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 weren't too thrilled with the Touch Diamond's resistive touchscreen when we got a chance to play with HTC's new hotness, but if you're envious of that updated soft keyboard, you're in luck: the Diamond's ROMs have already been pulled apart and the .cab files are just a click away. Installation is said to be slow and you'll have to jump through some hoops to switch the default language from Italian, but things will eventually work out for you -- although we doubt anyone's going to be nearly as impressed as if you had a real Touch Diamond.

[Via MobilitySite]

Not long after spinning off from former corporate parent O2, Windows Mobile purveyor MWg is moving out of its Asian comfort zone to attempt to sell its wares over in Europe with a splashy press conference to kick things off -- and if the aggressive roadmap they're pursuing for the next year or so holds true, they might just have a fighting chance at making a splash up there. First up are the official European intros of the Atom V and Zinc II, HSDPA-equipped handsets that have been kicking around for a while now, but that's not even close to the interesting part. Looking deeper into '08 reveals a handful of HTC Diamond competitors, devices that are sporting a respectable 7.2Mbps down and 5.2Mbps up, and looking still deeper into the fourth quarter suggests that MWg intends to release its first Windows Mobile 7-powered device -- the Flame II -- with GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and "multimedia features" on board. That seems a little far-fetched considering that 7 hasn't been officially shown off and 6.1 isn't even in broad distribution to users yet, but we appreciate MWg's motivation here. We also see a Shift killer in the wings with Vista and a 3G data connection toward the end of the year, so all told, the future's looking bright for these cats if they can actually execute.

The hot word on the street is that Palm has all but confirmed the existence of two new phone models by ramping up a "launch developer" program for new applications. The devices, dubbed Zeppelin (a name we've heard quite a bit of) and Skywriter (which is new to us) could be slated for a Q3 release, as Palm is asking devs to turn in their applications by May 30th. Rumor has it that at least one of the units is a "Centro-like" Windows Mobile phone -- if that date is close to correct, it could very well be the "Wanda" that we saw back in January. The Zeppelin, on the other hand, is likely the WiFi equipped Treo 800w we've been hearing about for what seems like a million years. A mockup of a device (above) was included in the email, though we're pretty sure not even Palm could create a phone that ugly.

Remember when we caught wind that Verizon was prepping a worldband version Samsung's i760 Windows Mobile piece? That rumor's suddenly gained a lot more credence now that we've seen a so-called SCH-i770 pass through the FCC's hallowed halls, especially considering the device outline's uncanny resemblance to that of the aforementioned i760. We'd previously heard that there might be some HSDPA on board, and while we're not seeing any evidence of that from the FCC's test reports, we can confirm that it'll feature EV-DO, WiFi, and Bluetooth in addition to all the GSM you'll need to get by while roaming through mysterious foreign lands. No word on when we might actually see an announcement about this one, but we imagine Verizon doesn't want to wait that much longer -- the i760 design isn't getting any younger, y'know.

[Via Phone Scoop]

While you can argue that Windows Mobile is feature-for-feature and spec-for-spec superior to OS X on the iPhone, Apple's mobile UI is certainly more fun to use. So if you're running WinMo with a hankerin' for rubber band-like scrolling, jiggly icons, screen flicking, SummerBoard themes, and even simulated multi-touch pinching of photos then you're in luck. Flick Software Research is set to release its iSwish interface and iZoom pinch software in beta come "early May." Hey Flick, here's a hint: Dell Axim != sexy demo hardware... or maybe that's the point. See the action after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

