So it now looks like that rumored high-end ZX1 Windows Mobile 6 Professional handset from ASUS is a lock for a CeBIT announcement, though we're going to be totally honest, we're not certain it's worthy of the Lamborghini name. Granted, we've got to withhold judgment until we get one in our hands, but outside of a Lamborghini badge-shaped nav pad and a speedometer-inspired clock on the home screen, we're not seeing anything special about the darned thing. On the plus side, it's a 3G world phone with HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 and quadband GSM / EDGE, a 3 megapixel autofocus camera out back with a VGA sensor up front for video calling, 256MB of ROM, 128MB of RAM, microSD expansion, GPS, WiFi, and the typical QVGA display. We guess the 13.2mm thick shell is notable, but Lamborghini notable? More on this one as soon as we catch it in the wild.

Given the BlackJack's popularity on AT&T, it only makes sense that Sprint (among other carriers) would be looking to get in on that action. Indeed, as expected, Sprint has now launched Samsung's ACE (get it? like the really good card to have when you're playing blackjack?) that comes out swinging with Windows Mobile 6 Standard, 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD slot, stereo Bluetooth, EV-DO, and a SIM slot for hooking your globetrotting butt up with GSM service when you find yourself overseas; what it doesn't have is HSDPA, so don't look at this puppy as an apples-for-apples BlackJack II replacement. It's available now for $199.99 after the usual laundry list of rebates and contract discounts.

Separately, Sprint has also gone live with the M520, an unassuming slider we've known about for a while now with GPS, a 1.3 megapixel cam, and tethering capability. This one comes in at a reasonable $49.99 after rebate on contract.

[Via PhoneNews]

Read - Samsung Ace
Read - Samsung M520

A poster over on HowardForums has a series of convincing shots of a little something we'd like to call "Sprint's Worst Nightmare." Okay, that's going way too far, but if this Verizon-branded HTC Touch is legit, Sprint has to be just a little bummed that it's about to lose exclusivity on the fancy little Windows Mobile piece among the big four US carriers (though Alltel's on the ball already). If it's simply the same Sprint hardware we know and love repackaged in white, we can expect EV-DO, microSD expansion, Windows Mobile 6 Professional dressed up to be about as finger-friendly as it possibly can be, and a 2 megapixel camera. Thing is, the poster says that this one's "a little thinner" than Sprint's -- amazing if true, considering that it's already a svelte and manageable 0.6 inches -- so all bets on specs are off until we get some official confirmation. Word on the street is that we'll see it in March.

Yep, pretty much everything we'd heard about the upcoming M930 from ASUS has turned out to be the real deal, making the brick-like device nearly a dead ringer for Nokia's E90 communicator with Windows Mobile doing the dirty work in place of S60. The exterior nets you a traditional QVGA display and numeric keypad, while unfolding the beast yields a slightly larger 400 x 240 display along with a full QWERTY board. Internal storage clocks in at 256MB with 64MB of RAM, there's a 2 megapixel autofocus cam around back, and you get the usual microSD expansion, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Oddly, the whole package runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard -- not Professional -- so you can just put away any hopes and dreams of touching the display with a stylus. Look for a public reveal at CeBIT in March, so retail availability isn't expected before that.

[Via MoDaCo]

After months, months, and yet more months of speculation, rumor, and leaked press shots, Verizon has gotten official with its own version of the HTC Libra, the SMT5800. The Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone-based handset is essentially a Vox gutted for CDMA / EV-DO airwaves, featuring a slide-out QWERTY keypad along with a standard numeric keypad up front to fool all your inquisitive peers into thinking it's nothing more than a candybar. The spec sheet reveals Bluetooth 2.0, a 2 megapixel camera, a microSD slot for packing up to 8GB, and a 2.4 inch QVGA display. Find it starting January 21 for $299.99 after rebate on a two year contract -- $199 if you're bold enough to sign up for a qualifying data plan at the same time.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Many of us know The Sharper Image best as a purveyor of massaging lounge chairs (which makes their stores a must-stop location in the mall), a chronic pusher of ozone generators, and as a perennial favorite in SkyMall catalogs as we bide our time on the redeye. What we don't know The Sharper Image for, though, is its broad selection of no-name phones procured from Chinese manufacturers. We just happened to be flipping through TSI's latest catalog today and came across these four little gems, three with "The Sharper Image" proudly emblazoned across their faces. The pack includes a touchscreen equipped Chocolate knockoff (very 2006, but still quite strapping), a branded version of the AMOI N810 Windows Mobile 6 Professional device, a black slider that looks like death incarnated, and an ultra-generic silver clamshell that looks straight out of the early part of this decade. The good news is that they're all unlocked and range from a very reasonable $169.95 to $499.95; the bad news, however, is that you may have to keep your thumb over the TSI logo to keep the public mockery to a minimum.



Read - Sharper Image 101TSI
Read - Sharper Image 008TSI
Read - Sharper Image 007TSI
Read - Sharper Image 005TSI

It's been a tick since we saw the oh-so-snazzy RoverPC G5, and we must say, the RoverPC P6 cranks up the sexy by a few orders of magnitude. The Windows Mobile 6-based handset, which is sure to make those not in Russian mighty envious, sports a 300MHz Samsung 2442B processor, a 2.4-inch 320 x 240 resolution touchscreen, 64MB of RAM, 128MB of Flash ROM, a microSD expansion slot, Bluetooth, miniUSB, a 2-megapixel camera and a built-in media player to boot. Additionally, the phone checks in at just 15.1-millimeters thick, rocks a dark gray motif and touts tri-band GSM connectivity. So go on, pick one up for around 7990 rubles ($323) -- just don't rub it in when you do, alright?

