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Right now Verizon must be happier than a pig in poo.  Why?  They just launched HTC’s Touch Pro2, and despite being one of the last carriers to the gate with this smartphone, they’ve managed to undercut the competition by $150.  That’s right, you can grab the HTC Touch Pro2 (this Friday) for $200 after 2-year contract signing and $100 mail-in-rebate.  Meanwhile T-Mobile and Sprint are selling the same handset for $350.

In case you forgot the features of the HTC Touch Pro2:

• High-speed connectivity over Verizon Wireless’ Mobile Broadband network (1x/EV-DO Revision A 800/1900 M
• Global connectivity to allow customers to access e-mail and data in more than 180 destinations and to use the phone for voice calling in more than 220 destinations (GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz WCDMA/HSPA 2100 MHz)
• Wi-Fi capabilities (802.11 b/g)
• 3.6 inch WVGA resolution (480 x 800) tilting touch screen
• Advanced speakerphone with noise-cancelling technology
• 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera with video capture
• Touch-sensitive zoom bar
• Seamless connectivity with Microsoft® Exchange, Outlook and Office applications with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Bluetooth® 2.1 with EDR and A2DP stereo
• Processor: Qualcomm MSM 7600A, 528 MHz
• Memory: 512 MB ROM, 288 MB RAM
• Dimensions: 4.57” x 2.33” x .68” (length x width x  height)
• Weight: 6.3 ounces (with standard battery)
• Extended 1500 mAh battery for longer operation times
• Up to 5.3 hours of talk time (CDMA) or up to 13.5 days of standby time (CDMA)

…Continue reading: Verizon’s HTC Touch Pro2 Going For $200, $150 Less Than T-Mobile Or Sprint

Is this the phone that will save Motorola’s handset division?

Called the Cliq, it’s the first of many Android handsets that are set to emerge from Motorola this year and next.  This one features a full QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, 5 megapixel camera, video recording abilities, 3G connectivity and a slew of other features.  But like Transformers, there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to the Cliq.

Sure, it runs Android, which probably stands to be the second most popular mobile OS, that is if Google has there way.  But what really stands out is MOTOBLUR, which is best described as Motorola’s proprietary home screen skin.  In essence it’s just another Android app, but MOTOBLUR is one smart cookie.  Not only does it display all your social networking info - messages, status updates and newsfeeds - on the home screen, but it can suck down your friend’s Facebook info and automatically update your contact list’s pictures, numbers, emails and other pertinent info. Furthermore, all info is synced with the MOTOBLUR secure server, so in the event that you lose the device you don’t lose the info.  You can either locate the device using the phone’s built-in GPS and/or wipe the device clean of any data.

The Motorola Cliq, with MOTOBLUR will launch on T-Mobile during the 4th quarter for a yet to be disclosed price.  The device will be renamed the Motorola DEXT for European and South American markets and will launch probably sometime next year. …Continue reading: Motorola’s First Android Handset: The Cliq With MOTOBLUR

HTC kicked out a new phone today called the Tattoo, an Android based handset.  It draws its name from the ability for users to completely customize the handset in all facets, which might even included the back cover of the device.  Features include a 3.2 megapixel camera, 2.8-inch touchscreen, 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7225 processor, 512MB/256MB ROM/RAM, GPS, WiFi b/g, compass, accelerometer, Bluetooth 2.0 and microSD card slot.  The Tattoo is set to hit the EU in the beginning of October with other markets following in the months after.

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Looks like LG will release their latest Chocolate phone sooner than later.  That’s right the Bl40, the 4-inch touchscreen phone that we keep hearing about will launch later this month in Europe with other markets following sometime in October.  Until then you’ll just have to be satisfied with the endless array of pics and videos that have been posted to the Web.

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Looky, looky, Nokia’s not the only one with a bit of handset news today.  Set to launch in Q4 of this year, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 will feature a variety of improvements over the first iteration and will ship with Windows Mobile 6.5.  The specs have yet to be published, but they let us know that it will include an 8.1 megapixel camera and 4GB microSD card loaded with 13 ‘panels’.  Sony Ericsson is currently in talks with a variety of service providers, but I’d expect it to launch in the EU and possibly Asia first.

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Nokia expanded their line of ‘Comes With Music’ handsets today by introducing the X6.  Packed inside the 14mm device is 32GB of storage, a 3.2-inch touchscreen, a-GPS, 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, TV out, a full web browser with Flash Lite support and what Nokia claims is a battery capable of 35 hours of music playback or 16 days of standby time.  And if all that music doesn’t keep you busy they’ve tossed in EA’s Spore as well as a DJ Mix Tour and Asphalt4 for all your gaming needs.

You can expect the Nokia X6 to ship this fall for €459 ($655 US).

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Nokia officially announced the slimmed down version of their N97, the Mini N97.  The cut backs aren’t drastic as this version features a 3.2-inch versus a 3.5-inch touchscreen, lacks a d-pad and a slightly smaller footprint.  Nokia also says they’ve injected this version with “flick-scrolling”, which should mean iPhone like scrolling through web pages and applications.

Specs:

• Dimensions: 113 x 52.5 x 14.2 mm
• Weight: 138 g
• Display:     3.2 inch TFT nHD 16:9 widescreen (640 x 360 pixels) with up to 16 million colors
• Camera: 5 megapixels with Carl Zeiss Tessar lens; autofocus and flash
• Video capture: MPEG-4 VGA (640x 480 px) at up to 30 fps
• Video playback: supports RealVideo and Flash Lite 3.0 with PAL/NTSC video-out
• Music playback: MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+, WMA
• Built-in GPS with A-GPS support
• 3.5mm AV connector for stereo headphone jack
• Memory: 8Gb internal memory with MicroSD expansion slot up to an additional 16 Gb
• Connectivity: High speed MicroUSB 2.0
• Data connectivity: WCDMA, GPRS/EDGE, HSDPA
• Talk time: Up to 7.1 hrs
• Standby time: Up to 320 hrs
• Music playback time: Up to 28 hrs
• Video playback time: Up to 3.5 hrs

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Sprint is set to launch the HTC Touch Pro2 on September 8th for a wallet damaging price of $350, the same price at T-Mobile.  Worst of all that’s after the $100 mail-in-rebate and 2-year contract signing.  It looks like HTC is charging carriers an arm and a leg for this device since similar smartphones generally cost about $150 less.  We’ve seen the Touch Pro2 with Verizon branding as well as an AT&T variant called the Tilt 2.  I wonder how much those carriers will be selling the phone for?

Full release after the ‘leap’ …Continue reading: Sprint HTC Touch Pro2 Launch Date And Price Announced

Nokia announced their N900 touchscreen tablet, based on Linux-based Maemo software. The sleek, sexy looking N900 features:

• ARM Cortex-A8 processor
• Up to 1GB application memory
• OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration
• 32GB storage, expandable to 48GB via microSD
• WVGA resolution touch screen
• HSPA and WLAN wireless
• Physical slide-out QWERTY keyboard

The Nokia N900 will be available this October with a estimated retail price of 500EU.

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Motorola officially announced that it will reveal their Android smartphone(s) at the September 10th event at San Francisco. Could it be the rumored Motorola Morrison or Sholes that’s been leaking around the web? We’ll just have to wait and see.

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