Sony Ericsson has officially announced the successor to its first Xperia Windows Mobile device in the Xperia X2 which will be one of many Windows Phone devices releasing in the 4th quarter.

The Xperia X2 features a 3.2 inch WVGA resolution capacitive touch display, quadband GSM/EDGE, triband US 3G, revised QWERTY keyboard recalling Sony’s Japan-market Vaio Picturebook, Windows Mobile 6.5 with an updated version of its Xperia Panel user interface, an 8.1 megapixel CMOS camera with xenon flash, video recorder, autofocus and image stabilization, microSDHC expansion slot, Wi-Fi radio with DLNA support, GPS transceiver and TV output.

No release timeframe has been set for the US version.

Product Category: Windows Phone running Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard

Manufacturer: HTC / T-Mobile

Where to Buy: T-Mobile

Price: $349 (No Contract) / $199 (2 year Contract)

Requirements: Need to speak to others, desire to be connected to information.

Specifications: QUALCOMM 528 MHz, Quadband GSM, Dualband UMTS (Supports T-Mobile USA 3G), WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, 2 MP Camera, GPS.

Pros:

• 3G Data Connection (In T-Mobile 3G Markets);
• GPS Capabilities;
• Speedier than the original!

Cons:

• Imprecise Trackball;
• Button arrangement will confuse Dash devotees;
• No real incentive to upgrade if you aren't in a 3G market or don't need GPS.

Summary: The original T-Mobile Dash was a great little device that only started to feel dated recently. With 3G rolling out farther, GPS being standard, and 1 MP being woefully bad for a camera phone, the Dash 3G sets out to update its older brother into 2009. But is it worth the price to upgrade?

A Bit On The Original Dash

I own an obscene number of Pocket PCs and Smartphones, and switch through them quite regularly. However, one that had probably seen the highest amount of use in the last 3 years was my T-Mobile Dash. I bought the Dash in October 2006, and have found it to be a trusty companion. It's rugged enough to slip into a pocket on weekend getaways, yet productive enough to be used all week. It also has a very usable (at least to me) keyboard and is fairly solid from an operating system stand point. In conversation with many of my fellow Windows Mobile enthusiasts, the Dash consistently received high marks. Even our own Executive Editor was known to profess his love of the Dash. So when HTC took a few years off from making a phone in the same style, it was a bit troubling. Thankfully they've returned (and so has T-Mobile) to this form factor with the Dash 3G. But seeing as the Dash 3G runs almost the same operating system as the original Dash and only really adds 3G, a trackball, GPS, and some fancier styling, I was anxious to see if it was worth the upgrade.

Figure 1: The Dash 3G packaging next to the larger packaging from the original Dash. The Dash 3G packaging is designed for the consumer to open (it flips open to display the device) while the original was utilitarian.

The Device

Physically the Dash 3G is nearly identical in dimensions as the orignal Dash. It's slightly thinner, and a bit longer, but still feels fairly compact and light in the hand. The buttons are slightly bigger and are rectangular as opposed to square. Oddly, this seems to have made it more difficult (at onset) for my big hands to use. I've had to train my hands over the last few days to hit the buttons a bit differently than when I used the Dash or any other square-button phone. The D-pad on the Dash was replaced with a trackball on the Dash 3G. While this initially seems like a good idea, it's woefully imprecise when attempting to scroll quickly through. I had to turn the sensitivity up to high just to get it to feel like it responded to my touch. While the trackball adds some nice new features (e.g. a mouse pointer in Internet Explorer), I really wish I had my old D-Pad back. Interestingly enough, Jason had quite the opposite opinion of the trackball - he was happy it didn't have an infinite scroll to it. I guess I just move faster than Jason, as I felt the trackball couldn't quite keep up!

Figure 2: Dash on the left, Dash 3G on the right. Notice the key layout on the 3G is slightly different than other versions of the HTC Maple.

