Mobile news

HTC’s second Android device Magic was due for a launch in the UK last week, but was delayed till an unknown date to make a few modifications under the hood. Earlier today, the Vodafone Website was updated and it looks like May 5 is the tentative launch date for the Magic in the UK and not May 1. (I wonder if Cupcake will rollout by then.) I won’t begin to dissect the pricing plans that ye folk have to deal with across the pond, but the Magic is free.

Vodafone via Pocket-Lint

by Peter Ha on April 20, 2009

While the jury's still out on its US name or release date, the HTC Magic is gearing up for its European debut by way of Vodafone. The pre-order page is now live with an irresistible price of zilch, provided you agree to a monthly plan of £30 or more. The company says it plans to ship out the Cupcake-powered phone by May 5th.

[Via Phandroid; thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

HTC's been pretty coy with pricing on the Touch Pro2 and Touch Diamond2, but now that units are starting to trickle out overseas, the numbers situation is getting slightly clearer. HTC's just announced that an unlocked Pro2 will set Singaporeans back S$1,328 ($887), while a Diamond2 will hit 'em up for S$1,088 ($726) -- a little more than in Taiwan, but probably close to what we'll see off-contract in the States. A little rich for our blood, though -- let's hope T-Mobile cleans the goo off soon.

[Via Unwired View]

You gotta hand it to the marketing/PR peeps in the mobile gadget space for figuring out how to announce phones, yet hold back just enough to get some coverage out of the details disclosed months later.

As it were, HTC finally announced pricing and (gasp!) availability info for its newest “flagship” devices - Touch Diamond2 & Touch Pro2 - earlier today.

We first got wind of these 2 handsets back in the middle of February, and then found out they would definitely be making their way to our side of the globe. As expected, both “cutting-edge” devices include “HTC TouchFLO 3D Integrated With Windows Mobile.”

The Touch Diamond2 is “crafted to fit perfectly into the hand…[and] is optimized for one-hand use.” It includes (as we already knew) a 3.2″ hi-res wide-screen VGA display, is 13.7mm thick, has 20% more battery capacity (I presume over the original Touch Diamond), a 5 megapixel auto-focus cam, expandable memory, gravity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and “[has] a new touch sensitive zoom bar for even faster zooming of Web pages, emails, text messages, photos or documents.” Check out Matt Davis’ very-thorough unboxing and hands-on for a closer look.

As for the Touch Pro2, which the company says is “designed for business professionals…[and is] optimized for touch as well as heavy email use,” HTC has included a 3.6″ widescreen VGA display, a “large finger-friendly” QWERTY keyboard, improved battery life, expandable memory, a touch-sensitive zoom bar as well as gravity, proximity and ambient light sensors. HTC is also touting its new HTC Straight Talk™ For HTC Touch Pro2:

The new HTC Touch Pro2 leverages voice in a new way to create one of the most sophisticated communication experiences found on a mobile phone. HTC’s new Straight Talk technology delivers an integrated email, voice and speakerphone experience. Users can transition seamlessly from email to single or multi-party conference calls* and turn any location into a conference room.

In addition to the new simplified calling experience, Straight Talk includes an innovative mechanical and acoustic design that features a sophisticated speakerphone experience similar to those found in corporate boardrooms. Straight Talk delivers a high-fidelity voice and sound experience enhanced by asymmetric speakers and advanced noise suppression with full duplex acoustics. When the Touch Pro2 is flipped over it automatically turns into a conference room speakerphone system.

And finally, the news we’ve all been waiting for…the HTC Touch Diamond2 and HTC Touch Pro2 will be available starting in mid May and the end of June 2009 [respectively] (so specific, I know) at all authorized resellers at a suggested retail price of SGD $1,088 and $1,328 (aka, roughly $720 and $879 USD).

by Jeremy Kessel on April 16, 2009

Well, here's one rumor that's looking destined to pan out: the S522, which we'd heard was being readied for availability on T-Mobile, just hit the FCC as the MAPL100 (that's "Maple" for short, the device's codename) bearing 3G on the AWS band. That would make it fully compatible with T-Mobile's HSPA network -- but what we still don't know is whether the device's new Inner Circle service will be stripped from the retail unit like we've been hearing. Either way, this is interesting in light of the fact that HTC has said an unbranded S522 would be made available in the States this summer, so it looks like T-Mob won't have much -- if any -- North American exclusivity on this one.

