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HTC P4550 "Kaiser" reviewed
Paul from MoDaCo has our envy today, having recently taken possession of HTC's pièce de résistance -- the HTC "Kaiser" -- which looks to make a self-branded debut bearing the model number P4550. As he points out, HTC left virtually nothing out of the P4550 as Windows Mobile-based QWERTY sliders go; the 256MB of onboard Flash, 128MB of RAM, 3 megapixel cam, HSUPA, and trick flip-up display all set new marks for lustworthiness in the category. What's more, the device is said to be really snappy with Windows Mobile 6 and a 400MHz Qualcomm MSM7200 core, picture quality from the camera is superb, and voice quality is apparently top notch. The conclusion? "It's quite simply awesome." Too bad it's also quite simply not available yet.
Apple iPhone vs HTC Touch vs LG Prada: battle royale
Want to argue about which of among trio of sparsely-buttoned large-touchscreen devices takes the cake? Now's your chance. The contestants: Apple iPhone, HTC Touch, LG Prada. Rumble on. %Poll-1696% %Gallery-4437%
HTC's BH M200 on display at FCC
Well hello there Mr. HTC Bluetooth headset, how nice to meet you. Courtesy of the FCC, the (surprisingly glamorously photographed) 15-gram BH M200 slug is unveiled as a followup to their M100 headset and brings along a Bluetooth 2.0 radio with up to 8 hours typical talk time or 360 hours of standby thanks to a Lithium Polymer 2 hour rechargeable. It also packs a sporty lanyard to keep the nerd factor low between calls. No idea when or even if this will land Stateside but it sure looks promising now. Lanyard illustration after the break.[Thanks, Aaron R.]
HTC Advantage docking station hooks things up
For those of you waiting patiently for your HTC jack-of-all-trades to hit the doormat, you can at least kill some time by picking up one of these new docks and trying to envision a phantom Advantage resting comfortably in the slot. The docking station features a second battery charger, two USB ports, a miniUSB port (for charging and syncing), a 3.5mm headphone jack, and two video out options (VGA and S-Video) -- giving you at least a few ways to get inside (and out) of the Advantage when you're at home. The whole connection-packed affair will cost you £70 (around $140), which is kind of a steep price to pay when you've got nothing to stick in it yet.[Via Pocketables]
HTC Touch spotted on sale in Hong Kong
Book your flights and whip your checkbooks out, folks -- especially if an iPhone isn't in the cards for you next Friday. HTC's lovely Touch has been spotted (in Dopod trim) on the streets of Hong Kong for $478, which seems like a reasonable sum for a latest-gen Windows Mobile 6 Professional device, does it not?
HTC preps a few more models (hint: CDMA Touch!)
HTC's model naming convention has always been just a little tricky to commit to memory, and with this latest batch, it certainly ain't getting any easier. A couple of these we've heard about before -- namely the Nike, Kaiser, and Shangri-La -- but the rest are brand new to us and very exciting. First up, the S640 "Iris" is a CDMA rendition of the Excalibur and Cavalier, tossing in EV-DO rev. A and WiFi atop Windows Mobile 6 Standard. The "Vogue" is essentially a Touch (TouchFLO UI and all) with the same EV-DO rev. A guts as the Iris -- good news for Verizon and Sprint customers, we'd imagine. GSM users have reason to celebrate here too, though, in the form of the "Volans" and "Polaris." These two are upgrades to the Vox and Artemis, respectively, adding in much-needed 3G radios and faster processors. Finally, the P6550 "Sedna" appears to be some sort of industrial device with support for a credit card reader -- though with a 3 megapixel cam and 3G data, we wouldn't mind having one ourselves. Release dates are up in the air on most of these, but our money is on late '07.[Via The Boy Genius Report]Update: Crikey, the Shangri-La's slide reveals that the device -- HTC's entry into the UMPC fray -- runs both Vista and Windows Mobile 6. Sound vaguely familiar? [Thanks, Kevin]
Pick a carrier, any carrier: HTC Touch sees wide German release
It looks like subscribers on pretty much any major carrier in Germany will get a shot at the touchy, feely HTC Touch in the next few weeks (though not in wasabi green, we'd wager). The company's European outpost has announced that Vodafone, O2, and T-Mobile will all be adding the Touch to their lineup between this and next month, with O2 likely the first with the "Xda nova" (final design above right). Vodafone meanwhile will simply slap its branding on HTC's reference design (above left), while T-Mobile's bodywork has yet to be announced. Look for it to hit for about €450 ($600) unsubsidized or €49 ($65) on contract. Big diff there, eh?