The soft key button layout also differs, with the soft key and home buttons now side by side as opposed to top and button. The same is done on the right resulting in a more button-jamming appearance. Again I wish it was still top / bottom, however I'm slowly getting used to it. One feature from the original device that I do not miss is the Joggr bar. Now I know what you're saying "What Joggr?" - because any Dash user after day 1 pretty much abandoned that thing if all possible. HTC apparently listened and decided not to even try it again on the new version. Thank goodness.

Also gone from the device is a dedicated power button (it's now the red End key), which results in the red end key not locking the phone as it does on the original. The A / * key now locks the device. There is also a "Favorite" button at the bottom of the keyboard that can be mapped to whatever app you'd like (which is a nice improvement over the asinine t-zones button on the original Dash). Finally there is a volume button on the left, and charging port on the upper right as opposed to the bottom (similarly to what was done with the Pantech Matrix Pro; seriously, who demands the charging port be in the upper right?!?).

This is an unboxing and first impressions video of the 2009 version of the T-Mobile Shadow, a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard smartphone (non-touch screen). The T-Mobile Shadow is in its second incarnation, but this model is similar to the previous version. It features a 260 Mhz CPU, 128 MB of RAM, 256 MB of ROM, and a 2.6 inch screen with 240 x 320 (QVGA resolution), and built-in 802.11b/g WiFi. There's no GPS, but it does have Bluetooth. It's a quad-band GSM phone, with GPRS/EDGE speeds for data - no 3G here. It has a built-in 2 megapixel camera, but no flash, and weighs in at 5.3 ounces. I requested the T-Mobile Shadow for a review article I wrote for Microsoft - it hasn't been published as of yet, but when it is we'll link to it.

This is my video review of the Pantech Matrix Pro, a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard smartphone offered by AT&T for $179 USD on a two-year contract. The unboxing and first impressions video can be viewed here.

This phone has the distinctive feature of having two keyboards (12 key and QWERTY), both hidden away via a slider. It weighs 4.3 ounces, has a 2.4 inch display at 240 x 320, comes with 256 MB of ROM, and 128 MB of RAM. It also features a microSDHC card slot for expandability up to 32 GB. It's a GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA phone, functioning on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz bands for GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 850/1900/2100 MHz for 3G data. The battery is 1320 mAh, giving 3 hours of talk time and 10.4 days of stand-by time. More details about the Pantech Matrix Pro can be found on this AT&T site.

All in all, I enjoyed using this phone for two months - the dual slider was handy to have, especially when I just wanted to dial someone and not do email or texting. I found the keyboard to be less optimal for typing than my Blackjack II, but it was functional enough. Some of the glitches I ran into that were frustrating were only because I was using this phone outside the AT&T network - something the average person isn't going to do. However, let's say you travelled someplace and wanted to buy a SIM card - those heavy-handed hard-coded software issues would give you a headache. The phone was fast and stable, offering up good call quality and excellent stability - I didn't have one lock-up or crash while I was using it. I could certainly do without the proprietary connector though - I'd have liked this phone more if it used miniUSB.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He sure dislikes it when phones use proprietary power/connection plugs.

Do you enjoy using new hardware, software and accessories, then sharing your experience with others? Then join us on the Thoughts Media Review Team! We're looking for individuals who find it fun to test new gear and give their honest opinions about the experience. It's a volunteer role with some great perks. Interested? Then click here for more information.

I used the T-Mobile Dash (HTC S621) for what seemed like an eternity, and other than a few minor quibbles (namely that silly "JOGGR strip") it was pretty much the perfect phone for my needs. Touch-based phones were fun and flashy, but on the Dash I got real work done. It was fast, stable, felt perfect in my hand, was rugged, and had a fantastic keyboard. Sadly, HTC all but abandoned the form-factor when they became obsessed with beating Apple in the touch game - they never gave the Dash a significant update. When I decided I needed 3G speeds, the Dash got retired in favour of a Samsung Blackjack II. It's not a bad phone, but it's no Dash. At pretty much every Mobius event, I'd bring up the fact that I think HTC was missing a great opportunity by not continuing with this form-factor; that they had become too touch-obsessed and there was room for them to innovate and compete with Samsung and Motorola on this form factor. Many other Mobius attendees shared my opinion. An HTC representative shared with the Mobius group recently that this product was a direct result of our feedback. How cool is that?

