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Fuze, X1, and a couple Touch Pros: the ultimate WinMo smackdown --  |
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2008 was, to say the least, a banner year for Windows Mobile hardware. Windows Mobile software... well, that's another story; we're still patiently waiting for the same thorough overhaul we'd hoped for years ago, but in the meantime, manufacturers have done an absolutely stellar job of taking the platform to its limits and packaging it in ways that could make any smartphone envious. For this first time, VGA screens (and beyond) have come to market en masse, and -- unlike the 8525s, Tilts, Moguls, and XV6800s of yesteryear, the latest batch of QWERTY sliders look like they've actually got a lick of intelligent industrial design in their DNA.
So these puppies are similar, yes, but they're not the same -- so let's take a quick look at what separates the Sprint Touch Pro, from the Verizon Touch Pro, from the AT&T Fuze, from the Sony Ericsson X1 (whew!).
Continue reading Fuze, X1, and a couple Touch Pros: the ultimate WinMo smackdown Fuze, X1, and a couple Touch Pros: the ultimate WinMo smackdown originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Everything you need to know about the Verizon Wireless Touch Pro -- |
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Tired of hearing about the Touch Pro? Hold on a little bit longer as the Verizon Touch Pro rumor mill is just starting to heat up. Earlier today, Engadget leaked a tentative launch date of November 24th for online/B2B/telesales and December 1st for retail stores. Soon thereafter, we got our hands on a Need to Know Guide that covers the ins and outs of using the Verizon Wireless Touch Pro. We picked out the highlights for you and we can finally put that whole “Verizon completely neutered the Touch Pro” rumor to rest. The document confirms that XV6850 will ship with a Qualcomm 7500A processor clocked at 528MHz, not the rumored 400MHz CPU. It also lists the 512MB of ROM and 192MB of RAM, which we realize is less than the 512MB/288MB on Sprint and AT&T. Why the difference? We are not too sure, maybe Verizon is reporting the available RAM and not the installed RAM. Regardless, it is nice to see the faster processor and 192MB of RAM which is way better than the rumored 400MHz and 128MB RAM device we were afraid Verizon was going to foist on its customers. The rest of the document has some nice eye candy of Verizon’s very red interface and a quick shot of the XV6850’s very different keyboard layout. Hit the jump for some more pages from the guide.
[Thanks to anonymous over at Howard Forums]
Tags: release, rumor, touch pro, Verizon, Wireless, XV6850
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Touch Pro launching on Verizon November 24, in stores December 1 -- |
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And then there was one. Following a November 24 launch of the Touch Pro on Verizon, that'll leave just T-Mobile among the big four US carriers without a version of HTC's top-of-the-line QWERTY set -- though at a staggering $419.99 on a two-year contract, we're not sure that we'd bother anyway. To be fair, that price comes before a $70 mail-in rebate, but that only knocks it down to $350, which still makes the Touch Pro one of Verizon's priciest devices. Following telesales availability, we'll get to see it, touch it, and take it home from retail locations starting on December 1, which gives us a few days to collect soda cans and take 'em to Michigan for the 10-cent deposits.
[Thanks, anonymous tipster]Touch Pro launching on Verizon November 24, in stores December 1 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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HTC Touch Pro Review -- |
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When the HTC Touch Diamond was first announced, it rocked the Windows Mobile world for its size, functionality and innovation. However, the lack of a full qwerty keyboard was an issue for those who didn�t want to be restricted to using the mediocre onscreen variants. The solution is the HTC Touch Pro. First entering the market as an unlocked GSM device, the model used for this review is the CDMA version provided by Sprint here in the US.
The Touch Pro is available on Sprint for $299 with 2-year contract and $100 mail in rebate.
In the Box
- HTC Touch Pro handset
- 1 Standard 1340 mAH Lithium Ion Battery
- 1GB MicroSD card
- ExtUSB headphone adapter
- ExtUSB AC charger brick
- 2 Styli
- Belt Holster
- Stereo Headphones
- ExtUSB Charging Cable
- Various guides or CDs
Specs
Up from the 900mAH battery on the Diamond, the Pro comes with a nicely sized 1340mAH upgrade. By increasing the capacity by nearly 50%, the Pro can handle a day of moderate use with push email on. Heavy users will find the need to recharge after 6-8 hours of use. I found that more with this phone more than most, it took a full week before the battery was properly conditioned and make it an entire day. A 3.2MP camera with auto focus and a flash takes some of the best shots of any mobile phone around. Viewing them on the phone is a pleasure with the Full VGA (640 by 480 pixel) TFT LCD screen that rotates its orientation thanks to the built in accelerometer. A built-in 3.5mm headset jack is lacking, but Sprint has included an adapter in the box to allow using 3.5mm, 2.5mm or miniUSB headphones with the phone, a nice touch. Wi-Fi and GPS round out the features of the Pro.
Technology: CDMA
Frequencies: 850/1900
Weight: 5.3 oz
4.01� x 2� x 0.71�
Cubic Volume: 5.69�
Phone
As a phone, the quality of the sound is decent, but doesn�t stand out. The microphone like so many other smart phones is located on the bottom of the phone, which does unfortunately pick up some extraneous noise. However, the above average noise cancellation on the Sprint network helps alleviate some, making the sound better than the GSM version of the Diamond or Pro.
