O2 has pushed back the release of its XDA Zinc 3G PDA phone, dropping the previously announced January 2007 debut in favour of a March 2007 introduction, the UK carrier's website reveals.

O2 compares Zinc to the existing XDA Mini S but "with added 3G power for high speed Internet and video calling". The company doesn't say as much, but the Zinc is expected to sport a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and, according to a filing made last year with the US Federal Communications Commission, a 2.8in, 240 x 320, 65,536-colour display. It's based on a 520MHz PXA270 processor, backed by 64MB of RAM and 128MB of Flash ROM.

There's two megapixel autofocus camera on the back, a Mini SD slot for memory expansion, and both Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi for connectivity beyond 3G and GSM (it's tri-band) networks. Zinc measures 10.9 x 5.8 x 2.3cm and weighs 165g with the 1,300mAh battery in place. ®