OK, enough chit chat, let's get down to the nitty-gritty: the Snap weighs 4.23 ounces with the battery, and is 4.59 inches tall, 2.42 inches wide, and 0.47 inches thick (11.9mm). For comparison purposes, the S621 is 12.8mm thick, so they managed to shave a single mm off the thickness - but when you consider that the battery got a boost from 960 mAh up to 1500 mAh, that's quite impressive. The Snap claims 8.5 hours of talk time on GSM and 5 hours on WCDMA, while standby times are 15.8 days on GSM and 20 days on WCDMA. Interesting how the standby times are a reversed - WCDMA is easier on standby time but harder on talk time. Go figure.

At the heard of the Snap is a Qualcomm MSM 7225 running at 528mhz, Windows Mobile 6.1, 256 MB ROM, 128 MB RAM, a microSDHC slot for expansion, and the typical quad-band GSM/GPRS and tri-band HSDPA/WCDMA (900/2100 MHz). The HTC S522 will have the 850/1900 Mhz bands. Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11b/g WiFi, and GPS/AGPS round out the offering. The 2.4 inch screen is 320 x 240, it has a 2.0 megapixel camera, and instead of the "JOGGR strip" it has a "jog ball". The QWERTY keyboard is offset and looks like it might be an improvement over the already excellent keyboard on the S621. There's some software innovation here as well - HTC has something called "Inner Circle Email Management" that's supposed to act as an email Inbox filter, showing you the messages from a pre-selected list of up to five people. Seems a bit quirky, but HTC has attached a dedicated button for it on the keyboard, so they must be pretty serious about it.

Although there's no guarantee that this device will get a 6.5 update, Microsoft has said that any device with 128 MB of RAM and a 400 Mhz CPU is "6.5 ready". It's up to the OEMs to release the update of course, but the HTC Snap is fully capable of running 6.5.

The full press release, and more images are below.

HTC Snap makes staying in touch with more people less complicated HTC's newest QWERTY smartphone features "Inner Circle" to automatically prioritize email from life's most important people

LAS VEGAS - April 1, 2009 - HTC Corporation today debuted its newest QWERTY smartphone, the HTC SnapTM. Designed with a set of features selected to deliver everything customers need without overwhelming them with things they don't, the HTC Snap makes it easier than ever to stay in contact with life's most important people.

A recent study conducted by Harris Interactive® and commissioned by HTC* found that 44% of US adults are often overwhelmed by the amount of email they receive, and over half (55%) of US adults prioritize five or fewer people with whom they communicate via email. In response to these issues, HTC's innovative Inner Circle feature allows HTC Snap users to press a dedicated Inner Circle key to bring emails from a preselected group of people to the top of their inbox, enabling important messages to be acted upon immediately.

"Recognizing that people are being overwhelmed by an avalanche of email, the HTC Snap introduces Inner Circle, an HTC innovation that makes it easy for people to prioritize messages from the most important people in their lives at the press of a button," said John Wang, Chief Marketing Officer, HTC Corporation. "The HTC Snap represents the latest step in HTC's mission to create a range of innovative smartphones, each with specific benefits designed to both surprise and delight our customers."

With a slim, sleek profile designed to fit perfectly in the hand, the HTC Snap measures less than a half-inch thick (12 mm), yet it can deliver up to eight and a half hours of talk time with the standard 1500mAh battery. The full QWERTY keyboard is ergonomically designed with extra-large domed keys and responsive tactile feedback to make typing emails and text messages fast, accurate and comfortable. High-speed 3G HSPA connectivity makes it quick and easy to send pictures to friends, access favorite social networking sites, or download large files while on the go.

