External Blogs

Sprint's HTC Touch Diamond: September 14 for $249.99. Honest.

2008-09-04T16:34:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , HTC , Sprint , Windows Mobile , EV-DO , CDMA Now that Uncle Walt has gone and opened the floodgates , details are starting to pour in on Sprint's imminent release of the Touch Diamond , a device that should actually manage to get the carrier damn close to the top of the Windows Mobile pile (for a short while, anyway). PC Magazine is now reporting that it'll be available on September 14 for $249.99 on a two-year contract after $100 rebate, a sum that would put it squarely...(read more)

Treo 800w gets updated, USB and battery main beneficiaries

2008-09-04T14:42:00Z

Filed under: Software , Palm , Windows Mobile Though the Treo Pro has tempered pretty much any love we'd had for the suddenly ancient-looking 800w , we've got to hand it to Palm -- they've been on the ball with software updates since the phone's release a month and a half ago. The latest, which Palm calls "highly recommended for all Treo 800w devices," fixes problems with the detection of certain USB accessories and the inability to charge a completely dead battery (and...(read more)

Palm Treo Pro gets props from Telstra for extreme signal strength

2008-09-04T09:50:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , Palm , Telstra , Windows Mobile , GSM , EDGE , HSDPA , UMTS For our money, there's really nothing worse than dropping a few hundred bucks on a shiny new 3G toy, taking it home to the Outback, and realizing that we're getting more wallaby meat than we are reception. Happily, Telstra has a pretty unique program in the carrier world -- dubbed "Blue Tick" -- that awards certain devices in its lineup for their killer signal strength, which theoretically makes...(read more)

Mossberg reviews HTC Touch Diamond: "can't disguise WinMo's flaws"

2008-09-03T23:45:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , HTC , Sprint , Windows Mobile , EV-DO , CDMA It was only a matter of time before ole Walty got his hands around Sprint's still-not-official Touch Diamond , and we can't say that the conclusion he drew is at all shocking. As Mossberg has done so often , he mentions Apple's darling just as much as the topic of the review itself, and while he seemed impressed with the hardware, it was the software that suffered the brunt of his attacks. He proclaimed that "despite...(read more)

Motorola Q11 is probably like the Q9, but two better

2008-09-03T13:12:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , Motorola , Windows Mobile There's a "Motorola Q11" chilling in the Bluetooth SIG's product directory, and while the SIG is famously tight-lipped about revealing gory details about its members' unreleased wares, we see that it's a "Phone, Handheld" running Windows Mobile 6.1 Smartphone. Then again, given the name and the Q series' storied history, we probably could've gathered that -- and we can probably also count on it having something...(read more)

Microsoft job listing hints at App Store-like 'Skymarket' for Windows Mobile

2008-08-31T23:03:00Z

Filed under: Software , Windows Mobile While Apple's App Store was far from being the first of its kind , we're now seeing a job posting over in the Redmond area that suggests that Microsoft is looking to produce something similar for its Windows Mobile platform. The news comes hot on the heels of Google's own Android Market announcement, and if the Product Manager position writeup is to be believed, said platform will be christened Skymarket. Described as a "marketplace service...(read more)

Sprint, Bluefish taking names for Touch Diamond, September release confirmed

2008-08-30T22:02:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , HTC , Sprint , Windows Mobile , EV-DO , CDMA Everything prior had been rumors, hearsay, speculation, and leaked documents -- but now that Sprint has something out in the open, it's going to be a whole hell of a lot more difficult to renege on that September time frame we'd all been pulling for. The carrier and partner Bluefish have thrown up a site taking names and email addresses to be notified when the Touch Diamond is available for purchase; no exact date is given...(read more)

The HTC S740 gets handled

2008-08-29T13:24:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , HTC , Windows Mobile HTC is keeping the S740 under wraps at IFA , but the crafty folks at newmobile managed to score some time with the new QWERTY slider, and it looks pretty decent. Thinner than the Touch Pro, the keyboard is basically the same, with the same sort of stealth-look backplate as the Diamond. No motion sensor, so the display only rotates when the slide is open, but that's really all we know -- the unit wasn't running a production-ready verision of Windows...(read more)

FCC approves an HTC Touch Cruise with North American 3G -- but why?

