Looking for a Windows Mobile 6 Standard device with a slide-out QWERTY doohickey plus a dedicated numeric keypad? The Vox is pretty much the only game in town -- and we're delighted to report that that's not a bad thing at all. Known as the S710 under HTC's own branding, the set rocks a 2 megapixel cam, Bluetooth, quadband GSM with EDGE data, 128MB of ROM, 64MB of RAM, a microSD slot, and WiFi. The software's standard fare (and reasonably fast in light of the pokey 201MHz OMAP850), but as is often the case with HTC kit, the hardware's where this thing really stands out. Not only were we super impressed by how rock-solid the S710 felt, but considering the immense value of the QWERTY keyboard, you sacrifice very little in size or weight. In fact, looking at the phone straight on from the front, you can't even tell that it's anything but a rather ordinary looking candybar. It's a little thicker, sure, but well worth the price of admission, even if only for the occasional email-based rant. Check out some S710 poses (tasteful, we promise) in the gallery!

For fans of Windows Mobile's Smartphone (or "Standard," if you prefer) variant, the Vox pretty much represents the pinnacle of the platform's evolution. HTC's always been good at letting users of its devices have their cake and eat it too -- the Vox is no exception, rocking a numeric keypad up top and a slide-out QWERTY for when the texting starts to get intense. Unfortunately, the phone is still a bit scarce, so there's nothing like news of its release somewhere in the world to perk us up a smidge. This time around Vodafone's German and British outposts are the lucky winners (or their customers are, we guess), offering the Vox as the "VDA V" and "v1415" respectively. The German version goes for €209.50 (about $281) on contract, while Brits have a bit cheaper go at it, ranging from free to £25.53 (about $51) depending on the contract selected. Enjoy, folks; meanwhile, our patient wait continues.

Read - Vodafone Germany's VDA V [Via the::unwired]
Read - Vodafone UK's v1415 [Via the::unwired]

HTC's Asian outpost Dopod has officially announced two of its corporate parent's more hotly-anticipated models today -- the Vox and the Cavalier -- in the form of the C500 and C730, respectively. The C500, which has already seen retail duty in Europe as the Orange SPV E650, is arguably the more unique of the two with a spring-loaded QWERTY slide to accompany a full numeric keypad up front; sadly, 3G data is left entirely out of the equation. The C730 is the HSDPA follow-on to the Excalibur with a 2 megapixel cam and a rather comely (in our humblest of opinions) black shell. Thankfully, both come loaded with Windows Mobile 6 Standard. Look for the C500 this month for about $490, while C730 fans will have to wait until next month and shell out another hundred at $590.

Read - Dopod C500
Read - Dopod C730

Orange has rolled out the SPV E650 (alias HTC S710, alias Vox) in its mobile shop in the UK, giving Brits their first taste of Orange-flavored Windows Mobile 6 love. The Vox is set to be a kickin' handset in both its CDMA and GSM flavors, though we still wish HSDPA was part of its feature set. We have been waiting for this since HTC made the announcement at 3GSM, and we're sure that many will rejoice upon seeing it in the Orange mobile shop -- only to just as quickly deflate at the label: "Coming Soon." No word on exact shipping date or cost yet, but we hope to turn that frown upside down with something a bit more concrete, real soon.

[Via Geekzone]

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.

Seems the HTC design depot is kickin' out new handsets fast and furious of late and if you believe everything you read, the Vox's replacement -- the HTC Wings -- is coming before the proverbial ink has had a chance to dry on this page. The Vox is a treat -- and a tasty one at that -- with goodies like a quad-band GSM radio, EDGE, Bluetooth and WiFi data connectivity, 2 megapixel camera, 201MHz OMAP CPU, and according to what we hear, a killer display. Love your TyTn's keyboard but hate the size? No worries, the Vox is packing a QWERTY keyboard too. But sadly, while sweet in oh so many ways, there is no HSDPA or any other 3G goodness for that matter. While not a deal breaker, the extra-fast connectivity would have rounded out this otherwise exceptional little handset.

