If our brief time with the GSM variant (the S710 Vox) is any indication, Qwest subscribers should be pretty freakin' stoked about this. The regional carrier has just picked up HTC's S720 Libra, the CDMA radioed version of the manufacturer's slide-out QWERTY smartphone rocking Windows Mobile 6 Standard. The naming is a little confusing -- Qwest calls it the "Fusion HTC 5800" -- but whatever they want to call it, it's pure gold by HTC and Windows Mobile standards. The spec sheet tells of a 2 megapixel cam, A2DP, microSD expansion, and EV-DO all packed into a pleasantly compact (we know from our experiences with the Vox) shell. Grab it now for two bills on contract.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Is Verizon having a busy summer? We guess it depends on who you ask. For some, the time for the HTC Vox (aka UTStarcom XV5800) finally hit the hands of employees last week and the device should be available for sale sometime in August. All the stats remain the same like a Qualcomm 7500 series EV-DO Rev A chipset and a 400MHz processor. The only thing we noticed was the change for internal storage which is claimed to be 162MB, which sounds a little strange to us. Let's hope that Big Red can pull this one off in time for Labor Day.

[Thanks, HTC Kid]

Our favorite Canadian carrier, Telus, is launching another HTC product before everyone -- this time it's the the Libra running Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard. Featuring a full numeric keypad and a slide down QWERTY keyboard, a 2 megapixel shooter, microSD expansion, and stereo Bluetooth, this device is built to please. Click on through for more pics!

Like the Vox? Well, you probably haven't played with it yet, but as far as Smartphones go the Vox is pretty slick. Unfortunately, its biggest limitation, EDGE data, is well resolved with the S720, its EV-DO-equipped little brother. Check out the hands on gallery with tons of size comparisons with the Vox and Tytn, it's the perfect chaser to the 6800 hands-on.

Good news for EV-DO junkies out there looking for a USB and/or Rev A fix: Novatel's lineup of Rev A products are now official, and are coming to an OEM or carrier near you this fall (we're thinking Sprint would be a fairly safe guess under the "carrier" category). The lineup includes that MCD3000 USB modem we saw hit the FCC the other day as the U720, which is apparently "about the size of a small cell phone," the Merlin M720 PC card -- which is already out for Sprint as the S720 -- and the Expedite E720 PCI Express Mini card. The latter is for laptop manufacturers to pop into their own products, so we probably won't see a retail release, and an ExpressCard version is notably absent. The good news is that all three of these pack EV-DO Rev A for 3.1Mbps speeds, along with the traditional GPS support, Rev 0 and CDMA compatibilities. According to Novatel, they're "currently ramping shipments at major carrier or OEM customers," and like we said, those S720 cards are already out, so these really should be right around the corner.

[Via Laptoping]

Their EV-DO Revision A network might not be ready for prime time until Q4 at the earliest, but no one can fault Sprint for not having modems in the pipeline when they do eventually flip the switch. The just-launched S720 from Novatel Wireless offers glorious downstream speeds of up to 850Kbps in a PC Card form factor -- sad news for MacBook Pro users needing an ExpressCard, but we have to believe Sprint will have you guys covered before too terribly long. Look for the S720 at your friendly local Sprint retailer for $99.99 on a 2-year contract, though without much live Rev A infrastructure, there's no rush to upgrade from your trusty Rev 0 equipment just yet.

[Via phoneArena]