The HTC Snap is powerful enough for experienced business users looking for an affordable, straightforward choice for remotely synchronizing email, calendar and contacts with their Microsoft Exchange server. However, the flexible Microsoft Windows Mobile® 6.1 Standard platform allows the HTC Snap to also be simple enough for first-time smartphone users wanting to keep their family life organized.

The HTC Snap is expected to be available in select channels during the second quarter of 2009, rolling out in markets around the world throughout the second half of the year. Additionally, an unlocked version supporting HSDPA at 850/1900MHz for the US market will be made available under the name HTC S522 during the summer.

And now for some high-resolution photo goodness...

This is my unboxing and first impressions of the Pantech Matrix Pro, a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard smartphone offered by AT&T for $179 USD on a two-year contract. This phone has the distinctive feature of having two keyboards (12 key and QWERTY), both hidden away via a slider. It weighs 4.3 ounces, has a 2.4 inch display at 240 x 320, comes with 256 MB of ROM, and 128 MB of RAM. It also features a microSDHC card slot for expandability up to 32 GB. It's a GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA phone, functioning on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz bands for GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 850/1900/2100 MHz for 3G data. The battery is 1320 mAh, giving 3 hours of talk time and 10.4 days of stand-by time. More details about the Pantech Matrix Pro can be found on the AT&T Web site. Have any questions about this phone? Post 'em! I'll be following up with a video review once I've had a chance to use it for a bit longer.

Filed under: Software, Nokia, Symbian

Continue reading Windows 3.1 on S60 dude says 'why stop there,' ups the ante with Win95

Windows 3.1 on S60 dude says 'why stop there,' ups the ante with Win95 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Handsets, Sony Ericsson, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Sony Ericsson's W595 Cosmopolitan Edition makes poor substitute for actual flora originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Best Buy has listed the Sprint Treo Pro in its online Weekly Ad for $249.99 after new 2 year agreement and rebates.

The device has been oft delayed due to a myriad of issues, the biggest one being a ROM issue that PhoneNews.com previously reported on which affected free memory availability.  The listing is also notable as Best Buy typically lists devices online at full retail price instead of the conventional after rebate price

Filed under: Software, Windows Mobile

Microsoft My Phone beta pre-registration now live originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Software, Windows Mobile

Microsoft Recite brings voice search to your voice notes originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 16:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After a false start yesterday, Microsoft has officially unveiled the long-rumored “Skybox” service as Microsoft MyPhone.

The service functionality is described much in the same way as Apple’s MobileMe sync service with backup and restore functionality over a secure website, contact synchronization. and even photo-sharing.  More information will be made available during the upcoming Mobile World Congress expo, with private beta invitations to be disseminated at the event.

Product Category: Windows Mobile Standard

Manufacturer: HTC

Where to Buy: eXpansys USA [Affiliate]

Price: $474.99 USD

System Requirements: Compatible system or service for syncing

Specifications: Windows Mobile 6.1, QWERTY keyboard, 528MHz processor, 2.4in QVGA display, 256MB ROM/RAM, Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 900/2100 MHz HSDPA, 801.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, 3.2MP camera

Pros:

• Small form factor
• Great keyboard with a lot of keys, functions, and shortcuts
• Quick and responsive

Cons:

• Small screen makes it horrid for web browsing
• Navigation keys are poorly designed
• The device is really thick

Summary: Off the bat I want to thank eXpansys for loaning us the HTC S740 that I have been using for the past few weeks to put together this review. I will start off by saying the time I have spent with this device has been really enjoyable and it was really nice to carry around a Windows Mobile device again for a bit. In the interest of full disclosure though I would like to state that I unfortunately could not use the HTC S740 continuously throughout the time I had the device as my only handset since due to the nature of a project I was working on for work. I had to switch back to my Google Android device for several hour stretches every few days. Now that we have that out of the way, onto the review!

