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Seattle startup Velocity Mobile used the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas this week as the platform to debut its first products, a pair of Windows Mobile-run smartphones called the Velocity 103 and Velocity 111. Its partner in this endeavor is Taiwanese laptop vendor Inventec Appliance.

Velocity Mobile says its smartphones combine Western design philosophy and Eastern manufacturing efficiencies "to bring no-compromise experiences and value to consumers." Whether that's enough to differentiate itself in this very competitive business remains to be seen.

“People want more from their mobile phones, but they still point to price, design, and performance as their top priorities when they walk into the store,” said Velocity mobile president & managing director David Hayes. “When it comes to building mobile devices that really engage and excite consumers, however, compromise in any of these three crucial areas is a major turn-off."

Both Velocity smartphones—quad-band GSM world phones with support for 3.5G wireless—run on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, 256MB of ROM, 128MB of RAM, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, GPS, TV/VGA out, a microSD expansion slot, and two cameras—a 2 megapixel shooter for picture and video and a VGA type for videoconferencing.

The Velocity 103 is a tablet-style smartphone with a 2.8-inch 640 x 480-pixel (VGA) resolution touch screen. Its sister handset, the Velocity 111, adds a QWERTY thumb-keyboard, but has a smaller 2.4-inch and lower resolution 240 x 320-pixel (QVGA) display.

Velocity Mobile said the former will be available sometime in the second quarter and the latter during the quarter after that. They won't be offered by a wireless carrier but will come unlocked for use with any GSM network. No word on pricing yet.