D-Link will ship its first dual-mode mobile phone next year, the networking kit company announced this week. The handset, called the V-Click, combines tri-band GSM/GPRS cellular connectivity with Wi-Fi access.

D-Link's pitch for the $600 handset is that users will run it as a standard pay-as-you-go GSM phone most of the time. At a push of the device's V-Click button, however, the 802.11 radio kicks on to allow the handset to connect to the Net via hotspots for both web browsing and VoIP.

The V-Click sports a 176 x 220 colour display and a battery good for five hours' GSM talk time or two hours' Wi-Fi usage, D-Link claimed. The handset has 24MB of on-board memory and provides the usual contact and calendar applications, along with POP/IMAP email and text messaging.

D-Link's announcement comes just weeks after US Paragon Wireless announced Hipi, a similar dual-mode 'Wi-Fi meets GSM' handset. Unlike the V-Click, the Hipi features an integrated digicam.

V-Click is due to ship during Q1 2007, D-Link said. ®