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Verizon's HTC Whitestone leaks out, along with the HTC Mega and Tachi

by Nilay Patel posted Aug 7th 2009 @ 11:51AM

We've been hearing about Verizon's upcoming HTC Whitestone for a while now, and it looks like a new pic and specs for the upcoming dual-mode CDMA / GSM Touch Diamond2 variant have leaked out. Seems like a mixed bag -- the revised case with a larger 3.6-inch WVGA display is impressive, but inside you're looking at Windows Mobile 6.1 running on a 528MHz Qualcomm processor with 256MB of RAM, so you've certainly lived through this experience before. That's pretty much the same case with the HTC Mega, which also leaked today: although it'll ship with WinMo 6.5 and that hot new version of TouchFLO 2D, it's a lower-end device with a 2.8-inch QVGA display, a three megapixel camera and yet another 528MHz Qualcomm proc with 256MB of RAM running the show. Oh, and just to round things out, there's a pic of the Dopod-branded HTC Tachi, which probably means this one's headed for China. Always nice to put a face to a name, though isn't it? Pics of the Mega and Tachi at the read link.

Garmin-Asus nuvifone finally coming to America in Q4 (or so they say)

by Darren Murph posted Aug 7th 2009 @ 4:32AM

With Garmin-Asus' nüvifone G60 already on sale in Asia, it makes sense to hear that said smartphone will soon make its way over to North American soil. Of course, it also made sense to think that this thing would be launching on AT&T about forever and a day ago, so we're not holding our collective breath just yet. At any rate, Garmin recently made abundantly clear on a quarter-end conference call that the GPS-infused handset is in the final testing stages with an undisclosed amount of US carriers, and if all goes well, it'll hit the streets in Q4. What's crazy is that every last specification remains unchanged from when it was announced back in January of 2008; meanwhile, Apple has shipped two new iterations of its iPhone, Android has blown up significantly and even Motorola and Palm have seemingly resurrected themselves from the grave. Knowing all that, will anyone even bother to show up to snag one in "just a few months?"

HTC support site reveals Hero for Sprint, Snap for Alltel

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 4th 2009 @ 5:10PM

We've been asked not to reveal the URLs, but we can assure you we've seen this official support screen pictured above with our own two eyes, which means that the HTC Hero is all but confirmed in a juicy CDMA blend for Sprint. How (or if) that'll affect the availability of the US 3G version unlocked or on any carrier is unclear, but given Hesse's huffy language regarding Pre exclusivity, we wouldn't be surprised if they've got this one locked down for a while as well. We've seen a similar support page for an Alltel-branded Snap, so if you're still tied up in one of the carrier's legacy divested markets and you've been pining after the Snap (and Ozone) on Sprint and Verizon, fear not -- your own version is on the way. We'll admit, if you had asked us a few months back what American carrier would get HTC's highest-end Android phone to date, Sprint wouldn't have been our first guess -- but hey, good for them. If you can't win the coverage battle against the Big Red juggernaut, may as well try to win the exclusive hardware battle, right?

[Thanks, Adam]

T-Mobile announces HTC Touch Pro2 for August 12 availability

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 29th 2009 @ 12:11AM

Sure, the Touch Pro2 from HTC is available from a variety of carriers around the world at this point -- but you won't find many (read: none) that are offering it in the US right now, which makes T-Mobile's launch especially notable. As expected, it'll be hitting on August 12, bringing a 3.2 megapixel camera, AWS 3G, GPS, a glorious 3.6-inch WVGA display, WiFi, and that unique Straight Talk tech that should make the phone one of the best speakerphones you've ever used (frequent conference callers, take note). Pricing hasn't been announced, but expect it in the lovely shade pictures above, which is being termed "mocha" (your choice of vocabulary may vary).

Samsung's Omnia Pro B7610 previewed

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 24th 2009 @ 7:12PM

At a glance, Samsung's recently-announced Omnia Pro B7610 seems like a sweet hunk of Windows Mobile love -- especially if you're cross-shopping it with the Touch Pro2 -- but is there more than meets the eye? GSMArena recently put a prerelease unit through its paces, and it's not a perfect situation by any stretch; first off, apparently not very pretty in the flesh, owing in part to its girth and in part to the weird red battery cover. The resistive touchscreen isn't great and the OLED display washes out in sunlight (as they typically do), but on the plus side, the QWERTY keyboard is said to be stellar and it seems that Sammy's done a great job of completely concealing WinMo 6.1's sad, sagging skin with TouchWiz. In the final analysis, the site concludes that the phone easily matches the high bar set by the Touch Pro2 -- strong words considering HTC's market dominance and the fact that we're still looking at a prototype Omnia Pro here, so this should get even more interesting.

