Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Samsung, Vodafone, GSM, HSDPA, UMTS

Slashphone’s got the inside dirt on a new feature-filled Samsung clamshell coming to Vodaphone Germany, whose claim to fame is surely its ability to hop on Voda’s high-speed HSDPA network. You get more than zippy web browsing with the SGH-ZV50 — which gets its design from another Sammy handset, the V7400 — however, as this clamshell also sports a two megapixel camera, 40MB of internal memory plus microSD slot, and a set of dedicated music controls on the front of the flip. Exclusively available to Vodafone customers, the ZV50 will probably be most popular in Hanover, Dorf, Munich, and Frankfort, which is where the company currently offers 5GB of HSDPA usage per month for what appears to be 49 euros. No pricing or launch date for the handset itself, but Slashphone tells us that it will be in stores “very soon.”

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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]

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Filed under: Handsets, BenQ-Siemens, T-Mobile, GSM, HSDPA, UMTS

border="0" src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/05/benq_ef91.jpg" alt="" />

Along with today’s
announcement of the HTC Muse getting a third quarter release to get a jump on the European HSDPA market, Benq has a
little surprise of their own with a reported July European release of their first HSDPA unit, the href="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/02/13/benq-siemens-ef91-adds-hsdpa/">EF91. T-Mobile is to be the lucky
carrier, but there’s no word as to a price for the clamshell. We do know that beyond those fun fun HSDPA speeds, the
phone features a 2-inch QVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, microSD slot, and stereo over Bluetooth. Not at all a bad
start for those blessed with HSDPA access.

[Via href="http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05/02/hsdpa_handsets_coming_q3/">Reg Hardware]

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

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]

Filed under: Laptops, Wireless

With most manufacturers concentrating on making smartphones ever-smaller, it's refreshing to see Fujitsu-Siemens flip the script and release what may be the world's biggest Windows-powered handset, eschewing CE for XP in the process. Actually, F-S is marketing the six-pound Lifebook E8210 as a laptop, what with its 15.4-inch, 1,680 x 1,050 display, 2GB of RAM, and full-size keyboard, but any data-centric device that can make cellphone calls (thanks to the built in HSDPA-compatible 3G card) is a smartphone in our book. Whatever you wanna call it, the E8210 impresses on many fronts, says Trusted Reviews, who give the 2.16GHz, Core Duo T2600-powered model nine out of ten stars, highlighting its connectivity (802.11/a/b/g, Bluetooth, HSDPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS, PCMCIA/ExpressCard slot, four USB, and even serial, parallel, and D-SUB ports), security (fingerprint reader and Smartcard), and benchmark performance. The only downsides here seem to be the lack of a 3G CDMA option and the ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics, which definitely makes this Lifebook anathema to gamers -- but at over $3,500, the E8210 is clearly being targeted at corporate, and not LAN party, deployment.

Filed under: Handsets, Cingular, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

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.

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Filed under: Handsets, Others, Windows Mobile, GSM, HSDPA

We have no idea who these guys are, where they came from, or if they're even real, but the buzz is a new Chinese ODM by the name of Tech Faith Wireless (TWF) is about to storm HTC's castle with a sweet lineup of Windows Mobile devices. The specs seem a little pie in the sky (at best), with most rocking quad band GSM, HSDPA, 2.4 and 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreens, MicroSD, 512MB flash, 512MB RAM, GPS, USB On-The-Go, 2 megapixel cameras, optional WiFi, and optional MicroDrives (in their larger PDA devices). We're not saying it can't be done, but they're going to have some convincing to do that they, and their products, are the real deal, not to mention the uphill battle they're going to have getting these things on the market and taking on the 800 pound ODM gorilla. Tons more -- and we mean way too many -- shots after the break.

[Via MobilitySite]

Filed under: Handsets, Features, Palm, Cingular, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Field report tidbits from Engadget’s mobile insider, the Boy Genius.

We have to say, the Boy Genius is damned good. Ok, now that thats out of the way, Engadget Mobile would like present to you exclusive pictures of a Cingular-branded Treo 750. Yeah, that’s right, that’s the Treo Lennon, and as we found out before from BG, is coming to Cingy. Yes it has UMTS. Yes it has HSPDA. And no, it doesn’t have a front facing camera for video calling — sorry, we’re gonna have to live with it. More pics after the break!

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Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Sure, you like the Motorola Q but hate the fact that it’s missing WiFi. And the lack of 3G on the HTC Excalibur is also a deal breaker. Well, look no further for your QWERTY fix brother, ’cause our favorite maker of boxy black devices is showing off their SGH-i600 Smartphone at IFA in Berlin. This tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 baby brings it all: HSDPA, EDGE, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel cam with another up front for video calls, a 2.3-inch, 65k color, 320 x 240 TFT display, Microsoft’s Push Mail, and 128MB ROM / 64MB RAM with MicroSD expansion all powered by Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone on a TI OMAP 1710 processor. The phone looks small enough for single-handed operation, can pull double-duty as an HSDPA modem and can even be switched into USB mass storage mode for easy drag-n-drop data transfer off your PC. And yeah, it’s FCC approved so the estimated Q4 2006 release date is certainly do-able. Now sop-up the drool and click-on for more pics.

[Thanks, Martin]

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

Windows Mobile users that think they might dig the Hermes, but would like to see HTC dial down the keyboard factor and dial up the… uh, cute factor, are about to find their soulmate in the Trinity. The device (shown here in its self-branded P3600 incarnation) ends up getting a lot of love in this review, earning props for its Swiss Army Knife-like connectivity options, quality of construction, and chassis design. Performance proves to be on par with its Hermes sibling, though battery life was inexplicably worse — despite having more juice on board. The reviewer chalks up the discrepancy to the review unit being a prototype, which seems fair enough. The lack of a keyboard may ultimately doom the Trinity to niche markets, but with HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0, and 802.11g all packed into an unusually great looking device, we might just be willing to go back to character recognition.

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

Amidst a flurry of recent product announcements (and leaks) out of the HTC camp, their king-of-the-hill Universal (pictured) kinda got lost in all the hubbub. What’s next for the psuedo-laptop of the Windows Mobile world? MoDaCo is reporting that the “Omni” will serve as the Hermes to the Universal’s Wizard (if you will) by taking the Universal form factor, tacking on an HSDPA radio, and swapping out the Intel processor for a speedier Samsung core. As an added bonus, the Omni should be a bit slimmer than the model it replaces and rock Windows Mobile 5 AKU3, giving hope that the device will have VGA out capability. If HTC can finalize the specs in short order, we could allegedly see this thing as early as the end of this year, though 1H 2007 seems the more likely target.

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

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

If our thumbs are a little cramped today, it’s from incessantly trying to turn on this mockup (yeah, we found out a little late) of HTC’s curvy Trinity at CTIA. Technically, we suppose this particular example lacks any sort of connectivity, but its production siblings manage to pack the trifecta of Bluetooth 2.0, HSDPA, and 802.11g all into one of HTC’s best looking packages to date. That “BRAND” placeholder in the upper left got us to wondering: just how much would it lay us out to do a run of Engadget-branded pieces? If we have to ask, we’re guessing we can’t afford it.

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