Whoa now, hold up there -- yes, we know HTC's got some serious equipment in the works for Sprint this year, but we can't put that Mogul out to pasture just yet. Fortunately, Sprint and HTC both seem relatively committed to keeping the flagship Windows Mobile model up to date, and we now have an official beta firmware floating around that adds Sprint TV and the real prize, Windows Mobile 6.1. Naturally, due caution must be observed when dealing with prerelease wares, but let's be honest, Mogul owners: every single one of you are going to give this a shot, now aren't you?

Buried underneath the hoopla surrounding the announcement of ASUS' Lamborghini-branded ZX1 at CeBIT, the more mellow P560 was also announced, featuring pretty much every spec the average WinMo buyer could want these days in a package that speaks far, far less about the car you're driving (or wish you were driving, anyway). HSDPA, WiFi, 3.2 megapixel autofocus cam, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, GPS, microSDHC slot, 256MB of ROM, 128MB of RAM, and Microsoft's freshest build of Windows Mobile Professional -- 6.1, that is -- all have managed to find their way into the P560's unassuming shell. Not bad, though the €500 (about $772) price tag could scare a few folks away when it launches next month.

[Via Navigadget]

We had a little thumb-print orgy with the new HTC Touch Diamond immediately following its launch. Light and small, the Touch Diamond comes off as a unit with promise. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a while to get our hands on this via a US carrier, but Orange users in the UK will no doubt be pretty happy with this new handset, the first of its kind to use Windows Mobile 6.1.

Check out the gallery below, complete with comments and interface walk-through. A couple vids after the break, too!

We've got some hands-on shots and impressions with the newly announced HTC Touch Diamond that we'll be sharing with you shortly, but here are some official press shots to whet your appetite. Tell it to us one more time, HTC. VGA? You really do love us.

We've learned that Pantech and AT&T are apparently hard at work on the successor to the Duo C810 smartphone, a Windows Mobile 6 Standard device whose claim to fame is its dual slide mechanism in the same vein as the Pantech-sourced Helio Ocean. The Duo 2 -- model number C820, naturally -- is said to feature a rounded black case that recalls the look of Motorola's old MPx200 and clocks in with dimensions very close to those of the HTC Vox. We're also told that the dual slide feel is "excellent" with well-illuminated buttons on both the numeric and QWERTY pads; the QWERTY side is apparently the easier to use of the two, with the numeric side being just a bit difficult to navigate by feel alone. Up front, the 2.4-inch screen is QVGA (who'd have thought?). Along the four edges you'll find a Pantech proprietary charge / sync connector and a microSD slot protected by a hard plastic cover.

It doesn't sound a heck of a lot different than the phone it replaces so far, but here's where it gets a little interesting: the C820 moves up from a 1.3 to a 2 megapixel camera and packs Windows Mobile 6.1, which apparently is already pretty well customized for the carrier thanks to the inclusion of apps like MobiTV and AT&T Music. Follow the break for software, memory, and processor details; since we might be waiting a while for a release, you may as well get all the info you can in the meanwhile, eh?

Letting the Instinct bask in the limelight back at CTIA earlier this month, Samsung has gone and saved a three-pack of fancy new phones for Dutch show Televisie 2008 this week. First up, the U800 (pictured) is the latest Ultra Edition piece, and at 9.8mm thick, the candybar appears ready for the job -- not to say the 3.2 megapixel camera or 3G radio hurt much, either.

Next, the L870 represents Samsung's newest S60 entry, seemingly slotting in under the N95-killing G810 but still managing to offer a full 3 megapixels on the cam along with Bluetooth, 3G, and quadband GSM. Give us triband HSDPA here, Samsung, and we can be besties forever.

Finally, the long-rumored i900 finally gets some face time, looking ripe to take on LG's fashionable KS20 with UMTS (HSDPA too, if we had to wager a guess), a full 5 megapixels of shooting power, WiFi, and Windows Mobile 6.1. No word yet on when we might be seeing any of these outside the safe confines of a trade show floor, but at least we know they're all real now.

[Via Unwired View]

Read - Samsung U800
Read - Samsung L870
Read - Samsung i900

Riding the Windows Mobile 6.1 wave at CTIA, new player Velocity Mobile officially came out of stealth mode today to reveal its very first two devices: the creatively-named "103" and "111." Designed in partnership with mega-ODM Inventec, the handsets offer pretty much every feature a 2008-spec Windows Mobile device could possible be expected to, with triband HSUPA (available in both AWS and non-AWS configurations, T-Mobile fans!), TV / VGA out, and WiFi headlining the bill. The QWERTY-less 103, pictured, also sports a true VGA display -- a feature so poorly received by manufacturers (for some reason we'll never appreciate) that some have gone so far as to artificially dumb it down to QVGA. Follow the break for a picture of the 111, which'll be available come the third quarter; the 103, meanwhile, will be available sometime this quarter.

