Filed under: Cellphones

Ah yes, this is what we’ve been so eagerly awaiting. Enough pussyfooting around with the Palm Treo 680 and HTC Hermes / 8525 coming to Cingular — we know they’re due. We need prices, we need dates. And according to what appears to be a recent Cingular marketing presentation, we’ve got ‘em:

• Treo 680: $424.99 straight, $349.99 one year, $249.99 one year with unlimited data (and $100 rebate), $274.99 two year, $174.99 two year with unlimited data (and $100 rebate; their ad, however, shows a $200 list price, but it’s good to know we can count on around two Benjamins. Expect it November 5th (tentative).
• Cingular 8525: $559.99 straight, $484.99 one year (not including $50 rebate if included with unlimited data), $409.99 two year (also not including that same rebate); expect it October 29th.

See, now that wasn’t so bad, was it? Both came in right around where we’d expected and hoped; between the Dash, the Q, and the 680, it looks like that $200 price point is the sweet spot for ever-slimming smartphones. And the 8525 ain’t too bad either, considering what you’re getting.

[Thanks also to djnth]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Cellphones

Thar she blows. We’re not going to pretend like there’s any surprise left here — it’s the 8525 in all its tri-band UMTS / HSDPA glory, it was on Cingular’s page, and it looks like they’re about ready to go. Yep, all we’re waiting for is a price and release date. Yep, just gonna keep on waiting. Cingular?

[Thanks, JeShUa, Matt, and jetfxr]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Cellphones

Oh hell yes, did we call it or did we call it? That mystery device has a keyboard, and it turns out that HTC’s totally sick successor to the Hermes / TyTn is the O2 Mars which nails the aesthetics where the Hermes suffers so, and will supposedly come equipped with a 520MHz XScale, GPRS / EDGE / UMTS (sorry, no HSDPA), 64MB ram, 128MB flash, WiFi, Bluetooth, miniSD, and a 2 megapixel camera. Ok, so maybe we’re only excited about this thing because it’s one of the only QWERTY devices we’ve seen lately out of HTC that wasn’t a little hard to look at (Excalibur, we’re lookin’ at you, buddy), but we don’t need to excuse our love of gadgets, so if you’ll let us continue our fawning. Thank you.

P.S. -Sorry, we didn’t mean to gloss over the Jupiter, which appears to be the successor to the Breeze — there’s just not a lot of info there. Click on for some pics.

[Via the::unwired]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

If you’re familiar with the Hermes and you know that it’s coming to Cingular ‘fore too long, these supposed renderings of Cingular’s variant (henceforth known as the 8525) should come with no surprises — except one, that is. Note that the Hermes’ front-facing cam is conspicuously missing here, allegedly removed at Cingular’s request since their video calling infrastructure isn’t quite ready for prime time. Of course, we would’ve preferred that they leave the cam in, disable it, and cut a new firmware down the road to re-enable it when video calling is live rather than ask HTC to cripple their hardware, but we’re sure the corporate suits had their reasons.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Windows Mobile, NTT DoCoMo, UMTS

When you’re trying to console yourself after perusing NTT DoCoMo’s extraordinary lineup of hotness, it looks like the “at least we’re getting the Hermes” argument no longer holds much water. HTC and NTT DoCoMo have teamed up to put together the “HTC Z,” a Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC with rather obvious Hermes roots. The FOMA-compliant handset shares all of the Hermes’ critical stats — right down to the secondary cam for video calling — and sports a Japanese cut of Windows Mobile to make things easy on the home crowd. Okay, so maybe you’re thinking “at least we get our Hermes first.” Not even: the Z allegedly drops in late July, so unless you’re one of the lucky few, it looks like NTT’s got you beat every which way. Typical.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, Reviews, HTC, Windows Mobile, GSM, UMTS

French site PPCReviews has managed to score a Qtek-branded copy of the hotly anticipated HTC Hermes, and thanks to some decent Google translation, we’ve managed to take away quite a bit from the thorough review. Many folks are expecting the Hermes to be a superstar compared to its already good older brother, the Wizard, but PPCReviews is a bit bummed out about the switch from miniSD to microSD expansion, the lackluster battery performance, rather portly 175 grams, and lack of true VGA display. Of course, we all know the good stuff the Hermes brings to the table by now, and the review ends on a happy note, confirming that the 3G and fresh 400MHz Samsung core work wonders for the device. Pardon the interruption, everyone; you can go back to incessantly refreshing Expansys’ TyTN product page every few minutes in the hope of an early shipment.

