Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Thanks to countless leaks over the last several months, one of the most anticlimactic smartphone releases in history has finally gone official. Palm has issued all the juicy details on their UK site, and… well, it’s pretty much exactly what we expected: internal antenna, quadband GSM with triband UMTS (lending itself to a Cingular release), and a superbly average 1.3-megapixel cam sitting atop Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone Edition. The phone is still apparently in the pre-order phase, though Vodafone’s site is showing a price “From Free to £127.66″ (about $240) depending on contract — not bad considering what you get, but whether similar pricing will carry over to Cingular is another question entirely.

[Thanks, Wolwol and Camp]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Has HP come through in the clutch — or is it too little, too late? That’s the question Pocket PC-hungry consumers will be answering in the next few weeks now that the long… nay, long-rumored hw6940 Mobile Messenger is finally shipping stateside. We were sorta excited about this thing, like, nine months ago, but at this point we’re not sure how we feel about Bluetooth 1.2, a pedestrian 64MB of RAM, and the lack of 802.11g — not to mention that the inclusion of AKU2 doesn’t command the same respect it did just a few short months back. Add to that the $600 this thing will set you back, and needless to say we’re hoping Cingular’s going to bless it with a hefty subsidy when it finally drops in their neck of the woods.

[Via MobilitySite]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

The teaser shot of the keyboard on Voda’s site might not be very revealing, but hey, we’ve got plenty of evidence lined up to know pretty much what’s in store for Vodafone customers come September 12 either way. Businessfolk on the carrier’s UK site are now being encouraged to preorder the device, which will be “using Vodafone’s high-speed 3G network” humming along atop Windows Mobile 5.2. The remainder of the spec sheet (if accurate) is nothing we couldn’t have guessed, suggesting a 1.3-megapixel cam (we’ve heard 2 megapixels thrown around; we’ll see), Bluetooth, and that fabulous HSDPA radio, though there’s no mention of WiFi — potentially a deal breaker for some. And for the record, yes, we’re figuring that if they panned up on that annoying teaser shot, there’d be no external antenna in sight.

[Via Mobility Site]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

This is the first shot we’ve ever seen of a Treo without an external antenna. And when we say “first,” we mean seventh this month.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

The 700wx looks to be trickling into Sprint retail locations as we speak, and it seems everything we’ve been told about the device so far has been spot-on: it really is bound for Sprint, the addition of the “x” to the name is legit, and it rocks double the RAM (much to the chagrin of plain ol’ 700w users everywhere), though we weren’t necessarily expecting the big, scary floating head on the box. Still no solid word on an official availability date, but stores who’ve received them have apparently been instructed to keep them under lock and key until Sprint proper starts offering them, meaning the previously-reported August 27 date for business customers still seems perfectly plausible. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a Treo 750 rumor mill to attend to.

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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]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

One might argue we’ve collected enough intelligence at this point to make an official announcement ourselves, but according to a Reuters report, Palm has committed to unveiling at least one of its next-gen Treos for reals (without our help) next month. From the way Palm is talking, it sounds like this debut will be for the Windows Mobile-based UMTS model first mentioned for Vodafone in July, though we’re guessing Cingular’s Treo 750 isn’t far behind (right, Palm?). Other than that tidbit, Palm’s asking us all to patiently wait for the September 12 when the press releases start flying — but one thing we can say with near certainty is that there won’t be a stub antenna anywhere in sight.

[Thanks, Dave]

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Filed under: Handsets, Reviews, BenQ-Siemens, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS

Suffering from one of the most excruciatingly long, drawn-out releases in smartphone history, BenQ’s, uh, Treo 600-killing P50 had already fallen behind the pack by the time it made it to the masses. That being said, it’s still a unique Windows Mobile device — albeit 2003 Second Edition — and worthy of an in-depth review, especially considering its quadband GSM capability. MobileTechReview’s done the honors for us here, noting that the P50 is bundled with an array of high-quality accessories, including a screen protector (hallelujah). Build quality was found to be impressive, as was size, though anyone migrating from a Treo will find little difference there. The P50’s 416MHz XScale satisfies the speed demon in us in ways most other Pocket PC phones have not, but the 128MB combined ROM and RAM is a disappointment — a complaint the P51 happily addresses. In the end, MobileTechReview finds the P50’s flaws too great to justify the cost of admission. With nothing but GPRS for data, we agree, especially with a successor waiting in the wings.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Sprint-Nextel, Windows Mobile, EV-DO, CDMA

