In HTC parlance, the "Neon" codename denotes a device of the Touch Dual form factor -- original Touch styling plus a slider keypad, a drill we all know by now. This particular form factor seems to be a pretty popular one, too, considering the sheer number of variants HTC's turned out; at this point, we have one for Europe, one for North America, and one for Japan, and a new FCC filing suggests that there's still at least one more trick in that pony. The so-called NEON400 doesn't give much away from the ID label document that we see here, but test reports indicate that it's sporting CDMA 850 / 1900 -- just right for launching on Sprint, Verizon, Alltel -- you get the idea -- and obviously, we'll see EV-DO in there as well. Against the Touch Diamond, the Dual is starting to look just a little dated, but it gets that all-important keypad that the Diamond lacks -- so even networks that end up launching the Diamond can realistically make room for this one in the lineup when it's announced. By someone other than the FCC, that is.

At first, we were all stoked at the realization that it took HTC shy of two months to go from announcement to availability of its US-flavored Touch Dual, but then we had this wet blanket thrown on us when we reflected on the fact that it's been like six months since the European model was first shown. No bother -- at least the US model will be among the very first devices anywhere to ship with Windows Mobile 6.1 out of the box, which is kinda cool. Best Buy will be offering the phone starting this weekend for $549.99 unlocked, available on its website or directly from "select" Best Buy Mobile locations around the country, so try not to let those visions of Diamonds distract you too much while you're whipping out the credit card.

Brace yourself, US-based Touch Dual lovers -- the handset that your Japanese / European friends have been taunting you with for months is finally making the trip stateside. Slated to launch "later this quarter" (at Best Buy initially, of all places), the US Touch Dual will come rocking Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, TouchFLO, Office Mobile, Live HTC Home, a 2-megapixel camera, quad-band GSM support and HSDPA connectivity. Sadly, HTC didn't give us the pleasure of knowing a price, but we'll be keeping an ear to the ground for more exact details surrounding the release.

MoDaCo reports that the Touch Duals at HTC's launch event were WiFi equipped, despite word straight from the horse's mouth to the contrary. It's conceivable that some carriers will opt to disable the hardware in the hope of boosting data revenue -- or like the Trinity's GPS receiver, it could be left dormant at launch with the hope of a future firmware update that flips the switch. Anyway, we were gettin' to wondering: how do readers feel about it? The addition of HSDPA over the original Touch helps, sure, but nothing beats good, old fashioned WiFi when you're near a hotspot. Sound off!

You've already seen it in Japan for months, now HTC has officially launched their HTC Touch Dual (as they now call it) for Europe. Once only known as the Nike, the Touch Dual now measures in at 107 x 55 x 15.8-mm / 120-grams (slightly different than its Japanese sib) and packs WCDMA/HSDPA 2100MHz and GSM/EDGE 900/1800/1900MHz radios. Of course, it brings the TouchFLO interface riding atop Windows Mobile 6 Professional and 2.6-inch QVGA touch-screen as you'd expect. Inside you'll find a 400MHz Qualcomm MSM7200 processor; 256MB flash, 128MB RAM and microSD expansion; Bluetooth 2.0+EDR; 802.11b/g WiFi; HTC ExtUSB (HTC's mini USB 2.0 jack with support for data and audio); and enough juice to power WCDMA talk for up to 240 minutes or up to 360 minutes on GSM frequencies. Available this month on Orange in select European countries. Pricing? Yeah, we'd like to know that too.

Update: Whoa Nelly, what's this? No WiFi? Although we're fairly certain we saw it (wishful thinking?), a second look at the specs reveals the lack of WiFi on this HTC device. Oh my.

Update 2: We just received confirmation direct from HTC: no WiFi unlike its Japanese twin. Yes, we're also surprised.

[Thanks, Rob]