Though it's been circulating through the user community (and a Sony Ericsson lab or two) for a little while now, Windows Mobile 6.1 had never gotten officially official in its own right -- until now. Microsoft has taken the wraps off the latest rendition of its mobile platform at CTIA today, a small step on the path to Windows Mobile 7 that'll provide Microsoft-based smartphones with a breath of fresh air starting later this year. The changes are expectedly minor as 0.1 releases tend to be, offering a new Getting Started Center to ease the process of setting up a new device, home screen tweaks, and -- finally -- true, native threaded SMS.

Additionally, Microsoft has announced that a phalanx of carriers and manufacturers have thrown their support behind upgrading devices that are already in the marketplace, which is exactly what we were hoping to hear. Everything from the Pantech Duo, to the AT&T Tilt, to the Sprint Mogul is getting 6.1 love beginning this quarter of the year -- though exact dates haven't been announced. Follow the break for the full list of devices on the upgrade list or have a peep at our 6.1 gallery below!

Why wait for an official announcement and an upgrade that may (or may not) come at some point in the distant future? Do any of us really have the patience for such tomfoolery? We don't think so, which is why it warms our hearts to see the whole BlackJack community huddling together to create, test, and perfect a Windows Mobile 6.1 stack for their beloved devices. It's still in the beta phase, but it's plenty real and the testers are plenty active, giving us hope it'll be stable enough for widespread consumption in the not-too-distant future. At this point, it seems like there's a 6.1 group rallying around virtually every WinMo device out there -- so have hope, (insert device name here) user.

[Thanks, MikeyB]

Microsoft's stepping stone to a true next-gen mobile platform, Windows Mobile 6.1, has already been largely outed thanks to a Motorola leak and Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1 reveal at MWC last month -- but Microsoft probably still feels entitled to throw its own little party, and it might just be happening soon. Pocket-lint claims that Redmond plans to officially launch 6.1 at CTIA next week -- April 1, to be exact -- though there'll be a wide gap between any announcement off in Vegas and actual availability on retail handsets, so it really doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot to consumers right away. Question is, what's more anticipated: 6.1 or the X1 itself?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

It's not every day that we hear about a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard device that lacks any cellular hardware whatsoever, so when we do, it's sort of like winning the lottery except way less exciting and profitable. Enter the first volley of devices to support Motorola's new Total Enterprise Access & Mobility initiative -- TEAM, conveniently -- which represent just the very front end of a whole infrastructure solution for business campuses looking to replace their desk phones with something just a little more mobile and modern. Eventually, TEAM will support true VoIP-cellular handoff, but in its initial form, it'll be WiFi only, making these first handsets very unique indeed. We don't have the complete picture on specs here, but they'll support push-to-talk, text messaging, and as we mentioned, they'll be loaded with the very latest and greatest that Windows Mobile have to offer when they launch later this year.

[Via PC World]

It probably shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but yep, that mysterious new version of Windows Mobile that Sony Ericsson was dread to discuss at MWC wasn't so mysterious at all -- it's just Windows Mobile 6.1. Granted, 6.1 still hasn't been announced to the world, but it's a well-documented rev that should do a decent job of holding us all over until 7 finally (finally!) happens. Given the pure hotness of the hardware, we kinda wish Microsoft actually had rolled some sort of crazy post-6.1 update just for it, but we guess Sony Ericsson's custom panel interface will have to pick up the slack there.

[Via SEfanatics]

It's not nearly as interesting as the mighty M930, but ASUS is prepping another Windows Mobile model that'll appeal to a decidedly different segment of the market. The device, codenamed "Galaxy Mini" and clearly intended to do battle with the HTC Touch, looks to be just about as diminutive as you can realistically expect a WinMo 6.1 Professional device to be -- though the tradeoff is that 3G data doesn't make the cut (you'll have to rely on WiFi for that) and the TI OMAP core mopes along at a molasses-like 200MHz. Other goodies should include GPS, Bluetooth, a 2 megapixel camera, and a selection of colors when it launches for somewhere between 300 and 400 (about $445 to $593) later this year.

[Via the::unwired]

That mighty beast of a smartphone, HTC's Athena -- known better as the Advantage in retail trim -- is getting a modest upgrade in its MDA Ameo guise on T-Mobile Germany. The big news is the bump in the Ameo's hard drive from 8GB to 16GB (would be nice if that was an SSD, but you can't win 'em all) while other changes include a "modified arrangement" of the keyboard (their words, not ours) and the inclusion of Office Mobile 6.1. It'll run €459 (about $675) when it hits in April. And no, we're pretty sure the 16GB hard drive and rearranged keyboard don't make it any less awkward in the hand.

[Via the::unwired]

Rumor has it that the phone pictured here is Samsung's i900, a phone that takes the keypadless, finger-friendly formula that's oh-so-popular these days and injects some Windows Mobile 6.1 into the equation. If true, that'd put it head to head with LG's KS20, and it's got the right specs for that particular battle with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, a 5 megapixel autofocus cam, and 8GB of integrated Flash. We'll just have to hang tight and see how this one fleshes out, but we wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it were real.

[Via Slashphone]