What's In The Box

Inside this nice compact box we have an assortment of accessories as well as the handset itself. There is a very fashionable travel/home charger that is designed to match the phone, a pair of headphones with a micro-USB adapter, micro-USB cable for charging and syncing, as well as the phone itself and a couple of pamphlets.

Figure 1: The freshly opened HTC S740 box contents.

Figure 2: From left to right: software CD, user manual, battery, travel/home charger, data cable, headphones.

Initial Impressions

For starters, I was very surprised at how thick this device was. As you can see from some of the comparison shots below, the HTC S740 is as thick as Google's flagship phone the T-Mobile G1. If you have not seen the T-Mobile G1 in person then I will be the first to tell you it's a pretty beefy phone. To have a Windows Mobile Standard device be equally as thick was a little off-putting at first but eventually I got used to it. Also since the device is awkwardly shaped I found it pretty uncomfortable to carry around in my pants pocket. Luckily it's winter and I was always wearing a coat or jacket of some kind with plenty of pocket room. Another thing you'll notice is the reflective mirror-like surface on the front of the device. While it's esthetically pleasing to the eye, it unfortunately is a huge smudge magnet.

Figure 3: T-Mobile G1 and HTC S740 side by side.

Figure 4: HTC S740 and T-Mobile G1 side profile shot.

Figure 5: HTC S740 and Samsung Blackjack side by side.

Upon powering up the device I ran across something else that gave me a bit of a startle. Either my eyes were going bad or this phone came with one of the most sub-par screens I have seen on an HTC device in years. From the looks of the homescreen as well as browsing through the Start Menu, the screen on this device appeared to be a bit washed out. Not one to just throw in the towel right away I sat down with the phone and started poking and prodding through all of the settings and pre-installed applications and quickly discovered while looking at the pre-loaded images on the phone that there was nothing wrong with the screen. In fact the screen was downright gorgeous and incredibly vivid. The problem with the device was the operating system. It was like hooking up a computer running Windows 98 to a HD monitor. A lot of the graphics in the OS, as well as the icons, just look washed out, jagged, and well past their prime.

Figure 6: A glance at the aging Windows Mobile interface.

This is a new type of review that I'm experimenting with - rather than me doing an exhaustive review of a product, I'm giving a Windows Mobile smartphone to someone else for a couple of weeks and asking them about their experience using it. I think there's a lot of value in real-world testing of products by people who aren't experts, because as much as I try to put on my "Everyman Hat" when I'm testing a product, I still carry a bias with me. This first Real World Review fell together nicely: my wife had a phone on our local CDMA carrier in Calgary, Telus, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to ask HTC for an S640 for review.

Q: Let's start off with the basics: this is your first Windows Mobile-based phone. What were you using before, and why did you want to leave it behind to try a Windows Mobile smartphone?

A: Before I started using my HTC S640 with Telus, I was using a Motorola KRAZR (also with Telus) and an iPAQ Pocket PC rx1955 as my PDA. I would sync it over WiFi or at home to my Exchange server in order to keep track of appointments and contacts - when it would work. The WiFi was really unreliable on it! I often couldn't connect reliably to WiFi with it and it would then be out of sync. I really liked the look of the KRAZR - sleek and sexy - but as I started text messaging more and more, I found it just simply wasn't meeting my needs, largely because I wasn't very fast at using the predictive text input. My iPAQ wasn't connected, so it was useless to me as far as a device for communicating with my friends and family. It was at that point I decided I wanted to look into getting a Windows Mobile smartphone.

Q: You always told me you preferred being a two-device person. What changed your mind?

