This shouldn't be surprising at all to anyone even remotely familiar with HTC's tendencies, but the Touch HD is officially not ever shipping to America (unless you import, obviously). The news was dropped via a Tweet (of all things), but evidently, the outcry over what we figured was common knowledge has caused some windows to be rattled in the penthouse offices. Another official Tweet followed to thank everyone for "expressing their desire for the HD," with the author noting that "US management now knows there's a grassroots demand for high-end HTCs here." Really, HTC? You needed a flood of angry Twitter comments to understand that Americans would give their second born for a phone like the Touch HD?

[Via WMExperts, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: We've received official word from HTC that they've been really overwhelmed by the "strong" demand for the HD in the States and other markets where no launch has been planned (with that insane display, it seemed like a no-brainer to us!). Sadly, due to the engineering time required to get a North American 3G version in the pipeline, they say they're better off just waiting until the next round of products launches -- hopefully with some extra bands in the radio this time, eh?

Read - Touch HD not coming to the US
Read - Thanks for the concern

Not even a fortnight after HTC's Touch HD went official in Germany, out pops a review from Deutschland calling it the best thing since sliced bread. Okay, so maybe our translation skills are a bit off, but one thing's for sure -- it was hailed as the first "iPhone killer to deserve that name." Right off the bat, reviewers praised the TouchFLO 3D interface for masking Windows Mobile, and of course, the expansive display was drooled upon numerous times. Additionally, critics praised the Opera browser while scolding Internet Explorer, and while it's hard to say for certain whether the battery life was remarkable, it definitely seemed to get their vote of approval. Of note, the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack was also loved, making us weep while thinking of what could have been with the T-Mobile G1. At any rate, it seems pretty clear that the Touch HD is going to rock some socks off, but we're trying to push it out of our minds until it becomes available on this side of the drink. Too bad that approach isn't working at all.

[Via WMPowerUser]

Read - Early Touch HD review
Read - Video showing off Stocks tab

Let's do a quick recap, shall we? So we pretty much know everything there is to know about Verizon's forthcoming BlackBerry Storm save for the price and release date, and so far as we can tell, Verizon's version of the Touch Diamond is still expected to be totally underpowered compared to Sprint's iteration. Now that we've rounded the tables, let's have a look at this image above. This here is Verizon's internal training schedule, and given that employees have to complete their Storm courses before November 2nd and their Touch Diamond courses before December 3rd, we'd say you now have a pretty good idea of when these two will be landing. Hey VZW -- think you could make that "Blocking Features Assessment" available to the public? We're guessing it'd be a real hit.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Hey, Bell, you can't let Telus hog all the spotlight over there with its shiny (literally) new Touch Diamond, now can you? Nah, 'course not -- we knew we could count on you! All signs are pointing to Bell launching its own version of HTC's hottest CDMA WinMo set this side of a QWERTY keyboard, possibly as soon as October 15 if sales reps are to be believed. Pricing is looking like $149.99 CAD on a three-year plan with a minimum monthly plan of $45, or $449.99 contract-free if that's how you prefer to roll.

The rock stars over at the Federal Communications Commission took some time out of their fiendishly busy schedules recently to grant approval to HTC's monster-spec Touch HD, revealing a model number of BLAC100 (the "BLAC" stands for "Blackstone"). EDGE 850 / 1900, check. WCDMA 850 / 1900, on the other hand -- yeah, not so much. Approval of the Euro piece doesn't really get us any closer to having a version with North American 3G bands, but okay, it's a start.

You've seen HTC's Touch Diamond, Touch Pro and Touch HD handled in separate instances, but CNET Asia took the opportunity to get all three of the handsets together for a little get-together. Atypical for most sibling relationships, these three seemed to get along fairly well, though we did overhear the Touch Diamond calling the Touch Pro "a fatso." Hit the read link for a few more looks.

[Via SlashPhone]

It's no shock to see a US 3G-enabled Touch Diamond showing up at Best Buy (unlike the hamstrung sibling over at CompUSA) -- though we can't say we were expecting the big box retailer to start shipping this soon. If its website is to be believed (read: don't book it just yet), the unlocked Touch Diamond 3G you're about to order for $699.99 will leave Best Buy's warehouse within one business day. If that's not cool with you, you can also pick it up "at most stores." Shame there's no white option listed...

