At the CommunicAsia expo this week O2 announced an update to the XDA Atom Exec. Although the phone is mearly six months old, and already ahead of the game in many aspects O2 felt the Atom was beckoning for some changes.

Original Specifications of the O2 Atom:

• Windows Mobile 5.0
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• 802.11b WiFi
• Bluetooth 1.2
• 2.7″ 240×320 pixel display
• 2 megapixel CMOS integrated camera
• MiniSD memory card slot
• Removable rechargeable Li-Ion battery, 1,500mAh
• Standby - 150 hours, talk 5.5

Updates to the XDA Atom Exec Include:

• 520MHz XScale processor (previously 416MHz)
• 192MB ROM (was 128MB)
• New exterior casing

While the Exec is a marvelous smartphone, it is surely priced for the executive at $850 USD. Some time earlier this year HP announced it had plans to rebrand this handset to their own, yet no word since then on what apparently fell through their marketing department. It would be fortifying to see this smartphone marketed more in the United States.