Gbyte online, which can double as a desktop backup drive, but this will mean more avoidable GSM data flows.
There is no mic on the PocketSurfer 2, ruling out Voice-over-IP calls. "We did not want to compete with the mobile phone," said Tuli.
Widget, the UK dealers for PockletSurfer 2, says on its site that the handhelds could be available within five days.