[Via MobileTechReview]

HTC's "Jade," as the Touch 3G is known internally, has just earned FCC approval -- that's the good news. Unfortunately, the only approval it's going to see in the FCC's jurisdiction is of the 2G sort, because the blasted thing only features WCDMA on the 900 and 2100MHz bands. Those lucky enough to enjoy the handset at full speed will be the lucky beneficiaries of 7.2Mbs HSDPA, while North Americans have the luxury of poking along at a theoretical max of 200kbps or so (and we can just forget about chatting and browsing at the same time). But hey, at least we'll have the FCC off our backs when we're doing it.

Just how much is wide VGA worth to you? Amazon thinks the answer lies right around $890, apparently, now that its German site has the HTC Touch HD listed for €619. That puts it a mere 20 euro under the Sony Ericsson X1, which Amazon Germany also lists, meaning that the bump from 3.2 to 5 megapixels and the loss of the QWERTY keyboard basically work out to an even exchange. We normally don't put a lot of credence in retail pricing on prerelease products, but Amazon's a pretty big player to ignore -- and they're accepting preorders at these prices to boot. So: all things being equal, HD or X1?

[Thanks, derliebewolf]

If you're jazzed about the Touch Diamond, but have a thing for albino devices, a Danish site may have unearthed just what you're looking for. According to HTC-User, the company will be introducing a white version of their popular touchscreen device come October. We can't say for sure if this intel is pure gold or a pile of festering garbage, but if the pics we see (just renders right now) and the retail order page the site is linking to are any indication, this magic will be a reality sooner or later. That's a good thing, too -- you don't want Apple cornering the market on white and black touchscreen phones, right? Check out one more huge picture after the break.

Update: Engadget Spanish has confirmed that these are -- in fact -- the real deal, and will be headed to store shelves come October.

[Via Engadget Spanish, HTC-User; Thanks, Jesper]

Billed as an "affordable touch phone with the benefits of HTC's TouchFLO," the Touch Viva picks up where the original Touch left off and move things just a little bit downmarket for the benefit of smartphone lovers in emerging markets. To that end, the screen stays low-end with QVGA resolution, the radio tops out at EDGE speeds, and the camera's a mere 2-megapixel piece -- but by the same token, the Viva hangs onto WiFi, 256MB of ROM, and GPS. It also gets blessed with a tweaked version of TouchFLO that doesn't rely on 3D acceleration found in HTC's higher-end units. It'll be available starting next month for what we can only imagine will be a pretty reasonable price; backup smartphone, anyone?

HTC just can't stop the leakage. That Touch HD page was wild enough, but under the "Product Tour" section there's even more magic: instead of a Touch HD Product Tour, as the title would suggest, there's a colorful cadre of the unannounced phone referred to as the Touch 3G. Sporting a slightly refined design and, well, 3G, there's literally nothing else we know about the device. It does seem slightly different than the budget-friendly, EDGE-strapped Opal, but it's all hearsay until HTC actually announces these puppies.

Update: Wow. Just when you though HTC was out of the woods, our friendly neighborhood tipsters have tracked down the full product page for the Touch 3G. Peep the new read link for every spec, dimension and salty tear direct from HTC. Highlights include a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, Europe-friendly HSDPA, 3.2 megapixel camera and 14.5mm of thickness. Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS and 802.11g WiFi all make an appearance as well.

[Thanks, Ben]

It looks like ASUS has more in store when it comes to touchscreen phones than that P552w we saw the other day. According to pictures leaked to the Mobile01 forums, the company is planning an Omnia-esque device that will feature a large (WQVGA or WVGA) touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera, a trackball for non-touch navigation, and the predictable 3G radios / WiFi. Not much is known about the device at this point, though speculation is running rampant on the forum as to CPU specs and on-board memory. It's likely this will be at least competitive in comparison to recent Window Mobile devices we've seen of this variety, though nothing's certain till we get word from ASUS... which we're waiting patiently for, fellas.

[Via wmpoweruser]