Hasta La Gadget!

LAS VEGAS — Hey look, another case of a hack of the clones!

HTC’s newest smartphone, the (awww) Snap, pretty much resembles the Blackberry Bold in every way. Save for its OS (Win-Mo) and slightly different button configuration, it, uh, looks pretty much exactly the same as RIM’s device.

Internally the Snap’s got a 528 MHz Qualcomm
processor, 192 MB RAM, 3G
HSPA, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi at the 802.11G spec, and GPS. Also making appearances are a QWERTY keypad (doy), a 2-megapixel camera (weak), and a 2.4-inch screen (shiny).

Availability? Early summer. Price? Unknown.

We’ll have a hands on for y’all as soon as they allow us on the floor of the show.

HTC marketing jive after the jump.

Photo: HTC.

HTC Snap™ makes staying in touch with more people less complicated.
HTC’s newest QWERTY smartphone features "Inner Circle" to automatically
prioritize email from life’s most important people

LAS VEGAS – April 1, 2009 – HTC Corporation today debuted its newest
QWERTY smartphone, the HTC Snap™. Designed with a set of features
selected to deliver everything customers need without overwhelming them
with things they don’t, the HTC Snap makes it easier than ever to stay
in contact with life’s most important people.

A recent study conducted by Harris Interactive® and commissioned by
HTC* found that 44% of US adults are often overwhelmed by the amount of
email they receive, and over half (55%) of US adults prioritize five or
fewer people with whom they communicate via email. In response to these
issues, HTC’s innovative Inner Circle feature allows HTC Snap users to
press a dedicated Inner Circle key to bring emails from a preselected
group of people to the top of their inbox, enabling important messages
to be acted upon immediately.

"Recognizing that people are being overwhelmed by an avalanche of
email, the HTC Snap introduces Inner Circle, an HTC innovation that
makes it easy for people to prioritize messages from the most important
people in their lives at the press of a button," said John Wang, Chief
Marketing Officer, HTC Corporation. "The HTC Snap represents the latest
step in HTC’s mission to create a range of innovative smartphones, each
with specific benefits designed to both surprise and delight our
customers."
With a slim, sleek profile designed to fit perfectly in the hand, the
HTC Snap measures less than a half-inch thick (12 mm), yet it can
deliver up to eight and a half hours of talk time with the standard
1500mAh battery. The full QWERTY keyboard is ergonomically designed
with extra-large domed keys and responsive tactile feedback to make
typing emails and text messages fast, accurate and comfortable.
High-speed 3G HSPA connectivity makes it quick and easy to send
pictures to friends, access favorite social networking sites, or
download large files while on the go.

The HTC Snap is powerful enough for experienced business users
looking for an affordable, straightforward choice for remotely
synchronizing email, calendar and contacts with their Microsoft
Exchange server. However, the flexible Microsoft Windows Mobile®
6.1 Standard platform allows the HTC Snap to also be simple enough for
first-time smartphone users wanting to keep their family life organized.

The HTC Snap is expected to be available in select channels during
the second quarter of 2009, rolling out in markets around the world
throughout the second half of the year. Additionally, an unlocked
version supporting HSDPA at 850/1900MHz for the US market will be made
available under the name HTC S522 during the summer.

Dont ask us how, but we managed to get our hands on Hua Rong Su Jiao (HRSJ)s new Vision Phone. Nicknamed the Beautiful Girl, due to the numerous elegantly dressed models on the packaging, this handset really managed to wow the crowds at this years CTIA convention in Las Vegas–quite a feat for a previously unknown Chinese electronics manufacturer.

The handsets unique design and light weight (roughly 1.1 ounces) should make the phone one of the most popular phones of 2009. For the more environmentally concerned, the Vision also has one of the lowest power-consumption rates on the market and is 100 percent recyclable.

No word yet on pricing or carrier availability. Our lead mobile analyst will be doing an extensive hands-on review of the new phone, as soon as he gets back from CTIA. In the meantime, check some shots of the unboxing process, after the jump.

Since the Excalibur and Cavalier, HTC’s shown an unhealthy aversion for the immensely popular portrait QWERTY format — until now, that is, with the introduction of the rumored 12mm-thick HTC Snap. The Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard smartphone features a 528MHz Qualcomm core, 256MB of ROM, 128MB of RAM, 2 megapixel camera, microSDHC expansion, and the requisite QVGA display, all paired with AGPS, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, WiFi, and HSDPA data. “What kind of HSDPA?” is the next logical question in that progression, and the answer is that you’re looking at two versions of the device: one with 900 / 2100 for Europe and Asia, one with 850 / 1900 for North America (interestingly, the North American version won’t be known as the Snap — instead, it’ll simply be called the S522). The new device also marks the introduction of HTC’s “Inner Circle” feature, which can selectively pull emails from certain contacts to the top of your inbox — the perfect way to ignore Terry from Accounting who’s been on your case for the past three weeks about filing expense reports. Look for the Snap to launch globally this quarter, while the unlocked S522 hits “during the summer.”

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Snap snaps to life, coming to US as S522 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Take this one with a grain of salt: An anonymous tipster has exclusive shots of what he claims is that rumored Apple netbook/tablet. The images are suitably blurry–taken most likely with a camera phone or a concealed point-and-shoot camera. If theyre real, they reveal a marked change from the Apple design team.

The touch screen is present on the device, though it seems to be much smaller than expected. Likely because of this, there are also a lot more buttons on the device than, say, on the iPhone, iPod touch, or new Shuffle. Also, the color scheme for the device is a pretty bold shift from past models.

If this is indeed the new tablet, Apples entering some brave new territory with this device. Get ready for Cupertino to shake up the consumer electronics industry yet again. Check out the exclusive pics, after the jump.

While MSI has been teasing its Wind U123 and X-Slim X320 / X340 laptops for a little while now, we’ve yet to see the full specifications for each rig laid out. Until now, of course. Over at CTIA in Vegas, the company is revealing all the dirty details about what makes these May-bound rigs tick, and we’re pleased as punch to see a few unexpected inclusions. As for the 10.2-inch U123, you’ll find a 1.66GHz Atom N280 CPU, integrated WWAN and even a built-in TV tuner. As for the X-Slim X340 (starting around $1,000), it’s amongst the first to feature Intel’s newfangled CULV platform, which sucks down one-sixth the power of a regular mobile CPU. The X320 (starting at $700) gets gifted with a less exciting 1.6GHz Atom Z530, but the optional 3G / WiMAX module definitely makes it altogether enticing for those scouting a continually connected ultraportable. Head on past the break for the full hardware breakdown.

Continue reading MSI outs full specs of X-Slim X320 / X340 and Wind U123

Filed under: Laptops

MSI outs full specs of X-Slim X320 / X340 and Wind U123 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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