A: I don't think I fully bought into the concept of a single device until I started using the HTC S640 smartphone. Now that I have my email, calendar, contacts, phone, etc. available to me no matter where I am on a single device, without having to remember to sync it when I get home, or am in range of a wireless network, I can't believe I waited as long as I did to make the switch! More than anything, using a smartphone gives me the ability to be productive no matter where I am. I don't have to worry about things like whether I'm missing appointments because my calendar is out of date. I also love having a QWERTY keyboard to use for texting and responding to email. Composing messages on my KRAZR took far too long. Now it takes me a fraction of the time.

Q: So let's talk about the HTC S640. Are you finding it easy to use? You went from a touch-screen device to a keyboard-driven device. Is there anything you miss from the iPAQ?

A: I definitely was worried about losing the touch screen, as I'd grown used to the ease of using a stylus. However, transitioning to a keyboard-driven device has been a breeze. I've even figured out how to play games with a keyboard instead of a touch screen! I feel like data input was easier on a touch screen - specifically as far as calendar appointments and contacts were concerned - but other than a small learning curve to figure it out with a keyboard, I don't miss the touch screen at all.

Q: I remember you saying you had trouble finding the ringer volume, which is one of my long-standing complaints with Windows Mobile Standard smartphones - in this instance, they don't function like basically every other phone on the market where the volume buttons control the volume of the ringer, and putting the phone into silent or vibrate mode. How have you found the HTC S640 in use as a phone - does it measure up to the Motorola KRZR in pure phone functions?

A: I felt like a bit of an idiot when I couldn't figure out how to adjust the ringer volume, and had to ask for help. It seems like such a basic function for a phone. Generally I like the HTC S640 as a phone, but I've accidentally hung up on more people than I can remember. Even though I have the "Any Button Answer" function turned off, if I pick up the phone while it's ringing and locked, any key I hit hangs up on the caller. Very awkward and inconvenient, to be sure. Otherwise, I love having my whole contact list available to me everywhere I go.

Q: You haven't installed much on the HTC S640 yet - how do you find the included software on it? Is there anything missing in terms of what you use the phone for in day to day use?

A: I'm not a huge software user on this device yet...however, what I do have on it is more than adequate. I tend to use the email, text, and Internet software most, along with a few games, and I haven't run into any issues with any of these.

Q: How has the battery life been on it? How often do you have to charge it?

A: Battery life has been hit and miss. Normally I can get two to three days of use from a full charge, however, recently I recharged it fully, used it normally for a day, and it died on me that night. I'm not entirely sure what caused the major battery drain, but any phone should absolutely provide longer than a single day's use on a full charge. Thankfully it hasn't happened again.

Q: Has the phone been stable? Have you had to reboot it or has it crashed at all?

A: The only time I've rebooted it is when I accidentally hit the Power Off option when switching ring modes from Normal to Silent. :-) The other day the call button wouldn't work - I selected a phone number, and pressed the call button...and nothing happened. I was able to dial the number manually, thankfully.

Q: What about call quality and call volume? Has anyone noticed you've switched phones?

A: I haven't had any complaints about either of these. No one has indicated that they can't hear me, nor have I experienced incoming call volume loss.

Q: The HTC S640 uses 1x-EVDO for wireless data - any complaints about the speed?

A: I'm always looking for more speed, but it does a decent job at data transfer.

Q: Is there anything you'd like to change about the HTC S640 hardware itself, or the version of Windows Mobile it comes with? I recall you mentioning something about it not always "waking up" properly, and the fact that you sometimes power it down accidentally - tell me about that.

A: I think my biggest complaint about the hardware is that I accidentally hit the camera button regularly. Because it sticks out a smidge from the side of the device, if I grab it from my purse, I'll hit the camera button, take a picture of my wallet, and then have to back out of that function before using it for whatever I needed it for.

