Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

I'm actually surprised to see a video - I wasn't expecting to see this phone in the hands of anyone yet...this is a short video, but it gives you the overall basics of the HTC HD Mini. If the price is right, this could be a very popular phone!

This is a two-part unboxing and first impressions video of the HTC HD2 [affiliate], a Windows phone running Windows Mobile 6.5. The HTC HD2 has is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, at an amazing 1024 Mhz. It has 512 MB of ROM, 448 MB of RAM, and a microSDHC card slot for expansion up to 32 GB. It weighs 5.54 ounces (157 grams), and measures 11mm thin (0.43"), 120.5mm tall (4.74"), and 67mm across (2.64"). Read more...

Here it is: the latest and greatest from HTC in their Touch line, the Touch Diamond2. [Affiliate] This Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 smartphone has a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A processor, 288 MB of RAM, 512 MB of ROM, and a gorgeous 3.2-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with a massive 480 X 800 WVGA screen resolution.

This is a 3G GSM phone, featuring HSDPA/WCDMA on the Europe/Asia frequencies of 900/2100 MHz. It's a quad-band 2G: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz are supported. It also has a built-in GPS, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, and a 5.0 megapixel camera with autofocus (no flash). There's a small front-facing VGA camera for video calling, and a microSDHC slot allows you to expand the storage memory on the device. Oh, and there's an FM radio and G-Sensor (accelerometre) as well.

It weighs 117.5 grams (4.15 ounces) with the batter, is 4.25 inches tall (107.85mm), 2.09 inches wide (53.1mm), and 0.54 inches thick (13.7mm). The 1100mAh battery allows for 300 minutes of talk time (3G) or 340 minutes of talk time (2G).

Keen on the new HTC Touch Pro2? [Affiliate] Chris Leckness over at MobilitySite put together a 26 minute video - wow, 26 minutes! That's a lot of detail to chew on - check it out!

My friend Chris Leckness over at MobilitySite got his hands on a Touch Diamond2 [Affiliate] and does a 17 minute walkthrough video of the device. Chris does a few size comparisons and gives the viewer a great overview of what you get. This device looks great - or, rather, the device that works as a 3G device in North America will be great...we just have to keep on waiting for it.

I'm a big believer in the wisdom of crowds - well, except when they're angry and carrying pitchforks and/or torches - so I wanted to put this question that I received to the community at large:

"Hi, Jason, I've had my T-Mobile MDA for 3 yrs., the logest I have ever had a PDA. I once was sold on the HTC TyTN II and the Xperia X1, but reading users' comments about cracking and being discontinued, I just don't know where to head. I looked over the T-Mobile G1, loved the sleek design, touch-screen,etc. but I am afraid I'd lose too much with the Android OS. I have Bibles and ebooks I read from daily. I am currently on weight watchers and found a perfect Point Calculator. I'm afraid I'd lose all my apps like that, not to mention Wor, Excel and Power Point. Here is what I am looking for 400 Mhz, 256 MB, GPS (would really like voice navigation.) Does any such animal exist? What, in your opinion, is the best out there today."

Weigh in with your opinions Pocket PC Thoughts readers! What would you suggest for this person?

"Lately Windows Mobile Italy has scored a few scoops, thanks to its own exclusive and confidential sources, providing the Italian website with some very valuable unpublished details concerning the latest breed of Windows Mobile smartphones just announced by HTC and respectively named HTC Touch HD, HTC Touch Viva and HTC Touch 3G. After having been the first to reveal the HTC Opal's real name [Automatic Translation], during the current week the Italian web portal has scored some more scoops by revealing the (not yet officially announced) pricing and availability schedule for Italy as well as a few more exclusive details concerning the available colors of all three devices."

The article goes on to say that the HTC Touch HD, everyone's favourite object of lust lately, will be released in Europe in Q4, and will sell for 849 Euro (in Italy at least). The HTC Touch Viva will go on sale later this month (October) and will sell for 279 Euro. Lastly the HTC Touch 3G will run you 499 Euro and will also be released sometime in October. Those prices don't give us much insight into the North American market, because HTC sure isn't going to sell many HTC Touch HDs if they're selling for $1200 USD.

The super-wow-factor HTC Touch HD, with it's 3.8 inch 800 x 480 resolution screen, is the kind of device some of us have been waiting for. I just got a heads up from our affiliate partner Expansys that they're now accepting pre-orders for this device. There's no price yet, but your pre-order isn't binding in any way - you're just getting in line to get one of the first units that they receive. Come on, you know you want it... ;-)

Yesterday HTC quietly released a new HTC Touch Diamond into the mix: it seems it's identical in every way to the current Diamonds on the market now, it's just got a new look. I like the white quite a bit, largely because it would help hide the ridiculously smudge-prone surface that HTC wrapped the diamond in. Want to see an even bigger version? Here's the full resolution image.

"It's suspected, but not known for sure yet, that that the engineer of a Los Angeles Metrolink commuter train may have been text messaging when the train ran a stop signal, crashing into an oncoming freight engine. It will likely take the National Transportation Safety Board up to a year to investigate the tragedy, which resulted in 25 deaths, including that of the engineer himself, and 138 people injured."

Regardless of why this happened, the loss of human life is saddening - but if it was was due to negligence on the part of the engineer because he was texting, it's all the more tragic. In my history of texting, which is admittedly not as long as some people, I've sent exactly two texts while driving - or more accurately, composed most of them while at a stop light and finished them while driving. And that was completely and totally stupid of me to do - I couldn't imagine how badly I'd feel if I caused an accident because I thought my text messages were more important than the safety of the people around me. Reading texts and email messages is almost as bad - there's hardly any message that can't wait until you're at a red light to red, or pulled over to the side of the road. Time to confess: do you text while driving your car?

"Apple has come under scrutiny on its iPhone 3G for false advertising, and now the Advertising Standards Authority, a UK ad group, has come forth to declare a specific television ad for the touch-based smartphone to be misleading to consumers."

Above is the ad in question, and while I'm not normally a fan of the Eurocratic system of slapping fines on every company they can find, it's pretty easy to see their point here: Apple makes some very bold claims about having the best browsing experience on a mobile device, but that browsing experience comes to a screeching halt as soon as you hit any Web site that uses Flash - and many of them do. These commercials fail to mention that. They also fail to highlight that nothing happens that quickly on a 3G network, but that might be splitting hairs. Java is also mentioned, but I can count the number of times I see the Sun JVM fire up on my PC on one hand - and it's almost always when I'm uploading photos on Smugmug. Is Java on a phone really needed for Web browsing? I don't think it is. Read more...