Signal quality is arguably the biggest issue with this phone. Having tested out many Sprint devices in the past few months, I am well aware the limitations and strengths of the Sprint network in my area. The Touch Pro is consistently showing very low service, and regularly switches to the 1XRTT network in order to maintain service. This is disappointing to say the least, and something that will hopefully be resolved.
Data/Internet/Connectivity
As an EVDO Rev. A device, the poor service is very unfortunate as it really stifles the speed of the data. That being said, when the phone does find a good signal, the speed of the web browsing, email and other data services is on par with other Rev. A devices. The built in Activesync application in all Windows Mobile phones allows for easy and seamless integration with an Exchange server for email. All mail, contacts, calendar and tasks are pushed over to the device behind the scenes, giving the business user a pleasant experience. For internet access, Internet Explorer is the built in program. The onboard Wi-Fi is certainly nice to have, but unlike other devices like the recent Treo line with a dedicated hardware button, the user must dig into menus to turn the radio on and off. The side-effect is that the burden of doing so keeps the user from using it. The GPS in the phone locks quickly and using it with free programs such as Google Maps allows you to see where you are with precision accuracy.
Hardware
The Touch Pro does something for the slide out qwerty phone market, it shows that one can actually look good! Sprint has added their own tweaks to the design of the phone such as chrome sides and a silver soft touch paint back. The sliding mechanism does have a little more side to side �play� in it than I prefer, but definitely doesn�t feel cheap.
On the front, you�ll find 5 visible buttons; Home, Back, Send, End and circular enter button. What you don�t see is that you can press up, down, left or right around the circle just like you would on a regular D-pad. Finally, a capacitive section of the lower portion of the screen allows for circular motions to be done around the circle to zoom in and out or change the size of the text in certain programs. As seems to be the trend with newer Windows phones, the 2 soft keys have been removed, and the bottom virtual keys on the screen are your only option for these.
Sliding the screen to the right rotates the screen to a landscape configuration and revels a whopping 57 key QWERTY keyboard. A dedicated number row on the top is nice to have, which is something you won�t find on many smart phones.
The backside of the phone is silver soft touch paint that makes the phone easy to hang onto. Near the top is the 3.2MP camera with flash.
On the top, the power on/off button.
On the left side, a volume rocker button.
On the right side is nothing but the stylus.
On the bottom is the ExtUSB port, soft reset hole and microphone hole.
Compared
Side by side, you can see the differences between the Touch Diamond vs. the Touch Pro.
Software/Features
Powered by Windows Mobile 6.1, Sprint has put some of it�s own software in along with the standard applications you find on every Windows phone. On the Touch Flo 3D, they�ve added Sprint Music and Sprint TV to allow the user to get access to the content provided by Sprint. In the standard programs, they�ve added Instant Messaging, Pocket Express, and WorldCard Mobile.
Overall
When talking about slide out keyboard devices, it generally is a love it or hate it conversation. I personally don�t choose to have a sliding keyboard on my devices, but if I did, the Touch Pro would be on my short list of devices. With HTC�s innovation, and Sprint�s customizations, the Touch Pro is a solid choice in high end Windows Mobile smartphones.
* * * * *
Mickey Papillon is the creator and host of The Cell Phone Junkie website and podcast. Please visit: TheCellphoneJunkie.com for more information.
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AT&T Fuze (HTC Touch Pro) expected to launch November 11 with $300 price tag? -- |
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AT&T Fuze (HTC Touch Pro) expected to launch November 11 with $300 price tag?
AT&T Fuze (HTC Touch Pro) expected to launch November 11 with $300 price tag?
By Will Park on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 3:47 pm PST
In AT&T, Devices, HTC, Hottest Hardware, Rumors, Windows Mobile
 We knew the AT&T Fuze would be going live on AT&T in due time, but we had no idea that it would happen so quickly. With AT&T Fuze demo units already shipped to AT&T stores, it was only a matter of time before retail units started making their way into AT&T retail channels. And, the ever-informed Boy Genius managed to get their hands on AT&T docs that point to a November 11 launch for the AT&T Fuze.
If you’ll recall, the AT&T Fuze is simply the AT&T-branded variant of the HTC Touch Pro that we’ve been talking about with enthusiasm for months now. The HTC Touch Pro is essentially an HTC Touch Diamond with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard slapped onto its backside. And, as such, the HTC Touch Pro will be bringing its glorious full-VGA touchscreen display, 3G data connection, GPS, WiFi, QWERTY keyboard, and 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera to AT&T as the AT&T Fuze.
Unfortunately, AT&T decided to nix the front-facing video-call camera and used the empty space to slap on an AT&T logo. But, without any two-way video calling to speak of in the US, there’s not much love lost with AT&T’s decision to kill the video-call camera.
We’re hearing that the AT&T Fuze should be released on November 11 with an on-contract $300 price-tag that aims squarely at the 16GB iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Bold - both available on AT&T.
Of course, if contract-free is how you like to roll, the AT&T Fuze will be available for $500 sans wireless contract.
We’ll keep this one in the “rumors” column until AT&T signs off on the official AT&T Fuze launch date.
[Via: BGR]
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment...
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