As you mentioned, I've also noticed that sometimes when I go to use the device, I'll hit the centre key on the D-pad, and it takes abnormally long to wake up. I find myself having to hit the button a couple of times before it recognizes that I'm trying to wake it up. And, I mentioned this above, that having the Power Off option as the first choice when I go to change the ring mode is silly. That should be the last option, and Vibrate, Silent & Normal should be the first three. It's too easy to accidentally hit Power Off when trying to simply switch the ringer to be silent.

Q: Thanks for answering my questions!

A: You're welcome! I'm generally very happy with my new smartphone. I'm officially a convert!

Microsoft has announced their plans to port the software which powers the Zune, to many platforms and devices, including Windows Mobile.

It’s no secret that Zune and Windows Mobile share nearly-identical software underneath. Both are powered by Windows CE, and enabling Zune’s media player to run on Windows Mobile would be trivial. However, Microsoft groupthink impeded such progress… with the Zune/Xbox division of Microsoft hesitant to give up such code. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer explained this week, in multiple interviews, that Zune on Windows Mobile will now incorporate the full Zune Marketplace. This will allow customers to purchase songs and content, directly from their Windows Mobile phone.

Ballmer also noted that Zune would be ported to PC, and also hinted at a port to the Xbox 360. While Zune software exists on the PC today, it has been widely criticized for having an impressive storefront, but poor media playback. The new, unified Zune offering on PC plans to greatly enhance playback functionality.

PhoneNews.com editorialized back in early 2007 that Windows Mobile needed to incorporate Zune functionality, in order to compete against the (then just-announced) iPhone.

Years after Apple released iSync, Microsoft has finally announced a competing product.

Apple’s Mac OS X operating system comes bundled with iSync, a tool that allows developers to easily add sync support for a broad range of cell phones. Any phone that supports SyncML can be adapted to work with iSync, for calendar and contact synchronization. Apple includes support for hundreds of cell phones out-of-the-box.

The Microsoft Phone Data Manager application, appears aimed to to exactly the same task. The tool initially supports a few dozen phones. Unlike iSync however, Microsoft has configured their tool to attempt to work with any SyncML phone, doing away with the need for a new (or modified) plug-in each time a new phone model is released.

Phone Data Manager also appears to have a key advantage over iSync; the tool offers to backup user content, including photos and wallpaper, stored on the device during a sync.

The tool will work with Windows Mobile phones as well, however Microsoft cautions that in the current beta phase, it will only work with Windows Mobile devices while connected via USB.

One key limitation that also appears with the beta, is that it only supports contact synchronization with Windows Live Contacts. Unlike ActiveSync (Windows Mobile Device Center), the tool does not support synchronization with any of Microsoft’s four desktop email clients. Because of this, the tool also does not support calendar synchronization at this time.

Microsoft Phone Data Manager Beta

This is an unboxing and first impressions video of the HTC S640, a CDMA 1xEVDO Windows Mobile phone that's sold by Telus in Canada, and as far as I can tell, it's only sold by Telus. So even though this phone has been out since late 2007, I was interested in taking it for a spin because there are virtually no reviews of it anywhere online. It runs Windows Mobile Standard 6, meaning it's a non-touch screen phone and has a QVGA screen, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a microSD slot. It also has a full QWERTY keyboard and shares its lineage with products like the HTC Excalibur and Cavalier. I've long held that the T-Mobile Dash I have is the best Windows Mobile Standard smartphone ever made, but being stuck at EDGE speeds got old really quick.

There's another thing that made this phone interesting to me: my wife would be using it. I'm using a Samsung Jack (Blackjack II) with Rogers, our monopolistic GSM carrier, and my wife Ashley is with Telus, our main CDMA carrier herein Western Canada. For several years now, she's been a two-device user, using variations of the smallest iPAQs on the market, most recently the iPAQ 1940, and a Motorola KRZR for phone-calling duties. She preferred the large screen on the iPAQ and she synchronized her email and PIM data with a 4smartphone hosted Exchange account. She wanted her phone to be just a phone...until she started doing more text messaging. Her skills with T9 were lacking, so a QWERTY smartphone started to make a lot of sense. And since data plans in Canada were finally more reasonable ($30/month for unlimited email + Web), she wanted a Windows Mobile smartphone.

