HTC preps a few more models (hint: CDMA Touch!)

HTC's model naming convention has always been just a little tricky to commit to memory, and with this latest batch, it certainly ain't getting any easier. A couple of these we've heard about before -- namely the Nike, Kaiser, and Shangri-La -- but the rest are brand new to us and very exciting. First up, the S640 "Iris" is a CDMA rendition of the Excalibur and Cavalier, tossing in EV-DO rev. A and WiFi atop Windows Mobile 6 Standard. The "Vogue" is essentially a Touch (TouchFLO UI and all) with the same EV-DO rev. A guts as the Iris -- good news for Verizon and Sprint customers, we'd imagine. GSM users have reason to celebrate here too, though, in the form of the "Volans" and "Polaris." These two are upgrades to the Vox and Artemis, respectively, adding in much-needed 3G radios and faster processors. Finally, the P6550 "Sedna" appears to be some sort of industrial device with support for a credit card reader -- though with a 3 megapixel cam and 3G data, we wouldn't mind having one ourselves. Release dates are up in the air on most of these, but our money is on late '07.

[Via The Boy Genius Report]


Update: Crikey, the Shangri-La's slide reveals that the device -- HTC's entry into the UMPC fray -- runs both Vista and Windows Mobile 6. Sound vaguely familiar? [Thanks, Kevin]

[RikF @ Jun 21st 2007 3:08PM]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is AGPS? The Kaiser is the phone I've been waiting for for a long time (WinMo, keyboard, GPS, reasonable processor) but I'm a little concerned about the 'A'.

[Rex @ Jun 21st 2007 3:16PM]

I think it means that the phone uses the cellular network and tower locations to locate you instead of or in addition to satellites. I might be wrong though.

[Owen V @ Jun 21st 2007 3:20PM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GPS

[RikF @ Jun 21st 2007 3:32PM]

Ah, so it is a standard GPS receiver except when it is cell-coverage when it uses the cell tower to talk to a more powerful server to get a quicker, more accurate fix.

[Tom @ Jun 21st 2007 3:18PM]

Verizon barely gets any good, cool new phone lovin'. Gah, but the network's so good in my area - please come to Verizon!

[carlo @ Jun 21st 2007 3:29PM]

haha, i wouldn't worry about it. you're pretty much set. htc doesn't leave anyone out and has solutions for every network; which is smart because that way you sell more handsets and make more money--and more people happy.

[ScOObyDoo @ Jun 21st 2007 3:41PM]

Looks very much like the Palm Gandolf we've been hearing about.

[Aaron @ Jun 21st 2007 6:12PM]

No one else seems to be picking up on how much the "Iris" resembles the Palm "Gandolf" that has been making the internet rounds.

Not an exact match, but close enough to me to think Palm may have reached out to HTC for some design "inpsiration".

I do think the "leaked" photos of the black "Gandolf" makes the phone look a little better than the HTC "Iris" though.

[Listener Allen @ Jun 21st 2007 4:05PM]

Schaaaaaaaa-wiiiiiiiiiiing!

I am so ready to dump my Moto Q for some touchscreen lovin'. The Treo's a bit to tubby for my tastes, so this looks just right!

[JSM @ Jun 21st 2007 5:18PM]

And still no Omni. They had a working model of something that could beat the pants off the iphone a year ago and than the marketers sit on their ass and produce this warmed over crap. The touch is just a fairly ugly pale imitation of the iphone, the Omni was a far superior pocket computer with everything.

So, for us universal/6700 users there has been one .25 upgrade (the 6800) in two and a half years? HTC is marketing themselves into irrelevance.

[Galt @ Jun 21st 2007 5:52PM]

Agreed. Not that there aren't some nice new HTC devices in other categories, but the HTC Universal really deserved a true successor. HTC just needed to take the same form factor and bump the specs. RIP Universal, RIP Omni.

WM6 FTW!

[JSM @ Jun 21st 2007 6:00PM]

sure, but the Omni is not RIP - the Omni is (was) an 800x480 twist (think tablet style laptop) touch screen with a full key board and high power processor along with the std bells and whistles. Throw in this "touch" software and it would do everything the iphone, or any other device on the market, could do, and more. The cutting edge software combined with better hardware. HTC FTL....

[murph @ Jun 21st 2007 8:09PM]

i like the Iris too. but as a i730 owner, i seriously doubt i have the patience to wait that long for Verizon to release it.

[lance @ Jul 11th 2007 10:42AM]

I'm also an i730 owner and I'm really getting antsy. In my area (NYC), Verizon has taken the i730 off the list of available smartphones. Of course it's the only phone with wifi right now on the network (correct me if I'm wrong)and, of course, Verizon wants to discourage wifi use so we'll subscribe to their unlimited broadband. I wish they'd take more of their cues from T-Mobile, for instance, where they're pushing their smartphones to be used in their hotspots, etc.
Two questions: Is it worth waiting for new samsung for Verizon? What would be an alternative
if that's not coming out this year?

[Andy @ Jun 21st 2007 8:41PM]

It's good to see the CDMA networks get some lovin' now. I'd like to see a more detailed pic of the Iris, but I think it looks a bit like the Palm Gandolf (not surprising I guess since I believe HTC makes the Treos). A Touch on Sprint would be way cool, but they really need to do something about the virtual keyboard.

@Listener Allen
Uh, I didn't see anything saying the Iris had a touchscreen (but I hope it does too). Are you talking about the Touch?