This report slides into the rare and never sought after ‘uber-rumor’ category as a result of offering nothing in the way of an explanation or even the slightest bit of logic, but if it turns out to be true we’d be pretty bummed. The Asus P565 was one of the few upcoming Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphones we were actually looking forward to playing with. No it wasn’t the overused form factor, generally humdrum specs or the substandard display that drew us in, it was the Marvell TavorP 800 MHz processor. A processing beast like that would have definitely brought some sexy responsiveness to an otherwise often-boggy OS. Alas, Asus’ deal with Garmin announced earlier this month has reportedly rendered the P565 as collateral damage. What the initial reports don’t mention that actually brings this rumor into the realm of possibility is the fact that this handset was to tout some above-average GPS features. Needless to say, such functionality would tread on the Garmin deal and could certainly have lead to the P565′s demise. Either way, we won’t morn the loss too much if this rumor does pan out — there are plenty of other handsets working their way to market over the coming months to get excited about.

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Asus announced on Friday the P565, a Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional extraordinaire that comes with a blazing 800 MHz processor and a 2.8″ VGA touchscreen display. The black, leather-backed handset is targeted for the business folk and features its own Glide UI that is optimized for the touchscreen device. It also packs the SIRF Star III GPS chipset that is found on most stand alone GPS devices. The rest of the specs for the new Asus P565 are pretty standard for a smartphone:

• HSDPA 3.6Mbps, UMTS 2100, EDGE/GPRS/GSM 900/1800/1900, Class 10
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• 2.8″ TFT, 65K-color Touchscreen, VGA (480 x 640 pixels) Display
• Marvell TavorP 800 MHz Processor
• 256 MB Flash + 128 MB DDR SDRAM
• MicroSD with SDHC support
• WLAN 802.11b+g
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• GPS : SiRF Star III with InstantFix
• WAP Browser / SMS / MMS / Email / MSN / Push E-mail
• Battery : 1300 mAh Li-Ion
• Standby Time : 250-300 hrs with 3G and 200-250 hrs with 2G
• Talk Time : 3 hrs with 3G and 4 hrs with 2G
• Dimensions : 102 mm x 60.5 mm x 16 mm

No pricing or release date but with the phone missing the US 850MHz band and the US 3G bands, we wouldn’t expect to see it come stateside in its current form. Nonetheless, we applaud Asus for upping the ante and releasing the world’s fastest handset with a high resolution screen and a stylish form factor.

[Via wmpoweruser]

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