I'll be following up this first impressions video with a Q&A interview - it's been really interesting to watch what my wife liked about the S640, what she didn't like, and what she thought of Windows Mobile 6 (sadly, there's still not 6.1 update from Telus).

Alright, either I've completely missed the rumours about this device (entirely possible) or HTC managed to keep this one a secret up to the very end. This is an interesting phone! Here are all the specs, pulled right from the press release I was sent earlier tonight.

• Size: 116.3 x 43.4 x 16.3 mm
• Weight: 140g with battery
• Networks: WCDMA/HSDPA: 900/2100 MHz for EU and Asia
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Maximum speed: UL = 384 kbps; DL = 3.6/7.2 Mbps**
• Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Standard
• Display: 2.4-inch QVGA screen
• Camera: 3.2 megapixel with fixed focus
• Internal memory: 256 MB flash; 256 MB RAM
• Memory card: microSD
• WLAN: 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth®: 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 1000 mAh
• Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 320 minutes*** / GSM: Up to 380 minutes***
• Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 400 hours*** / GSM: Up to 280 hours***
• Special features: Sliding QWERTY keyboard, FM radio, Google Maps, RSS Hub
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7225, 528 MHz

Looking at that list, a few things stand out. First, it's an EU/Asia release first, so no North American 3G bands - meaning where I am, it's an EDGE-only phone. The good news though is that it's a GSM quad-band phone, so as far as voice coverage is concerned, it will be solid. The 2.4 inch QVGA screen is a bit of a disappointment - I was hoping for a VGA screen. This thing looks so much like the Diamond, why not give it the same screen? 256 MB RAM is plentiful on a Windows Mobile Standard device, and with the microSD card slot this thing can load up with a lot of storage. Built-in GPS is nice, but couldn't they do better than a 1000 mAh battery? Perhaps that will give stellar battery life since there's no VGA screen...

The potential down-side? As a slider, it's going to be thicker than a candy-bar style phone. The thickness of the S740 is 16.3 mm. The previous generation slider from HTC is the S710, and it's 18.6 mm - so they've managed to shave 2.3 mm off. My Blackjack II is 13 mm thick in comparison, and my all-time favourite Windows Mobile Standard phone, the HTC S620 (aka T-Mobile Dash), is 12.8 mm.

Regardless, I'm heartended to see that HTC hasn't abandoned the Windows Mobile Standard platform like it seemed they had. Bring us more non-touchscreen phones HTC!

Following up on yesterday’s half confirmation, Palm has launched an official page for the Treo Pro.

Final specifications have been confirmed by Palm and the device will feature triband W-CDMA access with HSDPA high speed data access, quadband GSM/EDGE radio, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi radio with WPA encryption support, Bluetooth 2.0 with stereo audio support, speakerphone and built-in GPS transceiver.

As a further incentive for purchase, the device will be sold unlocked directly from Palm with no pricing or availability details available at this time.

This morning, Palm quietly confirmed the existence of the heretofore rumored Treo Pro smart device which will be running Windows Mobile 6.1, feature a 3.5mm headphone jack, Wi-Fi with dedicated button found on the 800w, GPS access, 256 MB of ROM and 128 MB RAM,  directional pad with the Palm logo on the device, a 320×320 touch display flush with the rest of the device, microSDHC slot, and larger keyboard based on the Centro design.

The device had first been rumored as far back as the spring of this year and has slowly been revealed further thanks to another leak courtesy of a Flash presentation found on Palm’s site last week before it was removed. Though the related press images mark Palm’s tacit confirmation of the device, the company did not solicit a press release, leaving the price and availability details without confirmation at this time.