Pocket PC Central News Center

We told you in April that Engadget had gotten wind of an HTC Snap variant heading to Verizon Wireless.  As is so often the case, the tech news site was pretty spot on, and today Verizon made it official.  Meet the HTC Ozone XV6175.

With a somewhat different look than its Sprint Snap and T-Mobile Dash 3G siblings, the HTC Ozone skips the trackball system navigation system in favor of a more traditional 5-way directional pad.  The QWERTY keyboard is also a bit different, but in most other ways, the Ozone is a Snap through and through.

Features include Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard (non-touchscreen), a 528MHz CPU, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, aGPS, 2MP camera, and microSDHC slot.  Although the Ozone is a CDMA phone, it also has a SIM card slot for use outside the U.S. on GSM/GPRS networks.

The HTC Ozone will be available from the Verizon Wireless online store beginning June 29, with in-store availability to follow in mid-July.  The price, with a two-year service agreement and $70 mail-in rebate will be $49.  Not bad.

Verizon Wireless Press Release

We’ve known it was coming for some time, but now we know when; the T-Mobile Dash 3G (a.k.a.HTC Maple 100, Snap, S522), the successor to the long-lived Dash, will be released in July.

Sprint has begun selling its version of the Dash 3G, the Sprint HTC Snap.

As the name suggests, the new Dash is 3G-ready with UMTS and HSDPA built in – this is something the original Dashed lacked.  However, T-Mobile has the smallest 3G deployment of any of the four major U.S. wireless carriers, so if you want the Dash 3G for the 3G part, you’d better check T-Mobile’s coverage maps before you get too excited.

Link: T-Mobile Dash 3G User Manual

Today was a busy one for the good folks at Samsung; they announced a new family of phones, including the upcoming Omnia II, a Windows Mobile touchscreen phone that’ll be sold by Verizon Wireless (at least) later this year.

We have most of the details on the Omnia II: 3.7” AMOLED touchscreen, up to 16GB of onboard flash memory, microSDHC card slot (good for another 32GB once the cards are available), aGPS, 480p (DVD quality) video shooting on a 5MP camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, aGPS… it’s loaded.

Availability is expected around September, but device delays are legendary.  We’ll keep you posted.

A CDMA version of the HTC Snap is coming to Sprint officially on June 21st, but those who want to get their hands on one sooner can grab one at Best Buy today.

The Sprint HTC Snap (S511) is a Messenger-class Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Smartphone (no touchscreen) with EV-DO Rev A., 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, a microSDHC memory card slot, and aGPS. 

This model replaces the Motorola Q 9c.

Sprint was originally planning to release the Snap on June 7, but pushed back the release in order to focus attention on the Palm Pre.

The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is the latest addition to AT&T Mobility’s extensive smartphone line-up. 

Originally set to debut tomorrow, the Curve 8900 was posted today in AT&T’s online store.  The price: $199 with a two-year service agreement and a $100 mail-in rebate.

The Curve 8900 boasts Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and aGPS, but does not have HSDPA 3G mobile broadband connectivity.  Other features include a microSDHC memory card slot (for adding up to 16GB of storage), a 3.2MP digital camera, turn-by-turn navigation, a QWERTY keyboard, and a non-touchscreen display.

The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is now available for order the AT&T Mobility web site and should come to third-party retailers in the next couple of weeks.

HTC has received approval from the FCC to sell a version of the Touch Pro2 in the U.S. with both CDMA and GSM radios onboard, though its GSM will be locked down so that it will not work with U.S. carriers’ GSM networks (AT&T, T-Mobile).  Of course, this limits this particular model to Sprint and Verizon Wireless.

Inclusion of a GSM radio will allow this version of the HTC Touch Pro2 to work outside the U.S.; non-US wireless carriers are dominated by GSM-based networks.  

Versions of the  HTC Touch Pro2 are reportedly destined for release by Sprint (story), T-Mobile (story) and Verizon Wireless in the coming weeks/months.  Read more about the HTC Touch Pro2…

via Engadget Mobile

Late yesterday (and right on schedule), AT&T Mobility added the new Samsung Jack SGH-i637 Windows Mobile Smartphone to its online store.  The Jack is now available for order. 

The price is $99 after $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year service agreement.  This makes the Jack one of the least expensive Windows Mobile Smartphones at release; similar devices usually debut at $150, $199 or more, and then fall in price as the product ages and spreads to other retailers.

The Samsung Jack is a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Smartphone, meaning that it does not have a touchscreen interface.  Reportedly, the Jack is also Windows Mobile 6.5 ready, meaning that an upgrade to WM6.5 can (and very likely will) be made available later this year when the new mobile OS is released.

After months of wait lists and promotional code invites, Microsoft’s Cloud-syncing My Phone service is now an open beta. 

My Phone syncs your Windows Mobile Smartphone’s data (contacts, calendar, documents, tasks, text messages, photos, videos, and music) with a web server, and provides secure access to that data via web browser. You can add or edit calendar and contacts via the My Phone interface, as well as upload or download photos and videos; changes made to My Phone on the web or on the smartphone will be synced across the service when you manually begin a sync or on a pre-set schedule.

