MWg Zinc II Reviewed, Unlocked WM6.1 For $749?

MGw is a brand new device company that first introduced its new handset, the Zinc II, at the Mobius 2008 event a while back. It's a SIM-unlocked Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 device that's now available in the U.S. for a staggering $749.95.MWg was previously known as O2 Asia and was purchased by a group that wanted to launch a new brand of Windows Mobile devices. MWg plans to launch three to five devices in 2008 with the Zinc II being the first branded by them. It's a QWERTY slider device, similar to the AT&T Tilt, but with a slimmer and more modern form factor.

In addition to the full Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS with Office Mobile, Windows Live Messenger, Calendar, etc. you also get a Java client so you can run Opera Mini and Gmail, GPS Viewer utility, headset volume limiter utility, and the Zinc II Quick Menu utility. This Zinc II Quick Menu appears to be similar to the HTC Touch utility and Spb Mobile Shell application that gives you quick access to applications and utilities and 36 speed dial shortcuts in panels that easily rotate with a flick of your finger from right to left or left to right on your display.

Mathew Miller of ZDNet reviewed the device and had this to say; "The device feels good in your hand and is a great size for a device with a slide-out QWERTY design. I wish the keyboard was better designed and think I would struggle with it too much for it to be more useful than an on-screen keyboard. The 64MB of RAM didn't seem to be as much of an issue as I thought it would be even after running several applications at once. The 500MHz Samsung processor is quite zippy and I found the device to be responsive. As I said, I don't think I could go back to a QVGA device again, but the display is clear and bright on the Zinc II."

From what I can see, the Zinc II looks to have nothing special to warrant such a high price tag. The feature set is average, and the form-factor is along the lines of any other WM device with a QWERTY slide out. The fact that it's unlocked out of the box won't impress many people, given there's a slew of unlocked devices constantly available online from several sources. They might have had themselves a winner if only they would've priced it along the lines of the Tilt and other HTC-based devices that share the same characteristics