ZTE shows off recent smartphones at Wireless Japan

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 23rd 2009 @ 11:14AM

China's ZTE is still sticking to the low end in North America, but in its home country, the manufacturer is a huge player. Evidence of that lies strewn about ZTE's booth at Wireless Japan this week, where it's showing a pair of WinMo devices plus a Linux-based model that look ripe to compete with some of the best in the world. First up, the RAISE and XIANG do WinMo and HSPA for China Unicom's Wo network, rocking 5 and 3.2 megapixel cameras, respectively. The D820 reps the open-source world (though we're not sure what kind of Linux distro is running on it -- it's not Android, if we had to guess) and runs CDMA with WiFi, GPS, and a 2 megapixel camera. We're not sure if ZTE is using phones like these as warmups for more global launches, but given what we're seeing here -- and the low price points they're likely looking to hit -- we're all for it.

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

Best Buy Canada now selling Telus' HTC Snap for way cheap

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 22nd 2009 @ 3:44PM

If you're willing to peddle off three years of the prime of your life... well then, Canadians, Best Buy has an offer you simply can't refuse. Telus has yet to release its version of the HTC Snap on its own accord, but that's not stopping the big box retailer from doing its thing -- and at CAD $29.99 (about $27) on a three-year contract, we'd venture to say that's quite a steal for a WinMo smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard and global roaming capability. Anyone lining up at the registers right now for this one?

[Via MobileSyrup]

Verizon's HTC XV6975 turns out to be the Whitestone: 5 megapixels, no keyboard

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 21st 2009 @ 4:27AM

Remember way back in March when HTC's 2009 lineup first started to come apart at the seams? You might recall that there was a "Whitestone" in there, rumored to be packing a wide VGA display, 5 megapixel camera, and global GSM / CDMA support for Verizon sometime around September. That leak looks to be proving frighteningly accurate now that Dutch site Tweakers.net has seen (and we've been able to verify) a user agent profile that describes the XV6975 in just enough detail so that we can fit the puzzle pieces together: 800 x 480 display and no keyboard, chiefly, and when you add to that the fact that we know it's got HSDPA on board from its GCF certification, you can pretty much see where this is going. Hard to say whether it'll launch with Windows Mobile 6.1 or 6.5 -- obviously we're pulling for 6.5, but if the rumored September launch is even close to accurate, that'll put it right on the cusp; fortunately, we'd fully expect it to be upgradeable either way. Separately, we're hearing that Verizon's Touch Pro2 is actually the XV6875, but the real question is this: at this point, which one do you want?

O2's Xda Venn is the Pantech Matrix Pro in new clothes

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 17th 2009 @ 9:18AM

O2 has been known to source its Xda line of smartphones from a number of different sources over the years including HTC and ASUS -- but Pantech? We're pretty sure that's a new one. Then again, WinMo 6.1 dual sliders aren't exactly easy to come by, so we suppose O2 simply did what it had to do to get one in the lineup when the time came. If this so-called Xda Venn looks familiar, that's because it's just a Matrix Pro tweaked with O2's corporate branding, featuring the same 2 megapixel cam, GPS, and HSDPA as its North American cousin on AT&T. It's not on sale yet through O2's online shop, but the plumbing appears to be in place, so we're guessing it'll be available soon.

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

Windows Marketplace taking app submissions on July 27, coming to WinMo 6.0 and 6.1 later this year

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 14th 2009 @ 9:30AM

Windows Mobile devs should start dotting their I's and crossing their T's, because Microsoft's going to be ready to take a good, hard look at their latest and greatest apps come the 27th of this month when the company finally swings open the doors to the submission processes for inclusion in the Windows Marketplace. The announcement has been made at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference this week as it gears up for an onslaught of devices running WinMo 6.5 at retail later this year, though the retail channel might not be where much of the action lies; unlike the Apple App Store, the Android Market, Palm's App Catalog and others, Microsoft is putting major emphasis on a segment of Windows Marketplace it's calling the Business Center where corporate-focused apps and utilities will have a place to live. Boring, yes -- but probably also very profitable in the business fleet market segment where WinMo tends to thrive.