You must have a Windows Mobile 6.x Smartphone in order to use My Phone , and at present, Microsoft offers 200MB of online storage the service. 

To start using My Phone, visit the web site on your PC and send an installer link to your phone via SMS.  To install directly from your WM phone, point your mobile browser (IE Mobile is best for this) to:

http://myphone.microsoft.com/install

AT&T will release the Samsung Jack, a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard (non-touchscreen) Smartphone, on May 19th. The SGH-i637 Jack is a replacement for the current (and aging) BlackJack II.

The Samsung Jack is a feature packed handset: 528MHz CPU, 256MB of RAM, HSDPA mobile broadband, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, aGPS, and a 3MP digital camera.  With a new two-year service agreement, the Jack will set you back just $99. The best news is that the Jack is ready for a Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade when it becomes available later this year.

We’re big fans of Samsung’s Windows Mobile Smartphones here at Pocket PC Central; the BlackJack II, Epix and Saga all scored well in reviews.  So, as you might imagine, we are looking forward to taking the Jack for a spin.

In early April, passed along a TmoNews report that the HTC Snap, aka S522, and Touch Pro 2 Windows Mobile smartphones would arrive at T-Mobile USA in July.  That information was based on a loose-lipped tipster, but now the good folks at Tmo have a little more to go on.

According to what appears to be a new T-Mobile roadmap, the earlier report has it right; both devices appear to be scheduled for a July 2009 release. 

The HTC S522, which the document refers to as the T-Mobile Dash 3D, is scheduled for a July 1st release, while the HTC Touch Pro 2 is slated to be released three weeks later on July 22nd.

No word yet on pricing, but we’re just glad to see that the Wing is finally going to be able to ride off into the sunset.

The new Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard (non-touchscreen) Samsung Propel Pro i627 smartphone is now available from AT&T Wireless. 

The phone’s direct AT&T price is $149 after a two-year service agreement and a mail-in rebate, but there are better deals to be had. 

Amazon has the Propel Pro for $99, no mail-in rebate required, but doesn’t yet have any units in stock.  You can place an order for the Propel Pro at Amazon and the phone will ship when in stock.

LetsTalk.com has the best deal going: the Propel Pro is free after a $100 mail-in rebate (and the obligatory service agreement).  To view this deal, click the link, then scroll to the bottom of the page.

We’re beginning to see reports that Sprint employees have begun training on the upcoming Palm Pre and its new webOS.  That means that release will come soon, and according to one source, soon could be mid-May.

PhoneNews.com is reporting that the Pre could begin selling on May 17th if stock levels are high enough, but that date could be postponed to as late as June 29 if conditions warrant.  Stock levels are the primary factor cited in determining the release date, but we’ve seen other factors affect mobile product releases over the years(glitches, model-specific service delays, etc.), so we’ll keep a close eye on this going forward.

If you’re a Verizon Wireless customer who’s been hanging on for the release of Verizon’s version of the HTC Touch Diamond, you now have something else to hang on to: your wallet. 

According to today’s press release, Verizon plans to sell the “new’ Touch Diamond for $299 with a two-year service agreement and a $70 mail-in rebate, which means you’ll lay down $370 bucks to take home this soon-to-be retired handset when it goes on sale tomorrow.

Why price Verizon’s Touch Diamond $100 over the MSRP of Sprint’s version?  No clue. 

We’ll be eager to see how long it takes for Verizon to lower the cost of this phone.

We’re not exactly fans of the HTC Touch Diamond, and with the updated and Windows Mobile 6.5-ready Touch Diamond2 just months (or weeks?) away, we were surprised to see that Verizon Wireless may begin offering the 1st gen Diamond later this month.

This information comes from BGR, which has a knack for getting it right when it comes to smartphone release dates.  According to BGR, the Verizon Touch Diamond will be available for purchase this Friday, April 10, 2009.  It will sell for $199 after a two-year service agreement and mail-in rebates.

One interesting tidbit in the story: Verizon’s version of the Touch Diamond will forego the onboard 4GB of flash memory in favor of a microSDHC memory card slot.  While we love the idea of gigabytes of internal storage, the ability to add more storage via memory card is a feature that’s too good to lack, and since you can pick up a 16GB microSDHC card for around $40, this seems like a no-brainer.

T-Mobile is long overdue for a Windows Mobile refresh, and if you believe a new report from TmoNews, the wireless carrier will end its stagnant streak by picking up at least two new WinMo devices in July: The HTC Touch Pro 2 and the HTC S522.

According to information provided to TmoNews by a “trusted tipster,” T-Mobile will release the HTC S522 on July 1st, with the Touch Pro2 following on July 22nd.  The article states that the Touch Pro2 will be marketed as the Wing II, which makes sense since the original Wing has been available for years and is in desperate need of a refresh.  While the TmoNews article doesn’t give us any naming hints for the HTC S522 Snap, we have heard that it may be marketed as the Dash II and replace the aging non-touchscreen T-Mobile Dash.

This is all speculation at this point, and the details may change a little or a lot by the time we get to July.  We’ll keep you posted of any changes, of course.