HP's Obsidian becomes iPAQ Glisten, officially comes to AT&T
By Darren Murph 
posted November 24th 2009 1:39PM
posted November 24th 2009 1:39PM
posted November 24th 2009 1:39PM
powered by gdgt
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5
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I do like the fact it comes with an AMOLED screen. More devices should come with it.
I like this phone. Say what you want about WinMo but currently it's the only easy tethering phone OS out there that takes advantage of the AT&Ts concurrent data/voice capability (ooo... I smell a commercial).
I've been hoping for a candybar phone (tired of sliders) that was running WinMo and this could fit the bill. AMOLED is nice too... and the advantage over BB is the touch interface.
At least they remembered the 3.5mm jack (unlike the Pure and Tilt 2). I wish they used an optical trackpad like the Omnia.
@(Unverified)
Symbian tethers the easiest of all on ATT.
Step 1: Download Joikuspot
Step 2: You and anyone else you can choose can access your ATT 3g Connection via Wifi, Computer, other mobile phone, whatever.
(I actually have no SIM in my 3G Iphone and just piggyback off my work paid for 5800XM with a corporate true unlimited SIM (almost 11Gigs of Data last month =0 )
Still one more step... didn't have to download 'Internet Sharing' on my WinMo.
And I like the USB tethering as it keeps my phone charged.
I think 'Moisten' would have been a better choice for a name. Otherwise, this is obviously a top-tier device.
I had this phone when it was called the Motorola Q.
I actually thought this was a KIRF post since I thought I was looking at a Blackberry ripoff... then I saw the HP logo.
Why does Engadget not understand that flawless, total and secure Echange support is a hell lot more important to a lot of people than twenty different fart-apps or fancy multitouch photo-viewing capalities.
@andreab it's trendy to hate on windows mobile... just watch the engadget show...
@andreab
It's not more important to me. Then again, neither are fart apps. I couldn't care less about Exchange support.
Even if Google's using it?
I love it that I can sync using ActiveSync to my S60 phone.
@andreab I have Exchange support on my Droid, and I don't have to live with a 2005 interface and an underpowered phone to do it,
It is not that it is "fashionable" to hate on WinMo, it is simply the sad state that the OS finds itself in. Much like Garnet for Palm, the heyday was well past before anybody bothered to do anything about it.
I want my Smart Phone to do something other than e-mail (hell if that was all I was going to do, I would just get a Blackberry), and unfortunately WinMo isn't up to doing much else right now. Maybe when WinMo 7 comes along, thing will change, but right now these WinMo phones are the new "Centros" of the WinMo line.
Not really sure that $230 price point makes any sense when the HTC Touch Pro 2, HTC Imago, and Moto Droid are all $200 on Verizon and are easily far superior phones in just about ever aspect. Seriously, who is buying this shit?
@kenny goo, that's what I'm wondering...
Blackberry cloneage?!
Josh says: "This is my next phone."
This phone actually has worse specs (HSDPA speed, unlocked, tethering) than the year+ old IPAQ 910, unless you count the screen and the trackball, a little memory (and the OS), and hopefully the reliability. How many people do you see raving about that one? When *this* phone has issues while still under warranty, hopefully AT&T's customer support is better than HP's totally lame customer support.
WinMo? who is going to want that crap in this day and age when far superior platforms exist. No point in using WinMo. HP/Compaq has to at one point switch over to the platform of the future: Android. Time to abandon dead platforms already.
@HighestRanked : Why do you bother reading (if you do) on articles of WinMo phones if you don't like WinMo? WinMo is the most powerful mobile OS out there right now, and Android hasn't come close yet to surpasssing it.
If WinMo is so dead, there certainly wouldn't be a lot of handsets with it, nor would there be a lot of businesses or consumers using it.
@ There isn't really anything powerful about WinMo, it is rotten at the core. And that's precisely the one factor that drives consumers, manufacturers and the market in general to adopt far superior platforms instead.
In fact, while the smart phone market has shown substantial 12.8% growth this past quarter, WinMo has consistently shrunk. By Q3 2009, WinMo share fell 30% as reported by the Gartner group (in Q3 2008 Microsoft had 11% in smartphone market share and in Q3 2009 it has only 7.9%.)
Basically the WinMo platform is collapsing. We need to pitch in and put WinMo out of its misery.
The bar form factor with touchscreen is definitely my preferred layout... but the only things this has that my Treo Pro doesn't is AMOLED, an incremental OS upgrade (6.5 vs. 6.1), and a dated design
what's got two thumbs and isn't rushing to go buy one?
This guy.
and probably everyone else
Looks like someone's been around there with the ugly stick!
I like the candy bar factor of this phone. It really looks like a Blackberry Curve 8520, with a trackball instead of a memory pad. Also I like at it's running WM 6.5 Very clean looking phone, with a business edge.
It is good to see IPAQ getting back into the game of something they paved the way for. Don't forget it was them and Palm that started this whole smartphone frenzy. Happy to see you back in the competition IPAQ, you have your work cut out for you!!!
What we are looking at here is next years BlackBerry. I'd bet RIM steals the touchscreen from this device and slaps it on their tired BB-OS.
can someone please tell me why a stylus is still incorporated in designing these 'new' phones???
@(Unverified) Believe it or not, a stylus is a very useful method of input. You can pinpoint smaller items on a screen, so you don't have to scroll over so much, you can handwrite, you don't have to leave fingerprint smudges, you can wears gloves with em, and you can get better precision among other things.
If you don't like it, why do you even bother to look at this article, if you know this phone isn't targeted to you?
If this was being sold on Verizon or T-mobile I am pretty sure it be going for $150 or less on contract.
Lame rip off of a Blackberry
I agree this phone looks like a blackberry. If this phone came out a few years ago it would of been hot. Way to go HP just put out a phone that has all the same features as phones out on the market already. Just stick to making computers and printers. No thank you, I will stick with a HTC hero for $179
@ There isn't really anything powerful about WinMo, it is rotten at the core. And that's precisely the one factor that drives consumers, manufacturers and the market in general to adopt far superior platforms instead.
In fact, while the smart phone market has shown substantial 12.8% growth this past quarter, WinMo has consistently shrunk. By Q3 2009, WinMo share fell 30% as reported by the Gartner group (in Q3 2008 Microsoft had 11% in smartphone market share and in Q3 2009 it has only 7.9%.)
Basically the WinMo platform is collapsing. We need to pitch in and put WinMo out of its misery.
@HighestRanked
Is it really collapsing or is it because the other platforms have been advertised so well and people like new things?
WinMo still does what it needs to do... and it's not like BB's OS still has that new phone smell.
Dell and now HP. i like it. looks like a pretty sexy WinMo smartphone device. if only i was into WinMo devices.
This looks like the bastard offspring of a Blackberry and Motorola Q9c
Lol at all the downranked comments, honestly guys, it's a nice phone. Not consumer orientated, but still a quality, hp, functional piece of hardware. Grow up, you're all so picky, like children.