We haven't heard much about the appearance of the HTC Touch Diamond2 on US shores apart from a few AT&T-related whispers, but the squared-off handset is starting to pop up overseas, and the requisite unboxings and video tours have started flooding in. Sadly, these early units are still running Windows Mobile 6.1, so beauty's only skin deep -- or at least as deep as TouchFlo2 3D. Hardware video after the break, but there's plenty more at the read links.

Read - Windows Phone Mix
Read - Tracy and Matt

Carriers on the world still have weeks (or months) to get their butts in gear, but unlocked, unbranded HTC Touch Diamond2s are now starting to find their way onto retailers' virtual shelves around the world. At the time of this writing, UK-based Devicewire reports that it has 10 in stock -- probably not enough to satisfy worldwide demand, we'd wager, but it's a start -- and Expansys should be close behind, saying that it expects a release today. Devicewire's sticker price is going to set you back £449.99 (about $672) after VAT, so who's in?

[Via MoDaCo]

Read - Devicewire
Read- Expasnsys

We know from countless encounters with our dear, dear friends at the Bluetooth Special Interest Group that their certifications aren't as... shall we say, "detailed" as their counterparts at the FCC; frequently, we don't even bother with them because there's simply nothing there to talk about. Android phones are still pretty difficult to come by, though, so whenever we see the platform mentioned in a certification of any kind, we're bound to sit up and take notice -- particularly when said certification comes via HTC. Tipster Jeff came across a filing for an HTC "Fiesta" in the SIG this time around, descriptively noted as "an Android phone" that'll be available in Asia, Europe, and North America. Other than that, we can count on it having Bluetooth (would be funny if it didn't, wouldn't it?), but that's about it; the G1 / Dream was the Kila, the Magic was the Sapphire, so what's this gonna be?

[Thanks, Jeff]

Remember how the portrait QWERTY Cedar garnered FCC approval a little while back? Yeah, well, forget that ever happened. Actually, don't -- it's a totally valid approval -- but that was the Cedar "200," and now we're seeing a Cedar "100" come rolling through. It's really common for HTC to create multiple versions of the same basic device using the same codename, differentiating them only with different three-digit numbers on the tail end, and that appears to be the case here; both versions of the Cedar are CDMA, so we could be looking at models for Sprint and Verizon, for example. Kinda puts the damper on the "why doesn't [insert carrier here] get any good phones?" complaint for just a moment, doesn't it?

According to MobileTechReview the HTC Touch Diamond2 is due out this month in Taiwan. Local price is NT$21,900 (US$648.93) and it'll come with a 8GB memory card inside the box. Still no US release date, but with the UK version reportedly launching next week, we wouldn't be surprise if April was the lucky month for a stateside debut, as well.

It seems the rumblings and rumors were true -- every last one of them. HTC's now-aged Touch Diamond is indeed hitting Verizon Wireless this month, bringing with it the same 2.76-inch touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, TouchFLO interface and Windows Mobile 6.1 OS that we've seen ad nauseum on carriers around the world (though it does boast a microSD card slot). We're pretty baffled by the immensely large $299.99 on-contract sticker (after $70 mail-in rebate), and honestly, we just don't see VZW moving too many of these before a price drop. In fact, are you even giving this a second thought?

It’s not like we didn’t expect this to happen, but it sure took long enough. Starting tomorrow, Verizon will begin offering the HTC Touch Diamond in all black for a whopping $300 after a $70 MIR.

· Brilliant 2.76-inch touch screen display for navigating Web pages on the built-in Opera browser

· 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera

· microSD™ card slot that can support up to 16 GB of memory for extra storage of pictures, videos and music

· Customers can choose either the familiar Windows Mobile® home screen or the intuitive HTC TouchFLO™ 3D user interface

· Supports the Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional platform and integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Office applications

by Peter Ha on April 9, 2009

We're not sure why T-Mobile would be market-testing names other than "G2" for its upcoming HTC Sapphire, but it apparently is -- and if these leaked slides are to be believed, it's not doing so well on the ideas front. Seriously: "T-Mobile Genius 3G with Google" and "Prism 3G with Google" both trade in the well-known G-series branding for banal anonymity, and "myTouch 3G with Google" just sounds like a skin disease that's gone from bad to worse. Interestingly, "T-Mobile G3" is also on the list, which makes us wonder if there's a less-drastic G2 model in the works, but that's pure speculation on our part -- what we do know is that we'd take Vodafone's Magic branding over any of these other sad options in a heartbeat.