Sprint Mogul review roundup
We thought the Sprint Mogul was a little bit of alright, but do the 'nets agree? By and large, yeah, it seems the bottom line is that this is the must-have upgrade for PPC-6700 owners. Mobile Tech Review points out that an MMS client is notably missing and picture quality on the 2 megapixel camera could be better, but hey, it's still an improvement over the Apache's 1.3 megapixel unit. Boy Genius Report found that the ridges on the phone's posterior were a little funky, too; just like the Mogul's crazy bright yellow UI, it's probably an acquired taste.[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]Read - Gear Diary ("...leaps and bounds above the PPC-6700 that it replaces...")Read - Boy Genius Report ("...the device is a pleasure to use...")Read - Phone Scoop ("... flashier design, updated operating and higher resolution camera...")Read - My iTablet (3.75 / 5 stars, "...a worthy upgrade from the PPC-6700...")Read - Mobile Tech Review (4 / 5 stars, "A very strong offering from Sprint, and a worthy, if not overdue, successor to the PPC-6700")
HTC Touch, now in "wasabi green"
The white's cool, and so's the black -- but "wasabi green"? Seriously? We're not sure whether HTC will be launching its Touch in this... uh, creative hue globally, but it appears that some Asian countries are gonna get a crack at this.[Via Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]
Engadget Mobile meets, greets Sprint Mogul
For our Mobile squad, no smartphone launch is complete until we've touched it, analyzed it, and -- knowing our butterfingered selves -- dropped it on a concrete surface (just kidding, our Mobile editors would sacrifice life and limb for the safety of a handset). But when said smartphone happens to be a frickin' CDMA device from HTC... well, that's like a once (or twice) in a lifetime event. Head on over to Mobile for our first impressions of Sprint's Mogul by HTC with a full gallery to boot. Heck, it's almost as good as actually buying one!
Hands-on with the Sprint Mogul by HTC
Known as the Titan, the PPC-6800, and the XV6800 in its various forms, Sprint's Mogul from HTC represents arguably the most anticipated piece of CDMA hardware so far this year. Why? Well, for starters, its direct predecessor -- the PPC-6700 "Apache" -- isn't getting any younger. Don't get us wrong, the PPC-6700 was a well-loved device that held its own for a good long while, but let's be honest: aerial antennas and Windows Mobile 5 are getting a little passé (to put it lightly). We've had the good fortune to be able to spend a few quality minutes with a production Mogul this weekend, so let's have a closer look, shall we?%Gallery-4052%
Sprint Mogul finally announced
Finally, the fricking Mogul is announced. We're pretty tired of talking about this phone -- now it's time for the device to stand on its own two feet -- er, soft keys. Specs away: EV-DO Rev. 0 (Rev. A comes later with a software update. Tres lame.) 400MHz Qualcomm CPU 64MB RAM, 256MB ROM 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 2 megapixel camera, microSD, 1500mAh battery 4.3 x 2.3 x 0.73-inches $399 + two year contract, available in July... or right now
Sprint Mogul spotted in the wild, release looks impending
Well lookee what we have here: a Sprint PPC-6800, better known as the Mogul, sitting in the palm of what is no doubt one very pleased Howard Forums user. Now we're no analysts or nothin', but we'd suggest that the availability of this Apache-successor through Brightpoint bodes well for the June 18th launch date that Engadget Mobile caught wind of last week. Wait, isn't that tomorrow? Click through to catch the retail packaging...[Thanks, ckeegan]
Hands-on with the HTC S710 "Vox"
Looking for a Windows Mobile 6 Standard device with a slide-out QWERTY doohickey plus a dedicated numeric keypad? The Vox is pretty much the only game in town -- and we're delighted to report that that's not a bad thing at all. Known as the S710 under HTC's own branding, the set rocks a 2 megapixel cam, Bluetooth, quadband GSM with EDGE data, 128MB of ROM, 64MB of RAM, a microSD slot, and WiFi. The software's standard fare (and reasonably fast in light of the pokey 201MHz OMAP850), but as is often the case with HTC kit, the hardware's where this thing really stands out. Not only were we super impressed by how rock-solid the S710 felt, but considering the immense value of the QWERTY keyboard, you sacrifice very little in size or weight. In fact, looking at the phone straight on from the front, you can't even tell that it's anything but a rather ordinary looking candybar. It's a little thicker, sure, but well worth the price of admission, even if only for the occasional email-based rant. Check out some S710 poses (tasteful, we promise) in the gallery!%Gallery-3981%
