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Engadget Mobile was gifted a long list of product slides representing most (if not all) of the Windows Mobile Smartphones AT&T will be offering throughout the second-half of 2009.  We’ve already told you about the iPAQ K3, so we wanted to fill you in on some of the other WinMo goodness AT&T will be carrying later in the year.

First, and foremost: the HTC Touch Pro2 and Touch Diamond2.  The leaked slides list these smartphones as the HTC Warhawk (Touch Diamond2) and the HTC Fortress T7377 / T7378 (Touch Pro2).  The Warhawk is listed as running Windows Mobile 6.5 at release, while the Fortress shows WM6.1.  The documents’ release dates are a bit suspect, but you can probably expect to see these Windows Phones around August or September.

Next, the LG HQ.  This is also listed as a Windows Mobile 6.1 handset.  It has no touchscreen, and features a love-it-or-hate-it SureType keyboard.  Other features include HSDPA, aGPS, a microSDHC card slot and a 2MP camera.

Last, but not least, the Samsung Pivot, a Messenger-class touchscreen Windows Mobile handset powered by WM6.1 (at least on release).  Features include a full QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, HSDPA, a 3MP camera, microSDHC, 4GB of onboard flash storage and aGPS.  Release may be sometime around October.

We’ve added the slides for each product to the jump page.

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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

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.

Details are scant, but EngadgetMobile.com is reporting that a new HTC Messenger-class Windows Mobile smartphone is headed to Verizon Wireless. 

The HTC XV6175 is a sibling/cousin of the HTC Snap / S522, slated for T-Mobile sometime this summer.  We don’t know now similar these two devices will be, either in design or specs, but the two handsets will likely have a great deal in common.

The HTC S522 is rumored for a July 1 launch with T-Mobile – will Verizon beat them to the punch or lag woefully behind?

We’ll just have to wait and see.

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.

The Bluetooth 3.0 specification could be made official on April 21, according to a story at Phone Scoop. 

The Special Interest Group (SIG) responsible for Bluetooth has been working on the next generation peer-to-peer wireless technology for some time, and if the announcement date is correct, it’s possible we could begin seeing Bluetooth 3.0 hardware showing up in devices by the end of the year.

While we have nothing official to go on at this point, Bluetooth 3.0 is supposed to include new power saving protocols and a technology designed to decrease the number of dropped connections between devices.  Of course, the main attraction of Bluetooth 3 is its increased transfer speeds:

“Bluetooth 3.0 uses Generic Alternate MAC/PHY (AMP) [which] lets Bluetooth profiles operate at Wi-Fi speeds. The 802.11 Protocol Adaption Layer (PAL) will enable the Generic AMP feature to be used with an 802.11 radio. Bluetooth is used to create the pairing between two devices, but the data transfer itself is handed off to Wi-Fi. In order to take advantage of the higher transfer speeds, both devices need Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. If Wi-Fi isn’t present on one of the devices, the spec reverts to Bluetooth for data transfer.”

via EngadgetMobile

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.

Last week we were told Dell had been shopping new smartphones around to the three major wireless carriers in the U.S., at least one device running Windows Mobile and at least one other running Android.  We were also told Dell had been brutally rebuffed by each of those carriers who were, shall we say, less than thrilled with what they saw.  The blogosphere consensus: no Dell smartphone for you — ever!

But, of course, this is a new week, with a new Dell smartphone rumor; now we are told to hold our collective horses, that the rumors regarding the death of the Dell smartphones at the hands of the carriers was wildly exaggerated, or simply untrue from the jump.

Digitimes is reporting that Dell will, in fact, be shipping its smartphones on time (whatever they are, and whenever “on time” may be) and that Dell CEO Michael Dell confirmed this himself while in Taiwan.  Digitimes thinks a Windows Mobile version of the Dellphone is likely to come first, with an Android version to follow.

Two questions: 1) Which version of the Dellphone story is true and 2) do you care? 

There was a time when we would have been thrilled to see Dell jump back into the handheld game, a game it played quite well until the decline of the standalone Pocket PC Windows Mobile PDAs.  But in tech, things change very quickly, and today the idea of Dell releasing just another Windows Mobile device seems less and less like a great thing and more like a ham-handed attempt at entering a market Dell has repeatedly declined to enter over years of rumors that a Dell-branded smartphone was just around the corner.

If a Dellphone is coming, we hope the computer company has the sense to truly innovate and not just follow the crowd.