With T-Mobile-branded Dreams making accidental appearances and FCC filings abound, it’s pretty much inarguable that the HTC Magic is coming to ol’ Magenta. Seeing as it’s the second T-Mo Android phone and borrows much of its aesthetics from the G1, you might assume that T-Mobile would be branding it the G2; call the HTC Magic the “G2″ around an HTC rep, however, and they’ll probably chew your head off.

With good reason, it seems. If the customer survey slides a tipster sent into TmoNews are legit, “G2″ might not even be a name option - but “G3″ could be, along with “T-Mobile Genius 3G”, “T-Mobile myTouch 3G with Google”, and “Prism 3G with Google”. “Prism” doesn’t strike us as being even remotely relevant, and “myTouch” is about cheesy as names comes. If they’re going to stray away from the sequential G naming scheme, “Genius” isn’t too shabby.

We do wonder, though: What happened to the G2?

[Via Phonedog]

by Greg Kumparak on April 8, 2009

So the juicy part of this rumor has to be the fact that T-Mobile could get a branded version of the lovely HTC Snap (or rather the US-specific S522, which doesn't carry the Snap name), a belief based on a leaked ROM rife with references to the carrier's name and logo. Of course, seeing how T-Mobile was HTC's partner on the Excalibur / Dash, it makes a lot of sense that they'd want to carry on the portrait QWERTY tradition there with an updated model, which is precisely where the S522 fits into the puzzle. This is where it gets weird, though: the ROM apparently has wiped all references to Inner Circle, HTC's software tweak that lets you selectively filter out emails from anyone not on your whitelist. Why they'd want to get rid of it is unclear since it wouldn't seem to affect carrier revenue in any way, so we're holding out hope that it'll reappear by the time the device ships -- if this rumor even ends up checking out, that is.

[Via pocketnow.com]

HTC's unleashed a barrel of bad news on the world today with their first quarter earnings statement. The company's profits fell 30 percent during that period, with a net of NT$4.89 billion -- $148 million -- down from NT$6.94 billion (or $210 million) at the same time last year. HTC still managed to best analysts estimates (shows what they know) which forecast that the company's earnings would be in the area of NT$4.64 billion ($140 million). HTC said that the profits fell in part to missed product shipping deadlines, which have been pushed into April. And the recession continues...

[Via MocoNews]
(Warning: Read link is a PDF)

The gang at TmoNews have it from a "trusted source" what's purported to be a list of tentative release dates for nearly a dozen T-Mobile phones. At the top on that list is the Sidekick 2009 (a.k.a. "Blade") for May 13th, followed by heavy hitters HTC Snap and HTC Rhodium (Touch Pro2) for July 1st / 22nd, respectively. Rounding out the list is a pre-paid Nokia 1661 for April 29th, a mysterious Sony Ericsson CS8 for June 24th, six Samsung T-series phones all debuting between May 6th and August 19th, and a big, fat "TBD" for the HTC Magic (Sapphire). Don't think these dates as gospel, but with less than six weeks until Blade's rumored to hit retail, we'll know soon enough if this list has any credence

Aw, man - we were just starting to get excited. April, long listed as Vodafone’s launch windows for the HTC Magic, is upon us, and we’re ready to play with a new Android device.

Unfortunately, there’s now good reason to believe that it may be up to a month before the device hits the shelves. Pocket-Lint contacted Vodafone’s sales line, who told them that the computers now listed May 1st as the launch date. HTC went ahead and confirmed the delay (though they didn’t verify May 1st as being a date of importance), saying “We are confident that Vodafone’s customers will be delighted with the HTC Magic in spite of a short delay due to a last minute hardware change.”

We were beginning to worry that something was up when the Magic handsets HTC had at CTIA09 were all the unfinished prototype models, with tiny, narrow face buttons rather than the big round ones visible in the press images. Might there have been some snags in pushing the button layout changes through the pipes?

[Via Engadget Mobile]

by Greg Kumparak on April 2, 2009

It looks like the HTC Rhodium (that's the Touch Pro2's codename, if you're keeping track) is inching ever closer to its launch on T-Mobile as the Wing II -- the slider QWERTY handset just arrived at the FCC. The listing is awfully meager at the moment, but it looks like the model number will be the RHOD100, for those of you prone to prowling government databases late at night. Of course, there's no word on release date or anything like that, but we're willing to wait for this sexy piece loaded up with Windows Mobile 6.5. Engineers and RF fetishists, your SAR reports await at the read link.