2008-08-29T12:18:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , HTC , Windows Mobile , GSM , EDGE , HSDPA , UMTS With the dull roar of frenzied anticipation (okay, that might be over the top, but you know what we mean) surrounding the launch of the Touch Diamond in all its variants around the globe, why would HTC take a step back in time to get one of its older models approved in a new flavor? Don't get us wrong -- for its day, the Touch Cruise was one of the hottest Windows Mobile devices going -- but the Touch Diamond has seriously...(read more)

Samsung's BlackJack II gets its Windows Mobile 6.1 treatment

2008-08-28T18:49:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , Software , Samsung , Windows Mobile This has to wrap up the lunacy that has seen Windows Mobile 6.1 updates for just about everything that needed one in recent times. We've seen 6.1 hacked for Sammy's BlackJack, but it's sorta sweet of them to get it out to us all official-like. The release notes on Samsung's site mention threaded SMS, Domain enrollment, and even a BMW iDrive patch as tout-worthy features, in this, the newest and best from Microsoft. As a word...(read more)

E-TEN's glofiish X610 and V900 just about ready for release

2008-08-28T13:14:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , Windows Mobile , GSM , EDGE , HSDPA , UMTS , E-TEN Announced all the way back at MWC in February, the glofiish X610 and V900 are finally nearing release -- or so E-TEN claims, anyway. Though the X610's spec sheet isn't going to get any motors running, it's a pretty sharp-looking entry level WinMo 6.1 Professional device that should find its way into a few pockets where 3G isn't needed. More interesting of the pair is the V900 (pictured), a multitalented mobile...(read more)

Palm cooking up a CDMA Treo Pro?

2008-08-28T10:02:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , Palm , Windows Mobile , EV-DO , CDMA The hardened news hawks over at China Economic News Service would like to hit us up with some knowledge: Palm allegedly plans on outing a CDMA version of its Treo Pro "in the future" for carriers like "Verizon, Wireless [sic] and Sprint." While we wouldn't typically pay an unsubstantiated report like this much mind, Palm does see a lot of love from its CDMA partners -- and we have to believe that both Verizon and...(read more)

HTC Touch Diamond stuff showing up in Sprint stores

2008-08-27T16:25:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , HTC , Sprint , Windows Mobile , EV-DO , CDMA It's still anybody's guess when the Touch Diamond will actually launch on Sprint, though the latest rumors suggest that it has once again been moved up to September 2 after initially being pushed back to October. The fact that promo materials are starting to show up would certainly support that theory, too, now wouldn't it? [Thanks, anonymous tipster] Gallery: HTC Touch Diamond stuff showing up in Sprint stores Permalink...(read more)

Samsung i770, u810 pictured for Verizon

2008-08-27T10:49:00Z

Filed under: Handsets , Features , Samsung , Verizon Wireless , Windows Mobile , GSM , EV-DO , CDMA Don't worry, you throng of dual-band Samsung smartphone fanboys and girls out there -- Verizon hasn't forgotten about you. It's been a little while since we've heard anything about the i770 , but a new slide shows that Big Red's positioning it (or trying to, anyway) for Q3 availability, which just happens to be the very quarter that we're currently in. It features GPS, quadband...(read more)

When it rains, it pours: Verizon XV6800 gets hooked up with WinMo 6.1

2008-08-27T09:13:00Z

Filed under: Software , HTC , UTStarcom , Verizon Wireless , Windows Mobile We're not sure if it's coincidence or if there's some concerted effort to push out overdue Windows Mobile 6.1 updates all of a sudden, but for whatever reason, Verizon's XV6800 is joining the AT&T Tilt this week in offering an official upgrade package for the first time. Could've come a little quicker, honestly -- Sprint beat 'em out the door by a country mile -- but let's just thank our lucky...(read more)