First T-Mobile, then O2 and now mobile phone network Vodafone has signed up to offer the same keyboard-equipped Wi-Fi Pocket PC.

Vodafone is calling its version of the device the VPA III - compared to T-Mobile's MDA III and O2's XDA IIs. VPA stands for Vodafone Personal Assistant. The VPA, like its rivals, features a slide out QWERTY keyboard, along with GSM/GPRS, Bluetooth and 802.11b wireless connectivity systems.

Sporting a 2.5in 65,000-colour 240 x 320 display, the MDA III er... XDA IIs er... VPA III also features a VGA digicam. Powered by a 400MHz Intel XScale PXA263 processor, the device contains 128MB of RAM and 64MB of Flash ROM - on which is stored Windows Mobile 2003 Phone Edition. An MMC/SD IO card slot is provided for expansion.

Measuring 12.5 x 7.2 x 1.9cm, the XDA IIs weighs 205g. Its battery provides 300 minutes' talk time and 200 hours' on standby. The device will run as a PDA for 17 hours on a single charge. The PDA contains a quad-band GSM/GPRS radio.

The VPA will initially go on sale in Germany sometime "in the autumn", Vodafone said. It did not indicate what it plans to charge for the device. ®

Are they related? (L-R) O2's XDA IIs, Vodafone's VPA III and T-Mobile's MDA III

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