Hasta La Gadget!

If you needed another reason to frown upon the state of the North American wireless industry, allow us to go ahead and turn your attention to Exhibit A here. What you’re looking at is some promotional material backing up earlier rumors that the HD2 / Leo is en route to O2 in the UK, but what’s especially upsetting (though not terribly surprising) is the knowledge that customers will be able to scoop up HTC’s new ultra-high-end WinMo beast for zilch on an O2 1200 tariff — a plan that runs something like £45 (about $72) a month. Oh, and that’s on an 18-month contract, not 24. Meanwhile, we’ll be lucky to ever see the Leo land in its natural, original, HTC-approved state on a carrier at any price in the US, but hey, at least we’ve still got some more Touch Pro2 launches to look forward to, right?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Leo looking confirmed for O2 UK debut, will be free on the right plan originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC’s Touch Pro2 is the cat’s meow on paper, and the US carriers that have managed to score it have demonstrated as much with their outrageous MSRPs. But with Android devices popping up in more places than ever, is the TouchFLO’d Windows Mobile experience really cutting it? We’ve already shared our own opinions about one of the best specced phones to land this side (and that side) of the Mississippi, but as you know by know, this space is all about you. If you’ve splurged on the Touch Pro2, why not give us a shout in comments below and let us know how that decision is working out for you? Feel free to mention the carrier as well, particularly if you’ve got some beef with reception. And… go!

Filed under: Cellphones

How would you change HTC’s Touch Pro2? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Project Pink is Microsoft’s secret new phone, their first major phone play since the iPhone. Here are the first pictures of Pink phones, Turtle and Pure.

These phones are going to be made by Sharp, who’ll get to share branding with Microsoft. Sharp produced the Sidekick hardware for Danger, who was bought by Microsoft almost two years ago. Pink will be primarily aimed at the same market as the Sidekick, and the branding and identity for it is highly developed, pointing toward a later stage in the development cycle.

The prior relationship between Danger and Sharp is the only reason we can think of why Microsoft stuck with Sharp for the new phones, and perhaps why they look so much like remixed Sidekicks. (Kind of yucky, that is.) The youth bent is somewhat surprising, if Pink is going to be their big consumer phone play, building off the expertise of Danger and members of the Zune team.

The hardware design has a definite younger feeling: Turtle looks like a chunky child’s version of a Palm Pre, while Pure seems like a standard slider, and both are clearly plastic, with an overall sense of roundedness, thanks to lots of soft angles and circular keys.

It’s been reported elsewhere that Pink phones will include Zune services, and have its own app store, making it as close to the Zune phone as we may get. We’ll see if it’s close enough in the coming months, though these are the only facts our source will let us safely publish for now.

Google Sync’s pretty awesome as it is, but it’s had one glaring flaw in its implementation: no support for Gmail, just Calendar and Contacts, which means you aren’t able to get true push email delivered. Well, they’ve gone ahead and completed the holy Google trinity today with the introduction of Gmail support into the Exchange ActiveSync mix, so any phone with Exchange support should theoretically be able to get in on the action. We say “theoretically” because they’re only quoting support for the iPhone and Windows Mobile at this point, but it seems like anything that can speak the EAS protocol should be able to make this happen. Let us know your trials, tribulations, and successes getting this set up in comments, won’t you?

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Google adds support for push Gmail via Exchange ActiveSync originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know that Verizon’s version of the Windows Mobile-based Omnia II superphone is incoming, and by all accounts, we would’ve figured on it looking more or less like its global counterpart — but those tinkerers over at Big Red apparently can’t leave well enough alone, because the phone that’s appeared on Samsung USA’s site actually looks a bit different. The most notable change is the move away from the original model’s distinctive cubic center button, though the replacement — a shield design in the same vein as the B900 for South Korea — really doesn’t look any more user-friendly. Otherwise, there’s not much to see here, but there’s a brief mention of a relatively generous 1500mAh battery which should come in handy for spending hours on end using those YouTube, WeatherBug, and Facebook TouchWiz widgets you’ve got installed, eh?

[Thanks, Austin]

Update: As many folks have pointed out, it’s merely a button, not a true d-pad. Thanks, everyone!

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Verizon’s Samsung Omnia II pictured, drops cubic center button originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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