[Via kaitech.hk, thanks Ajit]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Vodafone, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA

Looks like Cingular customers aren’t the only ones expected to get an HTC windfall this summer; according to The Unwired, come July and August it appears that the Hermes and Star Trek will be launched on German Vodafone as the Vodafone VPA Compact III and Qtek 8500, respectively. Apparently the VPA Compact III will set you back as much as €900 ($1,150 US) without contract, or €409 ($522 US) with a two-year, whereas the 8500 will go for €600 ($766 US) and €170 ($217 US) the same ways — something tells us they want their customers to snag these subsidized.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Windows Mobile, GSM, HSDPA, UMTS

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Filed under: Cellphones

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC, making sure that the enjoyment of our fresh Star Trek is kept to an absolute minimum, looks to be preparing a spectrum of lustworthy new devices. This information is entirely unconfirmed, and we don’t know much about what we’re about to tell you — some of these code names are as new to us as they are to you — but we can tell you it comes from a reliable source.

First up, the Muse has been mercifully renamed the “Melody,” and the Triolgy has become “Monet.” The Hermes, which is just starting to drop across Europe, has been upped to 400MHz for full-scale production; you might recall we recently reported that O2 was bringing a 400MHz Hermes to the table, and it now appears this will be standard fare for launches going forward. Trinity (pictured) specs are coming into focus, and we should expect this beast to throw down HSDPA, WiFi, and integrated GPS. There have been some rumblings of an “Artemis” recently, and that device still appears to be on the map, bringing integrated GPS and a trackball (wha?) but topping out with EDGE data. The “Herald” sounds positively gorgeous, similar in concept and functionality to the Hermes but measuring just 17mm thick. The Foreseer and Monet will be joined by the “Oxygen” in HTC’s mobile TV lineup, though we don’t know which standard it’ll be packing. Looking to steal some of the Q’s thunder, the “Excalibur” will be getting its QWERTY on and running Smartphone. Finally, look for “Vera” as a possible successor to the Star Trek, packing HSDPA and a front-facing camera for video calling.

That’s a lot of unconfirmed data to digest, we know, and we’re still trying to make sense of it all ourselves. No word on release windows for most of these — if we could divine you a Vera tomorrow, we would — but as always, we’ll be burning the midnight oil in our quest for deets.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, HTC

HTC, making sure that the enjoyment of our fresh Star Trek is kept to an absolute minimum, looks to be preparing a spectrum of lustworthy new devices. This information is entirely unconfirmed, and we don't know much about what we're about to tell you -- some of these code names are as new to us as they are to you -- but we can tell you it comes from a reliable source.

First up, the Muse has been mercifully renamed the "Melody," and the Triolgy has become "Monet." The Hermes, which is just starting to drop across Europe, has been upped to 400MHz for full-scale production; you might recall we recently reported that O2 was bringing a 400MHz Hermes to the table, and it now appears this will be standard fare for launches going forward. Trinity (pictured) specs are coming into focus, and we should expect this beast to throw down HSDPA, WiFi, and integrated GPS. There have been some rumblings of an "Artemis" recently, and that device still appears to be on the map, bringing integrated GPS and a trackball (wha?) but topping out with EDGE data. The "Herald" sounds positively gorgeous, similar in concept and functionality to the Hermes but measuring just 17mm thick. The Foreseer and Monet will be joined by the "Oxygen" in HTC's mobile TV lineup, though we don't know which standard it'll be packing. Looking to steal some of the Q's thunder, the "Excalibur" will be getting its QWERTY on and running Smartphone. Finally, look for "Vera" as a possible successor to the Star Trek, packing HSDPA and a front-facing camera for video calling.

That's a lot of unconfirmed data to digest, we know, and we're still trying to make sense of it all ourselves. No word on release windows for most of these -- if we could divine you a Vera tomorrow, we would -- but as always, we'll be burning the midnight oil in our quest for deets.

Filed under: Handsets, HTC

HTC, making sure that the enjoyment of our fresh Star Trek is kept to an absolute minimum, looks to be preparing a spectrum of lustworthy new devices. This information is entirely unconfirmed, and we don’t know much about what we’re about to tell you — some of these code names are as new to us as they are to you — but we can tell you it comes from a reliable source.

