When Hewlett-Packard started releasing a slew of new handhelds last summer, it hinted that a smartphone would follow sometime in the future. While rumors have been rampant for a number of months about a new series, the iPAQ h6300, some additional details have come to light.

The h6300 is slated to be a quad band (850/900/1800/1900) GSM/GPRS phone, which would allow it to be used in almost any country in the world. It is supposed to be about the same size as the slim iPAQ h2200 series. smartphone.net is also reporting that the new device will not only have phone capabilities, but it will also be the first smartphone to integrate both Bluetooth and 802.11b Wi-Fi. This is a major step forward for these types of handhelds, as the integration of cellular, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi has been kind of a holy grail for the mobile phone market.

With Bluetooth you can connect to local devices such as PCs and printers, and with Wi-Fi you get high-speed Internet and network access at hotspots and in the office or home. All of this comes with the ability to make phone calls and receive emails and connect to the Web anywhere in the country via GSM/GPRS.

According to the posted specifications, the h6300 should have a 3.5-inch display that supports 65,536 colors, 64MB of RAM, 64MB of ROM, a TI OMAP processor with an unknown clock speed, a Secure Digital In Out slot for peripheral and memory expansion and a powerful removable 1800 mAH battery.

It appears the unit will have a VGA digital camera that can take pictures at 640x480 resolution in a model that is aimed at consumers. A model for business won't come with a camera. There is also a BlackBerry-like thumb-keyboard that can be attached for writing emails, messages and notes. Speaking of BlackBerry, the h6300 will leverage the same push email solution that Research In Motion uses for its BlackBerry devices.

smartphone.net said the $600 device should be available from T-Mobile in June. We'll report more details on the h3600, and HP's official announcement, as they come to light.