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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.

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.

Open source application Blue Lock monitors the proximity of your Bluetooth phone or device and automatically locks your computer whenever it’s out of range (e.g., you’ve walked away from your computer). The usefulness will depend on the strength of your Bluetooth devices, since it’s not really going to do its job if you’ve got a strong signal and receiver that keeps a connection from across the office. But if it works well with your Bluetooth devices, Blue Lock provides a simple way to keep your computer secure when you step away for a few seconds but forget to hit Win-L to lock your workstation. Blue Lock is free, Windows only.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that my phone DOES pair with my laptop, I couldn’t get Bluelock to work. I currently have an HTC Touch (Sprint Touch aka HTC Vogue). Bluelock flat out won’t find my phone. Ce la vi… maybe it’ll work for you cuz it sounds like an awesome concept.

Blue Lock website

If you don’t really use or care for the built in HTC TouchFlo you can disabled it… but it’s not as easy as hitting your settings menu. To do it you’ll need to modify your registry (check out Resco Registry editor) and modify the following key:

HKLM\Software\OEM\TFLOSettings:EnableScroll

Set the value for EnableScroll = 0

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

UPDATE: for latest release date info go here.

Over at HTC Wiki someone claims to have called HTC and asked to talk to Tech Support. They claim to have been told the ROM update for the Sprint Touch (aka HTC Vogue) that updates the device for EVDO RevA and GPS will drop on March 18th. This isn’t an official announcement, but we can always hope that it’s true.

HTCWiki

UPDATE: The March 18 release never happened, but Sprint has OFFICIALLY announced a Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM upgrade that will likely contain RevA and GPS. Read more about the announcement here.

UPDATE2: Tired of waiting on Sprint to release the ROM?  Check it out, some PPCGeeks have gotten RevA and GPS to work on the Sprint Touch. Details here.

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

Well it FINALLY happened. HTC has dropped the 3rd ROM update for the Sprint Mogul and it includes EVDO RevA and GPS.

The details of the ROM update include

• Adds EV-DO Rev.A functionality for faster download and upload speeds when transmitting data wherever EV-DO Rev. A coverage is available.
• Adds advanced GPS functionality including the software for Sprint Navigation.
• Adds a Task Manager to the Today screen for easier access and management of Running Programs.
• Improves Bluetooth performance including usage with Phone As Modem and wireless stereo headsets.
• Corrects an issue where Windows Live Messenger content may be erased when the device power cycles.

The last Mogul ROM update was riddled with problems, so here’s to hoping they got it right this time. Oddly, there is no announcement for a Sprint Touch (aka HTC Vogue) enabling the same functionality. The Touch which sold over 2 million units last year uses the same chipset as the Mogul, hopefully we’ll see an update soon (it was after all announced GPS would be available end of Q1).

HTC official ROM update link.

Direct download link to Version 3.35.651.2.

I found this over at WMExpert (ya… they really are the experts over there). The one thing I REALLY miss from my Treo 650 is the threaded SMS. It’s mind boggling that Windows Mobile doesn’t have this baked in by default (unless you’re a Windows Treo user of course). So… codyppc over at WMExperts posts on how to install threaded SMS on Windows Mobile. Get the full instructions after the jump.

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