It’s been no secret that Sprint customers could expect their very own Treo 700w once Verizon’s exclusivity clause ran its course, but until now, we haven’t had a date on when it’d all go down. Well, things are finally starting to come into focus, and if the rumor mill’s aim is true it looks like it’ll drop on August 27 for business customers and September 3 for us lay folk. But here’s the real scoop: folks are whispering that the device Sprint will bring to market is a souped-up 700w re-dubbed the “700wx,” rocking twice the RAM (amid other tweaks). So far this is all unconfirmed, but given the 700w’s paltry 32MB of the stuff, it seems like a reasonable change — and it shouldn’t take long to get this all confirmed with the rumored release date looming near.

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Filed under: Handsets, Reviews, Others, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS

phoneArena’s been recently blessed with the opportunity to put E-TEN’s upgraded M600, the M600+, through its paces — and they appear to have been left with a pretty lukewarm impression of the company’s latest Pocket PC Phone Edition effort. While it’s hard to argue with 256MB of internal flash and a 2-megapixel autofocus shooter (by Pocket PC standards, anyway), sound quality was apparently awful via both earphone and speakerphone, a lack of soft keys made one-handed operation tricky, and its GPRS data speeds are so 2002. The device’s 400MHz Samsung core, while not necessarily anemic, wasn’t breaking any speed records either; add that to the 2.5mm jack and there’s not much to love here. Sorry, E-TEN — we know the M600+ is quad-band, but we’re going to have to pass. Better luck with your G500, mkay?

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Filed under: Handsets, ASUS, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS

We know durn well that an FCC nod means absolutely nothing for a handset’s chances of stateside release, but doesn’t this seem like a no-brainer for ASUS? The quad-band P525 fills a niche that no other manufacturer has in the States, offering the versatility advantage of Pocket PC Phone Edition with the usability advantage of a traditional keypad. Granted, the device lacks EDGE or any form of 3G, but built-in WiFi makes the situation (arguably) bearable. Ah well, wishful thinking; we’re sure we’ll this thing’ll ultimately be destined for import shops at prices that leave only ASUS fanboys’ mouths salivating.

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

Previously, we’d mentioned three crucial details about HTC’s rumored Artemis: it’d lack 3G, the d-pad would be replaced or augmented by a trackball, and GPS would be on-board. Newfound specs appear to confirm what we’d known thus far, and now we have a possible rendering of the device to fuel the fire. All the new deets seem believable enough; we’ll apparently get 128MB of ROM and 64MB of RAM, quad-band GSM / EDGE, 802.11b / g, a 2-megapixel shooter, MicroSD expansion, and an FM radio when she drops sometime this quarter. A little more exciting than the Oxygen, if we do say so ourselves.

[Via phoneArena]

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Filed under: Software, Windows Mobile

Folks patiently waiting for UMA (and some that aren’t, for that matter) have just been thrown a bone to hold them over. Skype for Pocket PC 2.1 has officially hit the streets in beta form, and the feature list looks to be fairly upgrade-worthy: you get SkypeIn and voicemail support, multi-user chat, a more finger-friendly dial pad, and one-click Skype access from the Today screen. ‘Course, beta is beta — so proceed at your own risk, but the bugfix list alone makes this a worthy download for Pocket PC Phone Edition users with data aplenty.

[Via CrunchGear]

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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

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Windows Mobile, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS

One might argue we’ve collected enough intelligence at this point to make an official announcement ourselves, but according to a Reuters report, Palm has committed to unveiling at least one of its next-gen Treos for reals (without our help) next month. From the way Palm is talking, it sounds like this debut will be for the Windows Mobile-based UMTS model first mentioned for Vodafone in July, though we’re guessing Cingular’s Treo 750 isn’t far behind (right, Palm?). Other than that tidbit, Palm’s asking us all to patiently wait for the September 12 when the press releases start flying — but one thing we can say with near certainty is that there won’t be a stub antenna anywhere in sight.

[Thanks, Dave]

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