Sharp Electronics announced today that it has begun shipping the Zaurus SL-5600 Linux PDA. Relative to the earlier Zaurus SL-5500, the new model offers a faster CPU (400MHz XScale vs. 206 MHz StrongARM), twice the protected Flash storage memory (32MB vs 16MB), and extended battery life (1700 mAh). Sharp's “suggested retail pricing” for the SL-5600 is $499 (USD).

The SL-5600, which is powered by a 400 MHz Intel XScale processor, features a reflective QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) color LCD screen and a unique integrated QWERTY keyboard with sliding cover. It also includes a rechargeable (and replaceable) 1700 mAh battery, 64MB of protected Flash memory, 32MB of SD-RAM, dual expansion via CompactFlash and SecureDigital/MMC card slots, and an integrated speaker and microphone. The software stack is based on Linux along with the Qtopia GUI environment and PIM suite, Opera embedded browser, and the Geode Java virtual machine.

Further details on the Zaurus SL-5600 are available here.

As a result of today's announcement by Sharp, it appears that the older Zaurus model SL-5500 is starting to be heavily discounted by online sellers such as the Home Shopping Network.

 
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