Though the company had previously indicated that Windows Marketplace would be a 6.5 exclusive, we've got great news for legacy device owners who don't expect to get an upgrade: Microsoft has also announced today that the Marketplace will be coming to WinMo 6.0 and 6.1 before the year's out. Considering that 6.5 won't be hitting the street until fall, that's not too bad of a wait; now all it needs is a rich catalog of great software to go along with the great hardware some of its partners are producing, right?

Gallery: Windows Marketplace taking app submissions on July 27, coming to WinMo 6.0 and 6.1 later this year

Oh, by the way: July 13, 2009

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 13th 2009 @ 11:54PM

Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for Monday, July 13th, 2009:

Samsung has released a new firmware for its i8910HD that enabled AAC audio while recording HD video. The problem? Right now, only Italian firmwares seem to be eligible for the update, which comes through Samsung's PC Studio app. [Via Softpedia]
Excellent music identification app Shazam is now available on the BlackBerry Storm. And let's be honest, Storm owners need all the entertainment they can get.
In France, the Samsung S5230 Player One has been re-released in Zadig & Voltaire livery; we've never heard of 'em, but we bet it's a big, important fashion house somewhere. [Via Unwired View]
NuevaSync recently launched its interesting push email service, which simply uses IMAP IDLE on the back end and Exchange ActiveSync to connect to your device (because as push goes, more devices support EAS than IMAP IDLE). [Via Smartphone Thoughts]
GSM / CDMA dual-band versions of the HTC Snap and Touch Pro2 have been confirmed for launch on Telus, though dates and pricing haven't been given. [Via Smartphone Thoughts]

Oh, by the way: July 10, 2009

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 10th 2009 @ 9:00PM

Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for Friday, July 10th, 2009:

Russia's RoverPC is now shipping its G7, X7, and V7 models running Windows Mobile 6.1. All three feature heavily-customized interfaces by SPB. [Via TamsPPC]
If you're willing to go with a refurb, the iPhone 3G 8GB is now down to $79 even on AT&T. [Via TUAW]
The BlackBerry Tour 9630 is available through Canada's Bell -- beating Sprint's and Verizon's Sunday launches -- for CAD $249.95 on a three-year deal. [Via Electronista]

T-Mobile's Touch Pro2 gets unboxed

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 10th 2009 @ 9:43AM

Most of us have a few weeks to wait yet before this thrilling moment arrives, but someone out there doesn't. Rather than sit here, turn bright green with envy and throw a fit, though, we're just going to do our best to enjoy a few shots of T-Mobile's version of the Touch Pro2 being unboxed on a lovely granite countertop. The shots aren't of the best quality, but they're almost certainly real -- everything checks out visually -- so at least it's of some comfort to know that these puppies are boxed up and ready to drop the moment corporate gives the word.

T-Mobile's Touch Pro2 looks destined for August launch

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 6th 2009 @ 4:51PM

We'd been holding out hope that T-Mobile's version of the HTC Touch Pro2 would materialize for customers in the month of July, but that's looking less and less likely now that we have some awfully real-looking documentation that claims otherwise. TmoNews has nabbed some sort of slide suggesting that HTC's latest AWS-equipped superphone won't hit retail until August 12 (with upgrades not kicking in until 10AM PT the same day, amusingly), so it seems like we've got over a month to wait yet. Meanwhile, the myTouch 3G will launch -- not to say it's a competitor, really, but it'll certainly be attracting some attention that this phone could be getting otherwise. Being fashionably late to the party isn't fun for anyone, is it?

Toshiba's TG01 outed on Orange UK

by Thomas Ricker posted Jul 2nd 2009 @ 6:41AM

Well, well, there it is. The world's first and only Snapdragon phone available for retail, Toshiba's TG01, is up and dancing on Orange's UK site with a "coming soon" badge. Soon meaning the July 9th London press event, presumably, where this 9.9-mm slate running WinMo on a 4.1-inch 800x480 pixel display should get a shove out the retail door. Yes, Windows Mobile 6.1, why do you ask?

[Via CoolSmartPhone]