Hasta La Gadget!

You see that? That, comrades, is what happens when Lightning strikes! Or, you know, when Venue Pro strikes. So, it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, but no matter what you call Dell’s Windows Phone 7 portrait slider, it’s downright awesome. We got a chance to play around with an early build of the phone a few weeks ago — as you’ll hear us say in the video below, it was still codenamed the Lightning — and we haven’t been able to get it out of our minds since. The handset has a very similar look and feel to its Android brother, the Thunder — its rounded chrome sides are reminiscent of an iPhone 3G/S, the black contoured back has a nice grippy feel, and the curved, WVGA AMOLED, Gorilla Glass screen is just stunning. The 4.1-inch capacitive, multitouch display is joined by additional back, home and search touch-sensitive buttons, all of which seemed responsive in our short time with the device. The back is also home to a 5 megapixel cam with flash while there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the device and a micro-USB port on the bottom edge.

But obviously, it’s that glorious slide-out QWERTY keyboard that makes the Venue Pro, well, so pro. The rubber-feeling keys remind us a lot of those on the Droid 2 — though, they feel a bit firmer — and the slider mechanism felt sturdy when we slid it open and closed a number of times. On the spec front, we were told it was packing a Snapdragon processor, and while the phone seemed to briskly run an early build of WP7, we didn’t get to test much out as Dell was lacking both a SIM and a nearby WiFi network. We’ll be hoping to grab some more time with the T-Mobile version today, but from what we’ve seen so far we’re fairly confident that Dell’s struck pretty darn close to gold here. Oh, and don’t forget to hit the break for a short video walkthrough of the hardware and keyboard.

Continue reading Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning) first hands-on!

Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning) first hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC’s kicking the Windows Phone 7 era off in style today with no less than three new phones scheduled to debut on October 21 in Europe: the HD7, the 7 Mozart, and the 7 Trophy. Both the Mozart and Trophy offer a WVGA LCD screen, a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250 chipset, 576MB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage, and 720p video recording. Where the 7 Mozart sets itself apart is in having an aluminum unibody construction wrapped around its 3.7-inch display, together with a more advanced 8 megapixel imager and a Xenon flash. The 7 Trophy makes do with an LED flash illuminating 5 megapixels’ worth photons, but it does also come with HTC’s promise to be the most aggressively priced WP7 handset from the company. It’ll be a Vodafone exclusive across the big red network’s global footprint, while the Mozart will be exclusive to Orange in the UK, France, Spain, and Switzerland, exclusive to Deutsche Telekom in Germany, and available on a choice of carriers elsewhere. No peep of an American release for either handset, however.

For the home crowd, Sprint is set to deliver a HTC 7 Pro with a QWERTY keyboard that slides out and tilts — you can see it pictured in the gallery below — at some point in the first half of 2011. It too goes with the same old 1GHz Snapdragon, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel cam plus 720p video, and WVGA display resolution (on a 3.6-inch screen), but it gets a bump in storage to 16GB. Full spec sheets for all three phones, along with HTC’s big Windows Phone 7 announcement, await just past the break.

Continue reading HTC 7 Mozart and 7 Trophy set out to conquer the WP7 world, 7 Pro coming to Sprint next year

HTC 7 Mozart and 7 Trophy set out to conquer the WP7 world, 7 Pro coming to Sprint next year originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG was naturally expected to show up for today’s announcement seeing how the company has been a longtime “strategic” partner of Microsoft’s — and indeed, they’re bringing two models into the fold. First up is the Quantum (known as the Optimus 7Q in markets outside the US, pictured right) that we broke as the C900 back in August, a landscape slider equipped with quadband EDGE and triband HSPA (850 / 1900 / 2100MHz), 16GB of storage, a 5 megapixel camera with 720p video capture, a 3.5-inch WVGA display, and an all-too-familiar 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon core; as you might have guessed from the 3G bands, this puppy will be coming to AT&T. Next, the Optimus 7 (pictured left) will be seeing a much wider international release on Telus in Canada, America Movil in Mexico, Movistar and Vodafone in Europe, and SingTel in Singapore. What is it, you ask? Well, it’s exactly what you’d figured by now from the leaks — a 3.8-inch WVGA slate at 11.5mm thick with specs that largely mirror the Quantum’s otherwise: 1GHz Snapdragon and 5 megapixel cam, notably. Both models will support “Play To,” the brand name for the DLNA features LG touted back at IFA, allowing users to fling media to DLNA-compatible TVs, set-top boxes, and the like. Expect both the Optimus 7 and 7Q to start rolling out on October 21, eventually deploying in over 35 countries; on AT&T, the Quantum will run $199.99 when it hits in the next few weeks. Follow the break for LG’s full press release.

Continue reading LG Optimus 7, Quantum, and Optimus 7Q welcome Windows Phone 7 to the fold

LG Optimus 7, Quantum, and Optimus 7Q welcome Windows Phone 7 to the fold originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Need a break? No chance, there are still so many more phones to look at! HTC’s sole Windows Phone 7 launch device for AT&T has just been revealed as the HTC 7 Surround. You’ll remember this as the sexily titled T8788, which made us gape back in August with its unusual design that incorporates a slideout speaker. We can now add an integrated kickstand to the multimedia-friendly physical design, while the spec sheet (available in full after the break) is consistent with the rest of HTC’s lineup. The 7 Surround offers a 3.8-inch WVGA display, a 1GHz Snapdragon chip from yesteryear, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel camera with 720p video, and Dolby Mobile and SRS Surround Sound technologies. This unconventional handset will be exclusive with AT&T in the US and Telus in Canada. Pricing in the US will be $199.99 on contract.

Continue reading HTC 7 Surround graces AT&T with a slideout speaker, Windows Phone 7 credentials

HTC 7 Surround graces AT&T with a slideout speaker, Windows Phone 7 credentials originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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These details aren’t supposed to be live yet, we presume, but AT&T’s just posted full information on its Windows Phone 7 lineup over on its site. We’ve got the Surround from HTC, the Samsung Focus, and the LG Quantum — and as expected, they’re a slider (sorta), a slate, and a full QWERTY slider, respectively. The Surround is touted as featuring Yamaha speakers in its slide-out surround sound arrangement with 16GB of onboard storage, the Focus is “slender and light” with a 4-inch Super AMOLED display that we imagine is ripped straight out of its Captivate stablemate, and the Quantum’s listed with a 5 megapixel camera. All three are listed as “coming soon,” so we’ll have to hold tight and see whether we get any release dates today.

[Thanks, Shane C.]

Samsung Focus, HTC Surround, and LG Quantum all outed a bit early on AT&T’s Windows Phone 7 site originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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