Swiss phone maker Zenum will bring its Windows Mobile 5.0-based slimline BlackBerry-like handset, the Opus, to market in March 2007, having missed its planned November 2006 release window, the company has announced.

The Opus prototype required "some improvement", the company explained. Still, the spec sounds fine, if unexceptional: tri-band GSM/GPRS, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 1.2 with A2DP wireless stereo support, a two megapixel camera and a QWERTY keyboard. The handset has the usual 64MB of RAM and 128MB of Flash ROM, augmented with MiniSD cards. It's powered by a 700MHz Texas Instruments OMAP 750 CPU, though this may change in the final release.

However, Zenum's pitch is not the spec but the looks - it's touting the Opus as a "premium design" phone, intended to appeal to folk who value looks as much as functionality. The metal and black look is reminiscent of some of Nokia's high-end handsets, and the camera sits beneath a sliding panel.

There's no word yet on what the Opus is likely to cost. ®