Device Arena

Ahead of CTIA WIRELESS 2008, Verizon Wireless, the owner and operator of the nation’s most reliable wireless voice and data network, today announced the XV6900 will be available in April through Verizon Wireless business sales channels, at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com. The Verizon Wireless XV6900 is a stylish, compact and versatile touch-screen phone, optimized for easy navigation with the swipe of a finger and runs on Verizon Wireless’ network, which gives the pure white XV6900 fast Internet and e-mail connectivity.

The XV6900 from Verizon Wireless takes touch to the next level with smooth navigation. Whether customers are accessing local weather reports, navigating to the Internet, flipping through photos, or one-touch dialing of loved ones, they can interact with a myriad of the XV6900’s features with just a flick of their fingers.

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Sprint announced that it is offering the industry’s first EV-DO Rev. A-capable handset as part of a software upgrade available for the Mogul(TM) by HTC. Introduced in June 2007, the Mogul is a Windows Mobile(R) device operating on the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network and is packed with advanced wireless capabilities to keep users productive and connected for personal and professional reasons - all at SprintSpeed(TM). The new software ROM and downloading instructions are available at www.america.htc.com/mogulupdate.

EV-DO Rev. A technology supports faster data rates and higher system capacity enabling users to send and receive large amounts of data at broadband speeds (speeds comparable to basic DSL).

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HTC announced the European launch of the HTC P3470, the latest member of the HTC product portfolio. Combining a lightweight design, large screen, sat-nav software and strong battery life, the P3470 sets a new standard in affordable smartphone, GPS-based devices.

At just 108mm tall, the HTC P3470 offers unbeatable value as one of the most compact devices in HTC’s portfolio, featuring a broad range of functionality that today’s consumers desire. The HTC P3470 enables an easy to use and simple interface for accessing web pages, documents, messages, contact lists and more.

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At the 2008 GSMA Mobile World Congress, HTC announced the first availability of the HTC Shift. HTC Shift combines the power of Windows Vista and Microsoft Origami Experience 2.0 with always-connected 3G/HSDPA connectivity that features true push email with up to 3 days of battery life.

Microsoft Origami Experience 2.0 enables improved access and consumption of content through the addition of a new finger-friendly browser, RSS Reader and media player. It also includes Origami Now which gives users one-touch access to the information that’s important to them, including e-mail, calendar, weather and to-do lists on one screen that changes according to the time, the day and even their current location.

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At the 2008 GSMA Mobile World Congress, HTC announced an updated version of the HTC Advantage that introduces new software, increased storage and an improved keyboard. The HTC Advantage is an ideal companion for the business traveller who needs a powerful and portable device that includes constant connectivity.

Developed from the ground up to be extremely portable, yet powerful, the HTC Advantage integrates a broad set of features into a compact and innovative design. Based on a future version of Windows Mobile, the updated HTC Advantage includes a customized HTC Home today screen that provides one-touch access to emails, text messages, missed calls, calendar appointments and contacts, as well as current weather conditions and forecasts for hundreds of cities around the world.

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Games, photos, shopping and email are now just a touch away as Alltel Wireless today announced that the HTC Touch, a Windows Mobile 6.0 smartphone, is now available at shopalltel.com and Alltel retail stores.

Alltel’s HTC Touch features four panels on the “cube,” including an Alltel-exclusive panel that provides customers with quick access to the latest smartphone applications to personalize their phones and help do more on the go. Customers can also customize the phone with ringtones, themes and games, in addition to pre-programmed links to shopping applications.

The smartphone also provides access to Alltel applications, including the new Voice2TXT service from Spinvox that converts incoming voicemails to text and sends them to the customer’s text inbox, allowing them to discretely respond to voicemails via text messages without dialing their phone.

The HTC Touch features a 2MP camera with video, Windows Media Player, a MicroSD memory card slot, Bluetooth Wireless Technology and Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional.

The HTC Touch phone is available for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate. This discounted price is available to new customers and existing eligible customers who sign-up for a two-year service agreement and Smartchoice rate plan.

SlashPhone

‘This the season for spectrum auctions and OS updates. Following in the footsteps of Verizon and LG, HTC has just released a small patch designed to fix some Bluetooth issues. It’s not a massive update by any stretch of the imagination, but for anyone that has been experiencing dropped calls while using their Bluetooth connection, your day of justice has arrived. The patch comes straight from HTC, so we’re not sure if this is compatible with an AT&T-branded Tilt, or any other Kaiser / TyTN II variants. That said, it’s nothing more than a .CAB file available for an OTA download, so it can never hurt to try.

The Boy Genius Report

Following my earlier posting where I wrote about a delay of HTC’s much anticipated Shift UMPC, DigiTimes Taiwan today reports that HTC is delaying volume shipments of the Shift UMPC to January 2008, instead of the third quarter 2007 as originally planned (which was postponed to fourth quarter later anway).
Market sources indicated, that HTC has faced problems with both - hardware and software - which causes the delay. That’s definitely the worst case if a brand new device (and keep in mind, so far HTC was manufacturing PDAs and smartphones only but not PCs) faces problems with soft- and hardware.

While we have no further information yet what’s the problems are, I can see possible problems with the swivel-mounted display mechanism as well as with the cooperation of Windows Vista and the stripped-down Windows Mobile version which syncs anyway (while HTC isn’t using Windows Vista SideShow which was designed for exactly the same task).

the::unwired

It’s time for our next Market Update edition. You can expect our market reports every Friday. Those will inform you on the latest (and greatest) mobile phones that hit the stores on a weekly basis. As previously noted, unfortunately, we won’t be able to comment local availability in stores near you, as well as on carrier-subsidized prices.

Nokia N82

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