Pharos is in the business of making a variety of different mobile handsets and PDAs (personal digital assistants) and the company has announced their latest addition, the Pharos 565. This device has the distinction of being the first rugged PDA that is designed on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system.

As another rugged device discussed yesterday, the Panasonic Toughbook H1 Field Tablet, the Pharos 565 PDA can take its fair share of abuse including a drop from a height of four to five feet, making it compliant with IP54 standards.

The 565 PDA is powered by a 624MHz Marvell PXA310 processor and includes a 3.5-inch TFT color touchscreen display with 240×320 pixel resolution, 512MB flash ROM, 256MB SDRAM, a full QWERTY keyboard as well as WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS support. For power, this Windows mobile device comes with a lithium ion battery and includes an AC power adapter and USB cable for charging purposes.

An unlocked PDA is available now for $529.95 and will ship with the Office Mobile suite installed.

Via: Slash Gear