BenQ emphasizes design with SL91 handset

BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co OHG will launch a new mobile phone in December, a half-egg shell design that fits in the palm of your hand.

Dubbed the SL91, the handset is aimed at the high-end multimedia user, as it comes with a 3.2 megapixel digital camera for pictures and VGA (video graphics array) video telephony, in addition to its music playing functions and 60M bytes of internal song storage space, plus a micro-SD card slot. It also has an FM radio receiver.

The company declined to divulge other details about the handset ahead of its launch, other than to say it's meant to show off BenQ's design prowess.

The back is a smooth oval, like a very long egg that's been cut in half. The face of the handset is about as thick as three credit cards stacked on top of each other. It's a slide-up face, holding a screen about 2.5 inches in size, with some controls. Moving it up reveals the touchpad underneath.

The company also developed some peripherals for the handset, including earphones for the music player and a set of small Bluetooth mobile sound speakers. The handset controls the speakers, dubbed IMS-100, via Bluetooth, instead of wires. The speakers play music streaming from handset. All the functions and settings on the IMS-100 speakers are controlled by the phone.

The small speakers run on four 1.5-volt AA batteries, according to Eric Lee, a specialist at BenQ.

Prices have not yet been determined for the mobile phone nor the speakers, he said.