| 8th January - A review by Geek.Com
on Qualcomm's new eagerly awaited devices 'Fairbanks' and 'Anchorage'. The
first model was the “Fairbanks” a handheld portable media player with
GPS functionality. Basically the company got a solid GPS unit, slapped on a micro-SD
slot, added live television playback, threw in a 3MP camera (video or still),
and got this. It’s poised to be the next generation of GPS products as Qualcomm
has a lot of faith in the expansion of functionality in GPS products as well as
a belief that their assisted GPS is way ahead of the competition’s. The device
uses a lightweight GUI and this particular version is based on Windows CE, though
any OS should work. Fairbanks The other model, the more exciting one
for most people, is the “Anchorage”. This is based on Qualcomm’s
Snapdragon platform so it will use a 1.0GHz processor (said to operate at 1/2
watt peak) along with WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, cellular, and a lot more good stuff.
The unofficial word is that Snapdragon will offer close to the best power/performance
ratio of anything on the market. The Anchorage device will be aimed more at productivity
and the test model I saw had a QWERTY keyboard. The form factor of this model
was a lot like the Nokia N810, but the actual design will be whatever OEMs want.
So far we know that Samsung and HTC are on board, but there are a few others that
are not official yet. 
Anchorage
and iPhoneThe Anchorage was running Windows Mobile 5.0, which was only used
for display purposes as any OS, even a full OS, can be run on the 1.0GHz processor.
It also has the camera with video recording, GPS, and live TV playback capability.
Because it has a cellular signal it will be prime competition for a device like
the HTC Advantage, though it will also compete against products like the Nokia
N810 and Sony mylo 2. Everything is still in its early stages and things
will change a lot once the OEMs get their hands on them and start to customize.
This may mean lost/added functionality as well as many different form factors
and large swings in the price. All we do know is that we should start to see the
devices released by the end of 2008, possible early 2009. Back
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