There's nothing quite as profoundly unsettling as reading a review about a phone you can't have. For Americans, that's an all-too-common experience -- and thanks to the ongoing Qualcomm / Broadcom drama, even phones that had originally been destined for the colonies have been unceremoniously dropped, destined for regions well beyond the reaches of the legal system. Case in point: HP had originally wanted to bring the interesting iPAQ 610 series here, but backed off at the last second. If you really want one, though, you can still finagle one from an importer -- not to mention that countless Windows Mobile fanatics populate areas of the globe friendlier to HP's latest pocket candy -- so Tracy and Matt's Blog took a close look at the 614c, which is now shipping. Although the reviewer found its Windows Mobile 6 load to be plenty speedy, he also discovered that it was a tad on the chunky side -- not to mention that the 3G radio seemed to be way flaky, the screen is too inset to use entirely stylus-free, and the virtual nav wheel embedded in the keypad (arguably the ace up the 610's sleeve) wasn't much fun to use. Nice try, HP, but on second thought, maybe we're not so broken up that you're keeping it out of the States.

So apparently HP just has a very special form of hatred for its native soil, because that iPAQ 610 series with that nifty touch sensitive scroll wheel embedded in the keypad now appears to be canceled only in the US. This bittersweet news comes courtesy of British retailer Devicewire, which reports that it'll have examples of the iPAQ 614 available to its customers as soon as next Monday for the princely sum of £389.99 (about $765). That's fine, though, HP, whatever. We didn't want your stupid iPAQ anyway.

[Via CoolSmartphone]

Ah, iPAQ 610. You were so close, and yet... so far away. According to a handful of tipsters, after a round of delays, HP has decided to cancel the release of its upcoming Windows Mobile smartphone, the 610 (also known as the iPAQ 614, 614c and 600). The company didn't give a lot of information, though they did state that, "due to recent legal issues between suppliers of mobile phone technologies, HP has decided not to offer the iPAQ 610 Business Navigator to U.S. customers as previously planned." It's unclear whether this means the phone will be missing from shelves worldwide, but it certainly won't be popping up on these shores anytime soon.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

In its fray of iPAQ introductions today come two new phones from HP -- the first since the rather bland 510 -- potentialy throwing the once-dominant Windows Mobile force back into the hunt. First up, the 600 series Business Navigator comes equipped with integrated GPS, a generous 2.8-inch touchscreen, 128MB of RAM, 256MB of ROM, 3 megapixel autofocus cam, WiFi, and Windows Mobile 6 Professional, all sitting atop a Marvell PXA270 putting along at 520MHz. The 600 rocks a numeric keypad; a dealbreaker for some, yes, but the nifty touch-sensitive scroll wheel integrated into the keys may be enough to sway a few back. The 900 series, meanwhile, swaps out the numeric pad for a standard QWERTY outfit and steps down to a 2.46-inch display, but the specs remain otherwise similar to its stablemate. Look for both to ship before the year's out.

[Via Phone Scoop]