Could the Samsung Propel Pro debut on AT&T this week?  That’s the rumor. Though we have no independent confirmation, Phone Arena is reporting that the Propel Pro is headed to AT&T on Thursday. 

The Samsung Propel Pro SGH-i627 is a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard (non-touchscreen) slider smartphone.  As seen in this photo obtained from BGR, the screen slides up to expose a QWERTY keyboard beneath. 

Unlike other current Samsung Windows Mobile offerings, the Propel Pro is a relatively low-end device, with a price (hopefully) to match.  There’s no onboard Wi-Fi and the camera is <1MP.  It does have UMTS/HSDPA 3G, aGPS and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, however, and a 2.2-inch 320×320 display.  There’s also a microSD memory card slot with SDHC compatibility for cards up to 32GB (although 16GB is the largest microSDHC capacity available now).

Could it be?  PhoneDog.com has posted a rumor that Sprint may be getting HTC’s new Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2 Windows Mobile smartphones months earlier than expected – possibly as soon as May.

Earlier announcements had set June as the release month for these devices in Europe, with a U.S. release to follow.  If this new rumor is true – and we stress IF –  the hot new devices could be available in the U.S. in a couple of months.  

We’ll keep you posted.

The Windows Mobile OS may not be getting a name change in the near future, but according to a recent article at Digitimes, Microsoft is planning to change the way it talks about and markets Windows Mobile-powered smartphones.

“Going forward, Windows Mobile-based handsets will be promoted simply as Windows phones without specifying an OS version number,” the author writes, citing Taiwanese market sources.

If true, tongue-tying device names like Toshiba TG01 Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Smartphone would be shortened to Toshiba TG01 Windows Phone. 

There’s certainly an argument to be made for Microsoft taking a close look at its naming scheme, even beyond the “Windows Phone” change, but the purported change is a nice start.

Microsoft may make the new naming official at next week’s MWC, where the company is also widely expected to take the wraps off of Windows Mobile 6.5. 

Keeping up with all of the Dell smartphone rumors that have been making the rounds is tough work; if you want the blow by blow, you can sift through the mountain of reports, but here’s a brief summation of where the rumors stand at this point:

The Wall Street Journal reports that Dell has been working on bringing a smartphone to successful completion for a year.  They state Dell has at least two different devices in the works, one powered by Windows Mobile and one by Android.  The company is also concerned with competing designs, working on touch-centric devices (à la Touch Diamond, iPhone) and those with physical slide-to-hide keyboards (i.e. Touch Pro, BlackBerry Bold, G1).

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According to Neowin, Microsoft will take the wraps off a new version of Windows Mobile, an over-the-air syncing service and an on-device software store at next month’s Mobile World Conference (MWC).

Windows Mobile 6.5 has long been expected to debut at MWC, and Neowin confirms that this is likely to happen and also says those leaked WM6.5 screenshots (seen left) that we first saw in November are, in fact, reflective of the new OS.

SkyBox is a wireless syncing service somewhat similar to Apple’s MobileMe.  With SkyBox you can sync your Windows Mobile handset’s contacts, email, photos, calendar entries, etc., with Microsoft Cloud-based services.  We’re not exactly sure how this will work, but such a service would be a great addition to the OS.  Neowin reports that SkyBox may also work with non-Windows Mobile devices.

SkyMarket will be a mobile marketplace for Windows Mobile applications, allowing users to find and install third-party software right from their handheld.

You should, of course, treat this information as rumor until it is confirmed by another source or until MWC gets going in February.

We’ve been passing along rumors of a Dell-branded smartphone for years.  Obviously, not one of these rumors has turned out to be true, but as lingering fans of Dell’s long-dead Axim Pocket PCs, we feel compelled to report the latest in Dell Smartphone murmurings.

According to Shaw Wu, an analyst for Kaufman Bros., a Dell smartphone device is getting "closer to reality.”  This is based on information gathered by looking into items currently on, or expected to soon be, Dell’s list of ordered components. 

What sort of device might this smartphone be?  Dell has historically sold devices powered by Windows Mobile, but with Palm’s new webOS and Android, Dell has other options.  It’s also possible the computer company could work on its own mobile OS, though this seems highly unlikely.

This could very well turn out to be another baseless rumor, so keep those hopes tethered to the ground.  We’ll keep you posted if we hear anything to substantiate this rumor.

via Electronista