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Verizon's Samsung Saga gets updated with new AKU and unlocked GPS

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 29th 2009 @ 10:08AM

We still think that the Saga is one of the better portrait QWERTY WinMo phones currently on the market -- the optical mouse is awesome and global roaming is a more-than-welcome capability -- and it's only gotten better with the release of an official update from Samsung. The new build features Microsoft's latest Windows Mobile 6.1 AKU (1.5.1, if you're curious) and adds the capability to send MMS messages when you're roaming on GPRS, but most importantly, it unlocks GPS so that third-party applications can take advantage of it. This is a trend that Verizon's been pursuing full-force this year, and needless to say, it's a welcome one.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

T-Mobile's HTC Touch Pro2 and Dash 3G get spec'd

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 27th 2009 @ 8:03PM

While we twiddle our thumbs and wait for the Dash 3G and the Touch Pro2 to make their fanfare-laden debuts on good ol' Number Four (that's our pet name for T-Mobile USA, of course), literature is starting to show up that should make the wait marginally more bearable by giving us a few pretty pictures to look at and words to read. There's nothing Earth-shattering in here, but we see that the Dash 3G has 256MB of ROM and an impressive rated 8.3 days of standby time -- we'll believe that when we get that kind of performance ourselves -- while the Touch Pro2 moves up to 512MB, keeps the 8.3 days of standby, and touts its unusual full-duplex speakerphone that dominates the rear of the device. If you do a lot of conference calling, you must be beside yourself right about now, eh?

T-Mobile Dash 3G sits down for a photo shoot

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 26th 2009 @ 8:24AM

We personally prefer having phones in our own hands -- call us crazy -- but a close second would have to be full, revealing pictorials that do a great job of breaking down every little detail. That's where MobileBurn swoops in with its 11-strong gallery of shots of T-Mobile's branded Dash 3G from a New York event this week, showing a distinct lack of Inner Circle support -- and no, T-Mobile, we hate to inform you that the inclusion of myFaves support is not an even trade. That said, we've no doubt this'll still be a decent seller for folks looking to replaces their aging gen-1 Dashes with something a little speedier when it hits retail next month.

HTC Ozone comes to Verizon June 29 for under $50

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 25th 2009 @ 10:08AM

Is it cooler than Sprint's Snap? That's for you to judge, but whatever the case, Verizon has now announced its own version of HTC's latest WinMo Standard handset. The so-called Ozone features WiFi, global roaming capability, VZ Navigator and visual voicemail support, a QWERTY keyboard (which feels great if it's anything like its cousin's), and a beefy 1500mAh battery that we're betting will keep this thing going all day and then some. The best part, though, might be the price: it'll be just $49.99 on contract after rebate when it launches online on June 29 and in stores on July 13.

Palm Treo Pro relaxes out of the spotlight, sheds $150

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 22nd 2009 @ 10:53PM

At $549, you might say that the Treo Pro is a tough pill to swallow in the face of ever-sexier competition from other WinMo devices and Palm's own Pre -- but at $399 fully unlocked, it becomes a more interesting proposition. For four bills, Palm's now offering a fully unlocked, Windows Mobile Professional device with a 320 x 320 display, US-spec HSDPA, and a new-look industrial design that -- in retrospect, anyway -- foretells the Pre's design more than it pays homage to the Treos that preceded it. For the record, that's $150 off, which undercuts some of the traditionally inexpensive resellers like Amazon -- pretty crazy for a first-party store. Any takers?

[Via Brighthand]

Sprint launches LG LX370, Samsung Exclaim, and HTC Snap

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 22nd 2009 @ 3:39PM

You've been able to find the Exclaim and Snap for a while now if you've dug through third-party retailers hard enough, but Sprint's finally selling them directly from its own site. The Snap -- which we'd already known would hit this week -- is a portrait QWERTY handset running Windows Mobile 6.1 with support for HTC's Inner Circle functionality to block out email noise when you feel like you're about to lose your mind; it runs $149.99 on contract after rebate. The Exclaim is a low-cost QWERTY side slider designed to do battle with rival LG's Rumor 2; it'll set you back $79.99 on contract. Finally, the LX370 is a basic numeric slider with a 2 megapixel camera, running $99.99 with your name on the dotted line.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Sprint confirms direct HTC Snap sales for June 21

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 12th 2009 @ 2:09PM

Some folks are already having luck scooping these things up at Best Buy and / or Radio Shack (you can snag it from the big box for $520 off contract), but if you like your phone sales direct, hang tight -- the Snap isn't far off. Sprint has told InformationWeek that the WinMo Standard device -- likely the first version of it to launch stateside in front of T-Mobile and Verizon -- will be launching on the 21st of this month for $149 on contract after rebates. That still puts it a solid $50 behind the E71x's aggressive $99 on-contract price over on AT&T, but if you're a WinMo diehard or you've got to be on Sprint, this might be your best option going.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Vodafone UK apparently shipping Touch Pro2s to business customers

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 12th 2009 @ 12:18PM

"Regular" customers still have a bit of a wait yet, but it seems that Vodafone has gone ahead and pulled the trigger on shipments of HTC's Touch Pro2 to business customers -- assuming a post on the carrier's forums is legit. The phone's not due to be released until July 12 for any old chap who wants to fork over the dough for one, though it's not unusual at all for a carrier to offer hot new handsets to its prized B2B channel a little bit early. Windows Mobile 6.1 is still a bummer at this point, but you've got to give an enormous amount of love to the hardware -- and the promise of an official upgrade to 6.5 in the not-too-distant future.