[Via MobileWhack]

From a distance, this thing looks just a little too much like the BlackJack (the old one, not the new) for comfort -- but when you zoom in a bit, it looks like Samsung's spinning a few cute touches into its SPH-i325 "Ace" for Sprint. Mobiledia has this one pegged for the first quarter of next year, offering a Windows Mobile Standard alternative to the BlackBerrys of the world with a slim shell, QWERTY keyboard, and landscape QVGA display; it's probably not going to make any BlackJack II owners envious, but at least this gives Sprint customers a chance to keep up with the Joneses. Even better, Boy Genius Report claims that we might see a little GSM radio stuffed in there for the globetrotters in the crowd. Anyone have an old Samsung Ace for Mobile ESPN, by the way?

[Via Boy Genius Report]

So this weird Motorola Q9 that Boy Genius Report came across is turning into quite a gold mine. First it revealed AT&T's apparent intention to let its guard down just a tad and start bringing more devices into the WiFi fold -- despite the obvious risk to data revenue -- and now it turns out that she's dressed to the nines with none other than Windows Mobile 6.1. A fleeting glance at most of the screens doesn't indicate any obvious changes from 6 (it is a .1 release, after all), but the devil's in the details: goodies like threaded SMS (Yahtzee!) and cut-and-freaking-paste on Standard (double Yahtzee!) alone should make it a worthwhile upgrade. 'Course, it's up to the carriers and manufacturers as usual to ultimately decide whether to push updates to existing devices, but it would be pure, unadulterated torture if the lion's share of devices didn't see official releases. Seriously, we'd cry.

We've had our eye on this willowy little minnow ever since we first gave it a proper once over at CeBIT earlier this year, and now E-TEN has announced that its everything-but-the-keyboard Glofiish X800 WM6 Pocket PC is finally shipping (we saw it unlocked on MobilePlanet for $650). Very similar to a number of 3.5G HTC devices already on the market, the X800 steps up the game by offering a sexy 2.8-inch, 640 x 480 screen, 500MHz Samsung processor, and dedicated SiRFstar III GPS chipset. Still, if you can hold out just a little bit longer, a QWERTY-fied M800 boasting the same specs is right around the corner.

Announced in August, LG's HSDPA-totin' touchscreen KS20 was just released for retail in Europe -- France and Germany to be specific with more countries coming on the quick. Nothing new to report, same business minded, 12.8-mm thick Windows Mobile 6 handset with 3.6Mbps data, WiFi, Bluetooth, 2 megapixel camera (VGA up front), up to 4-hours talk, and built-in stylus for navigating with precision on that busy, 240 x 320 pixel, 2.8-inch WinMo interface. No prices given but we're sure your carrier will happily oblige.

Wing who? T-Mobile today has announced the long-rumored Shadow, a Windows Mobile 6 Standard device that looks not just better than its Wing stablemate, but arguably better than just about any comparably-equipped smartphone on the market today. Besides the "slick, slider design" and a juiced version of the standard Windows Mobile 6 UI, the Shadow features a rotating jog dial front and center, 2 megapixel camera, WiFi, and a new version of T-Mobile's myFaves interface allowing users to call, email, text, or MMS the peeps in their "fave five." Like what you see? If you do, good, because it turns out this is just the first in a whole line of upcoming Shadow-branded phones for the carrier -- a line that'll be focusing on multimedia connectivity and slanting the work / life balance a little more to the "life" side than some of HTC's and T-Mobile's other smart devices (ahem, Wing, we're looking straight at you). Grab the Shadow starting this Wednesday in "sage" or "copper" for a surprisingly reasonable $149.99 on two-year contract.

Quick: which one's the new BlackJack? If you said "the one on the left," you've been following Samsung's BlackJack2 closely enough so that you'll probably want to check out our shots of it over on Engadget Mobile. If you said "the one on the right," you clearly need us to hit you up with some knowledge -- so yeah, check out Engadget Mobile anyway. Cheers!

Don't get too excited -- you can't order it just yet -- but AT&T's at least ready to admit that the Samsung BlackJack2 exists. It seems the carrier's pulling the same stunt it did with the Q9 Global, taking email addresses for notification of availability without giving any indication as to when it might be available. Compared to the original, the keyboard and d-pad both look considerably hotter, Windows Mobile 6 comes installed (just imagine the horror if it wasn't!), "faster 3G speeds" are being touted, and perhaps most importantly, GPS capability is integrated. Oh yeah, there's some Video Share action in there too, but we're not too sure we'd call that a "feature." When it's launched, look for it in "wine red" and black.

[Thanks, Chris P.]

Well even though we have yet to see three of the five high-end Ultimate smartphones promised by i-mate earlier this year, the company has decided to reveal yet another pair of QWERTY-packing family members, including one -- the 9502 -- that gives the HTC Kaiser / TyTN II a run for its money. Almost identically-spec'ed to what is now the AT&T Tilt (save for the, um, tilt), the quad-band GSM / tri-band HSUPA Windows Mobile 6 handset manages to step up the game by featuring a VGA display along with video out, LED "flash," and standard 2.5-millimeter audio jack. Slightly less impressive but still pretty feature packed, the candybar-shaped Ultimate 8502 sports the same radios (including WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth 2.0), memory configuration (256MB ROM / 128MB RAM) and 400MHz Qualcomm processor as its big brother, but replaces the 3.0 megapixel autofocus camera with a 2.0 megapixel fixed focus and, more importantly, drops the display down to a pedestrian 2.6-inch QVGA. Still, there's a lot to love here, but until we see some pricing and release dates, i-mate, we're not gonna go blending our current phones just yet. Check out the entire US Ultimate team -- including the already well-known 6150 and 8150 -- in the gallery below...


[Thanks, Salem S.]

Read - Ultimate 9502
Read - Ultimate 8502