HTC Touch to launch first in Taiwan, US bound by year's end
Good news for those of you in Taiwan (and America, too) who can't wait to get acquainted with HTC's Touch, as its creator has reportedly announced that it will be deployed shortly in its "home base," with an American launch to go down before the dawn of 2008. Peter Chou, chief executive officer at HTC, has purportedly stated that it would "only be fitting if the first country in Asia to sell the Touch was Taiwan," and also noted that Chunghwa Telecom would be its "exclusive partner in distributing and retailing the handset" in that country. On the home front, all we know is that the Touch should indeed be found on American shelves before the year's end, but here's to hoping it's closer to today than December 31st.Read - HTC launch in TaiwanRead - HTC launch in USA
Dopod plans half dozen models for China in 2H07
Digitimes reports that HTC subsidiary Dopod has six models in the pipe for China (all manufactured by HTC, we'd assume) for the second half of this year, matching the number of devices launched there in the first half. Word has it the six are codenamed Athena-c, Cruiser, Kunlun, Nike-c, Elf, and Sedna-c; most of those names we've heard before, and we figure the "-c" suffix indicates some level of customization for the Chinese market. In fact, the only two that are new to us are "Kunlun" and "Sedna," and yes, we're already a little jealous that HTC has something cookin' for a foreign market that we don't know about. Hopefully, details will start to fall in the place on those in the next few weeks as we roll into 2H.[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]
Telus HTC S720 in the wild
Our favorite Canadian carrier, Telus, is launching another HTC product before everyone -- this time it's the the Libra running Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard. Featuring a full numeric keypad and a slide down QWERTY keyboard, a 2 megapixel shooter, microSD expansion, and stereo Bluetooth, this device is built to please. Click on through for more pics!
False alarm: Orange's SPV branding here to stay
Disaster averted! Amid reports yesterday that Orange's well-traveled "SPV" smartphone branding was going the way of the dodo in favor HTC's newer, slicker badges, the carrier has stepped forward to deny the claim. Though its rendition of the HTC Touch won't be blessed with an SPV mark, it turns out there's a good reason: it's not considered a member of Orange's "Signature Series." Only Signature Series devices will be SPVs, and they may not always be HTC sourced. Got it?
Video: HTC Touch's TouchFLO interface
We've been fooling around with HTC's Touch, which comes equipped with the redundantly named TouchFLO shell / UI add-on for Windows Mobile. It's a pretty quick video, so check it out if you wanted to see how exactly this thing works with the sweeping motions of your finger. (Apologies in advance for its low-fi-ness, we only had our crappy point-and-shoot handy when shooting.)[MP4] Download the video (VGA)[MP4] Download the video (QVGA)[AVI] Download the video (VGA)[AVI] Download the video (QVGA)Update: Yeah, we know, the videography kind of sucks. Check out Phone Scoop's demo, they do it up right (as always).
Orange kills "SPV" branding for smartphones
Even for those of us in North America, "SPV" feels like one of those storied brands that's been around since the very beginning of the smartphone era -- a time when devices like the SPV C500 (and its successor, the C550) stepped out of the primordial Windows Mobile ooze. All good things must come to an end, though, and it's with heavy hearts that the death knell tolls for Orange's naming convention. It's not all bad news, though: future HTC devices on Orange will actually be branded as such. It seems that HTC has finally earned its wings, gathering enough clout and brand recognition to get its own name silkscreened onto its carrier-subsidized offerings; frankly, we wouldn't mind the same thing happening here.