[Via Smartphone Thoughts]

HTC finally took the wraps off its hotly-anticipated (and well-scooped) "Vox" handset at 3GSM today. The feature set is, by and large, pretty indistinguishable from any other Windows Mobile device these days (quadband EDGE, 2 megapixel camera, 2.4 inch QVGA display, microSD support, WiFi, 128MB of Flash, and 64MB of RAM), but it gets juicy when you slide the Vox's two halves apart to reveal a (gasp!) full QWERTY keypad. By Pocket PC WM6 Professional standards, that's nothing new -- heck, HTC's own devices have had that trick up their sleeves for ages -- but never before in Smartphone trim. Because it's a Smartphone, it'll come equipped with the Standard version of Windows Mobile 6, and we're thinking it'll be likely packing one of the most luxurious typing experiences of any WM6 Standard device on the market (which, of course, we can use to express in email and SMS our frustration to HTC about the lack of a 3G radio). Click on to the gallery for the full exposé of HTC's newest, leanest, meanest QWERTY device doing its thing!

If you had a hankering for HTC previews to finish off your January in style, today's your lucky day. While you're probably still gawking at the HTC Athena peek from earlier, the same lucky soul managed to get his palms around an HTC Vox, and being so kindhearted, we've got the results from another sweet photo shoot. It's about time we saw a few live snaps of this bugger too, as we've been waiting ever since it got official and was captured in the wild, and now you can get closer than ever without actually owning one yourself. Notably, a few more details were spilled out concerning the features (and lack thereof) of this smartphone, as we learned that it does indeed lack 3G as well as a touchscreen LCD. What you will reportedly get, however, includes Windows Mobile 6.0, 128MB of Flash ROM, a 2.4-inch QVGA screen, voice command recognition, QWERTY keypad and a numeric pad, 802.11b/g, two-megapixel camera, microSD slot, and a TI OMAP 850 processor clicking along at 200MHz. Of course, exact specs and inclusions could change on retail models, but if you're interested in seeing all sorts of angles, not to mention shots of OS, be sure to hit the read link after clicking through and scroll on down.

Have you ever heard the saying, "You can't have too much of a good thing?" We wholeheartedly believe that was well and find it as our duty to bring you more photos of the S710, aka the HTC Vox. Striking a close resemblance to the HTC Libra, the Vox has been updated to sport a 4-way directional key and the space bar was pushed closer to the center for what should be a better user experience. Still no word on whether or not this will have any UMTS loving for us yanks, but we have to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

When the shot's blurry, you know it's got to be good -- and boy oh boy, is this one ever blurry. This sucker is said to be an HTC Vox, the upcoming numeric and QWERTY keypad-equipped Pocket PC, doing what it does best. Notice the presence of a d-pad front and center, which is something we haven't seen on older shots, but we're not taking that to mean it ain't a Vox we're looking at here. Really now, can you imagine a Pocket PC without any sort of directional control? Still no word on when Voxes might be in abundant retail supply, but if it turns out to be true that a 3G radio is absent from its innards, it'd best hit post haste before we all end up waiting for a Wings.

[Thanks, Maximus]

Deets were slim when we first got wind of this HTC Vox phone, a purported GSM counterpart to the HTC Libra, but now The Boy Genius Report has managed to track down some more juicy details, including the first "live" pic of the phone. As rumored, the Vox -- officially titled the S710 -- goes with a messaging-friendly setup, running Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone instead of the Pocket PC featured by some of its QWERTY-sliding companions in the HTC lineup. Contrary to initial reports, the phone is supposed to feature 128MB of ROM and 64MB of RAM, and with a 2.4-inch QVGA screen, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g WiFi, a 2 megapixel camera and a microSD slot, the phone is by no means a total slacker on specs. Of course, the most interesting part of the device is that numeric keypad on the face of the phone, with a semi-automatic sliding QWERTY keyboard tucked behind, but at 0.7-inches thick, it looks like HTC managed to keep things relatively slim, despite the extra keys. What's still up in the air is whether or not the phone will sport 3G data -- the spec sheets list quad-band EDGE as the tops, but that tacked-on smartphone screen up above reads "UMTS operator," so at least there's hope.

Many fans of the form factor proposed by HTC's upcoming Libra (pictured) -- numeric keypad when closed, QWERTY when open -- probably felt a little snubbed when it seemed like CDMA customers would be the only folks lucky enough to put one in their pockets; we know we did. The latest intelligence coming off the wires suggests that we can all finally rest easy, though, with a device being called "Vox" taking the torch for the GSM side. Details are slim, but it sounds like Vox won't have the 3G capability of its EV-DO rev. A equipped Libra cousin, merely topping out with EDGE instead. HTC will apparently be positioning the Vox as a messaging-friendly phone (a la LG VX9900) rather than a full fledged PDA -- and with a meager 96MB of internal storage to its name, it shows. Look for it to drop shortly after the Libra in the first half of 2007.