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About freakin time. The Sprint Touch (HTC TOUCH) update to Windows Mobile 6.1 has been released. This ROM update will install Windows Mobile 6.1 and enable both GPS and RevA data speeds. You can get the update directly from HTC here.

Sprint Touch with Windows Mobile 6.1, GPS, and RevA

Why update the ROM on your device?

The software upgrade posted below provides several key enhancements for your Touch:
Why update the ROM on your device?

The software upgrade posted below provides several key enhancements for your Touch:

1. Upgrades the operating system from Windows Mobile® 6.0 Professional to Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
2. EV-DO Rev. A functionality for faster download and upload speeds when utilizing data services wherever EV-DO Rev. A coverage is available
3. Advanced GPS functionality including the Sprint Navigation application
4. Adds the Opera browser
5. Adds a full Qwerty on-screen key Qwerty keyboard

Ok well ALMOST free, you pay a small shipping charge.

I don’t know what they get out of it, but FreeHeadset is offering to send you a headset you can use with your cell phone while driving. That could be important if you’re living in California on July 1–the date you have to go hands-free, or just convenient if you live anywhere else.

FreeHeadset says they do it to promote safety and claim to have shipped over 250,000 headsets. My guess is they hope you’ll opt to pay for a headset with more features than the freebies–but if you choose a free headset, you pay only $3.94 for shipping. It takes about five days to reach you. Check the FAQ for details.They didn’t have a free set for my HTC Touch, but I did find one for my wife’s LG Rumor. $4…. nice!

The official update has been released… click this link to see the post.

A crafty fellow who goes by joe11223 posted a question to the Sprint Developer website and received a response that it should be early July.

We are currently working on the ROM update for HTC Touch and the official release date is not finalized. However, we are targeting to release the update in first part of July. Once the update is officially released, We are going to make the update available on our ADP website and we will also be notifying our developer community via this forum.

Thanks,
Ram Koya,
Sprint Nextel ADP Team

Of course they didn’t say July of 2008 (after all the initially said it HAD GPS and then they said it’d be updated in Q12008). LOL. Seriously, the wait is out of control and I’m sick of Sprint and this experience has led me to want to switch carriers. Here’s to hoping we actually see it in July.

The post date was June 23rd, 2008 and you can find the post here.

If you looked at the HTC Diamond and thought “Nah, I need a keyboard”, heads up: this might be the phone for you. Featuring much of the same look and feel of the HTC Diamond, the HTC Touch Pro boasts HSDPA and HSUPA connectivity (up to 7.2 mbps - glorious!), the same 2.8 inch VGA screen as the Diamond, a 1350 mAh battery, 512 MB of flash ROM storage, 288 MB of RAM (what a curious number - why not 256 MB?), microSD expansion, GPS capabilities (no real GPS, only AGPS? Really?), built-in TV-out functionality, and a 3.2 megapixel camera. The full press release is below, followed by a bunch of images of this beautiful device.

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Engadget Chinese got their hands on an HTC Touch Diamond and compared it (visually) to the iPhone. HTC seems to be doing what Microsoft should have done a long time ago… making Windows Mobile fun, attractive, and easy to use. Plus the specs on this thing are wicked.

Comparison pictures:

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Yesterday at a press event hosted in London, HTC unveiled its latest Windows Mobile device, the diamond.

The Diamond is equipped with a beefy 528 MHz processor, 4GB storage inbuilt, HSDPA, FM Radio, 3.2MP camera. Unlike the other “Touch” GPS built in and working out of the box. Check out the overview of the device:

The Diamond runs on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.1, Microsoft latest version of Windows Mobile. Unfortunately Microsoft hasn’t made many great improvements to the user interface of Windows Mobile, so what HTC has done is build in applications and customizations to work around the wonkiness of WM.These customizations are called TouchFlo 3D which adds the following sweetness to the device:

• Rather than having to initiate it with a swipe, it replaces Windows Mobile’s standard Today screen
• TouchFLO 3D also appears to be very well integrated in the OS. It’s less of an add-on and more of a new philosophy towards Windows Mobile. For example, the 5-way is also touch-sensitive so you can rotate your thumb around it to zoom in and out. It also demonstrates the power of Windows Mobile’s data structure — TouchFLO 3D has previews of emails, allows you to examine your pictures, and plays your music directly within the interface.
• TouchFLO 3D tech is also built-into a custom build of Opera 9.5. But get this, no matter what your zoom level is, the text automatically wraps to the zoom. This is in contrast to the iPhone’s browser, which sometimes is unable to get the text to wrap properly.
• TouchFLO 3D is, in fact, 3D in its animation effects. The Touch Diamond, unlike previous HTC devices, appears to be fully hardware accelerated and uses that power to full effect.

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Spb’s Mobile Shell is a must-have for Windows Mobile users. It’s design improves the use of Windows Mobile smartphones dramatically, as well as adding some much needed eye candy. You can check out my review as well as how you can customize it in my previous post Customize SPB Mobile Shell 2.0.

Version 2.1 contains mostly bug fixes in this new release, although there is a new data connection indicator on the Professional Now Screen, along with support for voicemail, hardware keyboards, and 320 x 320 screens. If you’ve got v2.0, this is a free update.

What’s New:

• Data connection indicator on the Professinal Now Screen

• Voicemail support

• 320×320 screens support

• Hardware keyboard support

• Stability bug fixes

Product page: http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/mobileshell/

The official update has been released… click this link to see the post.

