Although the Zii Egg from ZiiLABS/Creative was an interesting device, it was also something of a disappointment, as it didn't offer any phone functionality. However, today, ZiiLABS have rectified that with the announcement of the Trinity which is ZiiLABS concept Smartphone platform.

There are some very familiar features here as the Trinity is of course based on the ZMS-05 StemCell processor, just as the Zii Egg. Both devices also feature Creative's proprietary X-Fi audio processing technology, front and rear cameras, 256MB of RAM, 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR support as well as the built in GPS receiver.

However, the Trinity has been given a slightly smaller screen at 3.1-inches compared to 3.2-inches for the Zii Egg, but the resolution has increased from 480x320 to 800x480 which straight away makes the Trinity a far more appealing device. ZiiLABS has used active matrix OLED display with capacitive multi-touch which should be a solid combination in terms of both screen quality and touch input.

The Trinity also supports quad band GSM with GPRS and EDGE support as well as tri band HSDPA support with speeds of up to 7.2Mbit/s. The rear camera is a 5 Megapixel unit with auto focus. Other features include a mini HDMI port, analog composite video ouput and a micro SD card slot. For some reason the battery on the Trinity is slightly weaker than that of the Zii Egg at 1,130mAH vs 1,200mAH, but on the upside the Trinity is using a Lithium Polymer battery instead of a Lithium Ion battery. As with the Zii Egg, the Trinity supports both Android and ZiiLABS own Plaszma operating system.

It's like that we'll see devices based on the reference platform, but hopefully we'll also see many more devices based on this platform, as it has as much potential as any of the other solutions from Nvidia, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Marvell and so forth. However, ZiiLABS is late to enter the game and this could well count against them when it comes to finding their way into big brand name handsets.

You can find more details about the Trinity here