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

Samsung Code coming to US Cellular, "Jack" inexplicably missing from name

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 11th 2009 @ 6:36PM

We've just sorta become accustomed to seeing the term "Jack" show up somewhere in the name of any North American Samsung running Windows Mobile that looks like this, so "Code" is a refreshing change of pace. The midrange portrait QWERTY smartphone just popped with no fanfare over on US Cellular's site, revealing a 2 megapixel camera, WinMo 6.1 Standard, EV-DO Rev. 0, and a QVGA display. Coincidentally, this sucker got FCC approval as the SCH-i220 just a few days ago, so these guys are probably lining up to get it to market shortly.

[Via MobileBurn]

Sprint's Samsung Exclaim and HTC Snap in Radio Shacks this week?

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 10th 2009 @ 5:27PM

So the HTC Snap missed its rumored June 7 date with destiny on Sprint, but don't count it out -- it might still be available before the weekend comes around. Word on the street is that Radio Shack is gearing up to offer the S511 Snap alongside Samsung's Exclaim QWERTY slider as soon as Friday for $149.99 and $79.99 on contract, respectively. If true, that would almost certainly make Sprint the first US carrier to offer a version of HTC's latest WinMo Standard device, beating out T-Mobile and Verizon -- the two others currently rumored to have eyes on it. Anyone planning on camping out at their local Shack Thursday night?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

HTC S522 gets FCC blessing with US 3G (but don't call it a Snap)

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 9th 2009 @ 2:42PM

We're still not sure we understand the business justification for leaving the Snap name off the US version of the phone, but that's all good -- the dryly-named S522 just got hooked up with FCC certification on its way to a likely summer release. This means that there'll ultimately be two versions of the phone specifically with North America in mind, since T-Mobile USA's getting an AWS-equipped model as the Dash 3G. Let's be real, it's not as exciting as a Touch Pro2 launch -- but at least the S522 branding will save us from countless "oh snap" jokes (Josh, we're looking straight at you).

i-mate's rugged 810-F tortured for science, pleasure

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 8th 2009 @ 12:22PM

Making a phone rugged is just begging reviewers to beat the hell out of it, so when i-mate decided to coat its 810-F with rubber and make it impervious to cold, heat, and water, they should've known damn well what was coming next. CNET Asia had the distinct privilege of doing the honors with this one, and happily, the WinMo 6.1-powered set survived being packed in ice for an hour and being dropped onto carpet from a normal height (we would've preferred concrete, but beggars can't be choosers). Unfortunately, the phone has a non-removable battery to help meet its rugged aims, the keyboard's said to be ridiculously stiff, and the stylus is unusably small -- but if you need Windows Mobile, GPS, WiFi, and a magnetic compass in a package that won't let you down in any environment, you might be able to overlook the shortcomings when the phone's released next month.

[Via wmpoweruser.com]

HTC Snap goes on sale in the UK

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 3rd 2009 @ 2:18AM

Want an HTC Snap? Have £289.99, $481, or some equivalent mix of currency? Then you might want to head over to Devicewire, where the first trickles of Snap stock are starting to flow. It seems they've only started with a few dozen units here, and we wouldn't be surprised if they went quickly -- so if portrait QWERTY, Windows Mobile 6.1, and HTC's Inner Circle technology all get you hot and bothered, you'd best place your British order soon rather than later.

[Via MoDaCo]

HTC Dash 3G for T-Mobile gets pictured

by Chris Ziegler, posted May 27th 2009 @ 9:17PM

If you're longing desperately for that T-Mobile Dash replacement, you don't have that much longer to wait, because the Maple / S522 / Snap / Dash 3G (and yes, sadly, those are all pretty much synonyms) is right around the corner. All signs point to a release this summer -- and we're now seeing the phone for the very first time in T-Mobile branding, which is a good sign as far as we're concerned. We've had chances to play with the unbranded Snap in the past, and while it's definitely a great looking handset in the flesh, it doesn't typically photograph well; strangely, we're digging this fuzzy, dirty, out-of-perspective shot as-is. Something about the T-Mobile logo just does it for us, we guess?

Alcatel bringing 7.2Mbps WinMo beast to China Unicom's Wo network

by Chris Ziegler, posted May 27th 2009 @ 4:49AM

By and large, China's networks are dominated by GPRS-only devices that make up in crazy user interfaces (and often even crazier designs) what they lack in data speed. Carriers over there are finally in full swing rolling out a variety of 3G networks, though -- EV-DO, HSPA, TD-SCDMA, you name it -- which should make mobile browsing a whole lot more satisfying of an experience when you're headed to that posh Shanghai office with a view. Anyhow, it seems that Alcatel is prepping a WinMo 6.1-powered side slider with 7.2Mbps HSDPA just for China Unicom's nascent Wo network, which is an encouraging sign that Wo's users are going to have decent hardware in their hands to match the blazing speeds. It's got a WQVGA display, AGPS, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and pretty much every other modern smartphone amenity, which marks the first time in a long time (ever?) that we've expressed a tinge of envy for a domestic Chinese handset. Wo, Alcatel -- our hats go off to you on this one.

[Via Unwired View]