Ok so the Alltel Touch got a new ROM update that added EVDO Rev. A. It also fixed some BlueTooth issues and added video messaging.It didn’t however, include aGPS (wierd huh?)

While Sprint users are waiting (and waiting) for the Windows Mobile 6.1 update that we assume will have REvA and GPS (only WM6.1 was officially announced) apparently some craft folks over at PPCGeeks have managed to take the Alltel ROM, rip it apart and get it to install on the Sprint Touch. So… if you’re comfortable with it you can now get not only RevA but GPS on your Sprint Touch as well!

• Sprint Rev A + GPS
• Verizon Rev A + GPS - some have reported this isn’t totally stable yet

The official update has been released… click this link to see the post.

UPDATE: for latest release date info go here.

Ok so no FIRM date, more of a “Summer 2008″ tiimeframe. Sprint has posted an official press release stating that the following devices will have ROM upgrades to bring them up to Windows Mobile 6.1:

• Samsung ACE - The Samsung ACE is the sleekest world phone in the Sprint portfolio with a full QWERTY keyboard, vibrant color screen, and ability to use Phone As Modem service.
• Moto Q 9c by Motorola - The MOTO Q9c has a slim form factor with a QWERTY keyboard, extended battery, and supports Sprint Navigation for turn-by-turn directions.
• Touch by HTC - The Touch by HTC is a full touch-screen wireless phone with advanced entertainment features. It is the first device to feature TouchFLO(TM) and features a new HTC- designed homescreen.
• Mogul by HTC - The Mogul by HTC is the industry’s first EV-DO Rev. A-capable handset, enabling users to send and receive large amounts of data at broadband speeds (comparable to basic DSL) and supports Sprint Music Store.

Windows Mobile 6.1will include a new Internet Explorer Mobile with IE6 tech and h.264, Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight support, better System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, as well as Exchange Server 2007 SP1 support. Gizmodo has a bunch of WinMo 6.1 screenshot over here.

Since Sprint originally marketed the Sprint Touch as having GPS available in Q1 2008 (ya… they OFFICIALLY posted that on the sprint store site and since the Mogul has already receive the GPS and RevA update it’s probably safe to assume that the WindowsMobile 6.1 ROM update will bring both RevA and GPS functionality to the Touch. Keep your fingers crossed!

UPDATE: Tired of waiting on Sprint? You can get RevA and GPS on your Sprint Touch NOW. Head over here for details.

Another cloud service is coming, this time on your phone. Dashwire is intended to mirror your phones content onto a web based interface. I’m sure the power users are thinking “I can already do that with other 3rd party apps. Yes, you can… but Dashwire is probably not intended for the ultimate power user and it does do a good job of providing a clean, easy to use web based interface for accessing for phones information. Some of the things they list that Dashwire can do today via their Web-based interface:

• Send and receive text messages (SMS)

•  Add and edit phone contacts

•  Easily organize your photos and videos

•  Listen to voicemails

•  Set Internet favorites, ringtones, speed dials, and wallpapers for your phone

•  Transfer contacts and settings to your new phone

•  Automatically upload photos and videos

•  Find friends and people you want to follow

•  Create a personalized web page to share your media

• Add comments and star ratings

• Single click photo upload to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and Bebo

The interface is smooth, grey, and very attractive looking. The fonts are large and everything is easy to read.

On your Dashwire dashboard are your photos and videos, contacts, bookmarks, and SMS and call history laid out in movable AJAX tiles. You can click to play on your ringtones (I found this a very easy way to manage ringtones. There are tiles for phone, and text messages and you can reply to them with your keyboard. Even with a Treo or Blackjack you can’t bang out an SMS as fast as you can on a traditional keyboard. You can e-mail photo links from Dashwire, too, without your friends having to sign up to the service to view them online. Contacts you add online materialize in your mobile address book. Essentially, Dashwire is allowing you a web interface for interacting with your phone, while at the same time making an online backup of some of the most important “data”. It’s not backing up your programs, registry settings or anything like that, but all your critical stuff like contact, messages, etc.

Now it’s time for the secret sauce: how your content gets there. Dashwire begins as a mobile app that most users will probably download over the air. It installs, and then syncs to your personal page on Dashwire.com, which you’ve configured by registering your screen name and number on sign-up. The synching takes FOREVER, and might take more if your mobile network is lagging. Photos and videos take the longest to upload, and even longer the more you’ve got. I only have the “stock photos” that came with my phone and I’m sure that’s the part taking the longest. I wonder about the value of that (personally) though for people unfamiliar with other backup solutions this might be a great alternative.

The video they put together gives a great overview of what Dashwire can do, so check it out and see if this is a solution you could use. The accounts are free (not sure yet how’ll they monetize this service yet) and it’s in open beta. Some improvements they could make are faster backups. Even once my phone was sync’d it still take a LONG time during the sync process… and I wonder… why? For the moment, it only supports Windows Mobile 5 and 6, and subscribers have to specify their carrier and device model when they register. Dashwire doesn’t manage files or programs, or perform certain small tasks like deleting photos from the phone or reading and initiating e-mail. Those would be welcome additions. Dashwire also has a setting to update your status on Facebook and Twitter… though I haven’t seen HOW this works or any instructions on their site for making this interaction occur. Still… for a beta it’s not bad and definetly worth checking out.