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HTC Hermes launch roundup!
A spectrum of HTC's highly-anticipated Hermes variants are finally coming around in the retail pipeline, and what better way to celebrate than with a launch roundup? Regardless of your continent, odds are one or more of these flavors are available in your parts -- and if not, your friendly local import shop shouldn't have a difficult time hooking you up. As you come across other launches, do your fellow readers (and us) a favor and post 'em in the comments. Thank ye kindly![Thanks, Leigh]Read - Orange SPV M3100Read - T-Mobile Germany, UK MDA Vario IIRead - Vodafone VPA Compact III / v1605Read - HTC TyTNRead - HTC ZRead - Dopod 838ProRead - Dopod CHT9000
Dopod prepping GPS phone
Not sure if this would be Artemis, Trinity, or another device entirely, but Dopod has announced that they intend to drop a GPS-enabled phone in the late Q3 / early Q4 time frame -- and needless to say, it's rather probable that the device will be coming from bestest buddy (and owner) HTC. No other deets seem to be available right now, but our money happens to be on Trinity, being the most well-revealed and seemingly close to market GPS-enabled phone we're aware of in HTC's stable. That being said, Dopod is a fairly exotic brand outside of Asia -- depending on your location, you might be better off looking for the Trinity under one of its other guises by the time it drops anyway.[Via the::unwired]
Hands-on with the HTC Monet (Trilogy)
Typically, we believe there are no excuses for smartphones to sport giant, unbecoming humps, but we do have at least two exceptions to the rule: in-built WiFi, and support for one mobile TV standard or another. The Monet certainly falls into the latter category, and it may fall into both since its guts are Faraday-based, and indeed, the tumor on the Monet's side is monstrous. The phone should be dropping on Virgin Mobile's UK network any time now, but meanwhile, Sogi has taken an up-close look at the Monet in Dopod trim. After going through the Babelfish wringer, the review itself doesn't mean much, but golly, the pictures sure are purty. The Monet -- as we said, basically a repackaged Faraday plus mobile TV -- packs a 2.2-inch QVGA display, MicroSD slot, and Windows Mobile 5.0. See more after the break.[Via Smartphone Thoughts]
HTC swallows Dopod
HTC, seasoned manufacturer of highly desirable Windows Mobile devices big and small, has agreed to acquire at least 51% of Taiwanese VAR Dopod in a transaction that "will not surpass $150 million." The deal smells a bit improper, seeing how HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang is a controlling shareholder in Dopod, but there is some logic to the acquisition -- it positions HTC a little closer to its adoring public, giving it a recognized brand name (at least in some parts of the world) and a sales channel to push its wares. Of course, Dopod doesn't have much brand awareness outside Asia, but if HTC decides to go big with their new toy, the i-mates of the world might have reason to find a different line of work -- or at least a different OEM of choice.[Via Smartphone Thoughts]
Qtek to get its HTC Muse, the S300, early
Remember the HTC Muse Windows Mobile 5.0 multimedia phone? You know, the one with 4GB of NAND storage dedicated to media files as well as dual cameras, including a 2.1 megapixel shooter with flash? Well anyway, DigiTimes is reporting that HTC will be shipping Qtek its version of the Muse, the S300 (not to be confused with Dopod's S300, based on another HTC design called the Star Trek), earlier than expected, as part of HTC's commitment to first release their HSDPA-enabled handsets in European markets. Qtek should be getting their Muses, which also sport 416MHz processors, 64MB of both RAM and ROM, WiFi, Bluetooth, and FM tuners, sometime in the third quarter, according to "market sources." Besides its lack of a keyboard (or even a numberpad, for that matter) and frustrating inclusion of that 240 x 240 display, the Muse looks to us like a pretty hot model, and will certainly give Nokia's N91, Sony Ericsson's W950i, and Samsung's i300 musicphones some strong competition.[Via the::unwired]