No one really knows whether HTC's May 6 gathering will usher in the age of Android (our guess is still "no"), but let's look a little beyond that, shall we? We've just laid eyes on a handful of documents detailing HTC's efforts to ready the Diamond and Raphael models -- already known to be valid HTC codenames -- for Sprint later this year, and things are definitely looking up in the post-Touch world. The Diamond turns out to be the successor to that very device, lacking a physical keyboard and relying almost exclusively on a large, glossy touchscreen for user input; the Raphael meanwhile (pictured) features a full QWERTY deal and is destined to replace the Mogul. The paperwork's pretty blurry, but it appears that both Windows Mobile devices will feature WiFi, 3 megapixel cameras, and -- get this -- VGA displays. Goodness! The Raphael is currently lined up to be the first out of the gate, hitting the streets in September if everything goes well, with the Diamond following on in November. Surprised that these devices are CDMA-based and Sprint bound? Us too, we admit -- but we'd be shocked if there weren't GSM twins of both of these hotties getting cooked in the lab at the same time.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Okay, so we know of at least two HTC devices codenamed "Neon" that the friendly bureaucrats up in the FCC have been forced to go through with a fine-tooth comb. Now we have a third -- the descriptively-named NEON300 -- and this might be the money version. As we've pointed out before, the Neon series appears to represent a line of Touches with different guts for different carriers and locales, and the NEON300 possesses something that's music to the ears of the yanks in the audience: HSDPA on the 850 and 1900MHz bands. Along with the recently-announced US Touch Dual, this should be quite a gem in, say, AT&T's lineup -- and with Sprint and Verizon both rocking the same device, can they really afford to turn the other cheek?

Update: Pictures of the unit being poked and prodded can be found deep within the test documentation, and sadly, it turns out this is nothing more than the US Touch Dual after all. But come on HTC, seriously, you know you want to make a straight-up Touch with North American HSDPA, too. Thanks, uofmrapper1!

Ready for some honesty? We can think of a good handful of timepieces that we'd buy before we dropped $629.95 on this catastrophe, but for folks with pants too slim and hands too full to carry around a separate cellphone, we suppose it's a so-so alternative. The EGP-WP98 claims to be the first quad-band GSM watch phone to come with Windows CE 5.0 installed, and while it's supposed to tout a SIM card slot, water-resistance, a 266MHz CPU and a 1.45-inch display with handwriting recognition (for real?), that little line informing us that specifications are "subject to change without notice" makes us a touch leery. Nevertheless, you can also expect (though you may not get) a 1.3-megapixel camera, WiFi, a T-Flash expansion slot, multimedia player and built-in Bluetooth. According to one particular e-tailer, it'll be ready to ship on April 25th -- whether or not anyone's fat-fingered enough to push an order through, however, remains to be seen.

[Via UnwiredView]

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 over on Engadget Mobile!

Just in case you missed it, the Verizon XV6900, Motorola Q9c, and LG enV(2) are all finally launched on Verizon. Head on over to Engadget Mobile for the full details.

At this point the Treo 800w has been outed by Bill Gates himself, so while the suspense factor is pretty low, it's nice to know that it'll finally be getting here in July. That's the word according to this purloined Sprint roadmap, which also indicates the newest Treo will have GPS and EV-DO rev. A -- but still run WinMo 6.0, which is pretty sad, especially if that revised version of 6.1 launches at CTIA next week as expected. Oh well, at least it's a new Treo -- let's just hope they can shake some more ugly off this thing before it hits the street.

[Via PhoneArena]

The rumors that Windows Mobile 6.1 is going to make its long-awaited official debut next week are flying fast and furious, but if you can't stand the wait, it looks like Boy Genius has managed to score yet another Moto Q9 running the update and he's posted up some deets and a bunch of screenshots. There's nothing too earth-shattering in this latest rev, but there are some minor tweaks from what we've seen before: AT&T's Video Share is now supported, as is TV out, the camera UI and home screen have been refined, there's a new Albums feature in the media player, and photos and videos can now be uploaded to your Windows Live account. Right, nothing major, but that's fine -- the smaller the changes, the sooner the ship date, right? Hit up the read link for tons more shots.

It seemed pretty impressive when a user managed to get Windows Mobile 6 Standard up and running on a busted old HTC StarTrek -- but WM Professional 6.1 on that badboy? You had us at hello. A member of the xda-dvelopers forum named Erofich has managed to hack together an install of the touchscreen-only mobile OS for the decidedly non-touchscreen flip phone. The configuration includes a number of workarounds for using the keypad as opposed to a finger or stylus, and it looks like there aren't a ton of issues right now. We're pretty sure that this isn't the speediest or most robust implementation of the software, but it's an admirable feat nonetheless. We doff our caps to you, sir.

[Thanks, maflow]