First up, the Muse has been mercifully renamed the “Melody,” and the Triolgy has become “Monet.” The Hermes, which is just starting to drop across Europe, has been upped to 400MHz for full-scale production; you might recall we recently reported that O2 was bringing a 400MHz Hermes to the table, and it now appears this will be standard fare for launches going forward. Trinity (pictured) specs are coming into focus, and we should expect this beast to throw down HSDPA, WiFi, and integrated GPS. There have been some rumblings of an “Artemis” recently, and that device still appears to be on the map, bringing integrated GPS and a trackball (wha?) but topping out with EDGE data. The “Herald” sounds positively gorgeous, similar in concept and functionality to the Hermes but measuring just 17mm thick. The Foreseer and Monet will be joined by the “Oxygen” in HTC’s mobile TV lineup, though we don’t know which standard it’ll be packing. Looking to steal some of the Q’s thunder, the “Excalibur” will be getting its QWERTY on and running Smartphone. Finally, look for “Vera” as a possible successor to the Star Trek, packing HSDPA and a front-facing camera for video calling.

That’s a lot of unconfirmed data to digest, we know, and we’re still trying to make sense of it all ourselves. No word on release windows for most of these — if we could divine you a Vera tomorrow, we would — but as always, we’ll be burning the midnight oil in our quest for deets.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, O2, Windows Mobile, GSM, HSDPA, UMTS

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, O2, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS, HSDPA

Not that it’s any big surprise that the European operators are starting to pick up the HTC Hermes, but the::unwired snagged some shots of the Hermes with O2 branding, which makes sense given their intentions to roll out HSDPA this year. Europeans, watch out, your carrier options on this one are broadening. Oh, and for those inquisitive for what the final spec sheet mightl ook like on this thing, T-Mo Germany’s got their MDA Vario II product listing live (warning, pdf link!) which has all the stuff we pretty much knew (just made official), like quad-band GSM, HSDPA, 2 megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a scroll  wheel.

[Thanks, big fan; sheet via MSMobileNews]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Cingular

src="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2006/04/CIMG7285.JPG" />Well, well, well, it looks like HTC took the
opportunity to detail their 2006 US launch plans at CTIA while dropping that href="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/04/06/modeos-dvb-h-smartphone/">DVB-H capable Foreseer we peeped earlier.
According to Phone Scoop who had the opportunity to sit down with an "HTC exec," we’ll see the
quad-band GSM/EDGE HTC Star
Trek WinMo 5.0 Smartphone arrive on these golden shores in mid-2006 while the href="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/search/?q=hermes">HTC Hermes (pictured) should arrive sometime in Q4, most
likely with Cingular. The US flavor of the 3G Hermes will go WCDMA 850/1900/2100 with all that high-speed HSDPA
we’ve got the rangin’ fiend for. Good to know.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, T-Mobile, Orange, Vodafone, Windows Mobile, NTT DoCoMo, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

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 M3100
Read - T-Mobile Germany, UK MDA Vario II
Read - Vodafone VPA Compact III / v1605
Read - HTC TyTN
Read - HTC Z
Read - Dopod 838Pro
Read - Dopod CHT9000

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Cingular, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

If you’re familiar with the Hermes and you know that it’s coming to Cingular ‘fore too long, these supposed renderings of Cingular’s variant (henceforth known as the 8525) should come with no surprises — except one, that is. Note that the Hermes’ front-facing cam is conspicuously missing here, allegedly removed at Cingular’s request since their video calling infrastructure isn’t quite ready for prime time. Of course, we would’ve preferred that they leave the cam in, disable it, and cut a new firmware down the road to re-enable it when video calling is live rather than ask HTC to cripple their hardware, but we’re sure the corporate suits had their reasons.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, HTC, O2, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS

Oh hell yes, did we call it or did we call it? That mystery device has a keyboard, and it turns out that HTC’s totally sick successor to the Hermes / TyTn is the O2 Mars which nails the aesthetics where the Hermes suffers so, and will supposedly come equipped with a 520MHz XScale, GPRS / EDGE / UMTS (sorry, no HSDPA), 64MB ram, 128MB flash, WiFi, Bluetooth, miniSD, and a 2 megapixel camera. Ok, so maybe we’re only excited about this thing because it’s one of the only QWERTY devices we’ve seen lately out of HTC that wasn’t a little hard to look at (Excalibur, we’re lookin’ at you, buddy), but we don’t need to excuse our love of gadgets, so if you’ll let us continue our fawning. Thank you.

P.S. -Sorry, we didn’t mean to gloss over the Jupiter, which appears to be the successor to the Breeze — there’s just not a lot of info there. Click on for some pics.

[Via the::unwired]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments