Hasta La Gadget!

T-Mobile’s just launched the Shadow (Shadow II), the successor to the HTC Shadow, which features a customized UI on top of Windows Mobile 6.1. It’s quite similar to the original in just about all respects.

The scroll wheel’s still there, and the T-Mobile customized UI is still there, the sliding SureType half-QWERTY keyboard is still there and the Windows Mobile Standard (non-touchscreen) edition OS is still there. I can’t call this the same phone, but it’s pretty damn similar. It does have support for T-Mobile Unlimited HotSpot Calling, which is the calling over Wi-Fi (@ Home) system you can sign up for.

The first thing we’ve noticed is that the phone is light—we thought the battery was missing at first until it booted right up. The keys are bulged and feel good enough (looks the same as the first), and the scroll wheel flipped between items with only slight lag. There’s still Windows Mobile sluggishness throughout, which you’ll notice as you’re dumped from the T-Mobile customized front screen whenever you’re trying to do some task.

The new Shadow doesn’t seem to push the bar of Windows Mobile as much as the original Shadow did, but it’s not a bad phone—it’s just a Windows Mobile phone. It’s portable, light, and somewhat solid. It’s just too bad that it uses Windows Mobile Standard instead of Professional. This is about as good a WM Smartphone as you’re gonna get before Windows Mobile 6.5 hits later this year, which is what you should be waiting for instead of making a purchase now. But if were looking for a phone that’s really black, there’s a reason why they call this the Shadow. Seriously. Cause it’s black. Really black. Ninjas could use this and not be detected.

There may be some truth to the rumor that Motorola is planning to ditch Windows Mobile in favor of Google Android for its future smartphone line-up. A new Engadget Mobile report said that the struggling handset vendor just announced it is laying off 77 employees in its Plantation, Florida facility effective March 27th.

The report said that with these departures, Motorola will effectively end Windows Mobile development at the plant. Of course, the entire handset operation is in question, now that Motorola has announced it is cutting 4,000 jobs, 3,000 of which are coming from said cell phone division. Android or not, Motorola needs to get its act together, and fast.

We’ve received official word from the good folks at Sprint that the Treo Pro wasn’t supposed to be posted today, hence the unceremonious removal of every last trace of the thing within hours of its unveiling. According to the company, the phone will be sold just as soon as it makes it through the “customary testing process,” but it’s any guess how much longer they think that’s going to take at this point. All told, it probably wasn’t the way Sprint had hoped to take the wraps off, but let’s be honest, we knew this was coming for a hot minute now — we just want the Buy link, guys. See the full statement after the break.

Continue reading Sprint Treo Pro officially unavailable again — for now

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sprint Treo Pro officially unavailable again — for now originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We begged and pleaded for an official announcement back when we saw this beauty all boxed up, and comically enough, we’re still waiting for that release. Nevertheless, Sprint has quietly hosted up the long awaited CDMA Treo Pro on its webstore, giving those with an unquenchable thirst for more Windows Mobile something to lust over. For whatever reason, this thing is being priced at $249.99 with a two-year contract ($549.99 free and clear), though we get the feeling that figure will be dropping mighty quickly. Let’s just go ahead and call it the Pre effect.

Update: Looks like Sprint’s pulled the Treo Pro page from its site already, so they’re either not quite ready to hawk it yet or we’re looking at the quickest discontinuation in consumer electronics history.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones

Palm’s Treo Pro now on sale at Sprint for $249.99 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yo, Sprint, Palm, guys… seriously, give it up. We all know this thing’s coming, so can we at least get an announcement or something? We’ve seen the CDMA-flavored Treo Pro in Sprint livery in the wild already, and now we’re seeing the box, which — no surprise — bears a strong resemblance to its GSM bedfellow. As far as we can tell, this sucker is still on track for release before the end of the month, and with retail packaging floating around, it seems at least plausible — so here’s hoping, eh?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sprint’s Treo Pro in the wild, now with more box originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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