Hasta La Gadget!

This is totally unsubstantiated, but also totally plausible — likely, even — so we wanted to pass along a hot rumor out of Italian site hdblog.it claiming that there’ll be a QWERTY-equipped Omnia Pro hitting the market in the coming months, and they’ve even crafted a mockup looking like the offspring of an F700 and an original Omnia to illustrate their point. Specifically, the rumor suggests that the Omnia Pro will run Windows Mobile 6.1 upgradeable to 6.5 — which might explain Sammy’s decision to back off the OmniaHD branding for the Symbian-powered i8950 — along with a 5 megapixel cam and sweet 3.5-inch WVGA AMOLED display. Considering that the old Omnia is widely considered to be one of the company’s better (and more successful) smartphones in recent memory, it certainly stands to reason that they’d want to carry on the legacy — and slapping on a sliding landscape keyboard seems like a no-brainer way to do it. To top things off, gossip has this sucker launching this summer for something in the range of €500 ($662), which throws it face-first into this summer’s superphone smackdown alongside the N97, the GSM Pre, and whatever Apple has up its sleeves. Fun time to be alive, isn’t it?

[Via Slashphone]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Samsung Omnia Pro with landscape QWERTY coming this summer? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well hey — it looks like Windows Mobile 6.5 will arrive a little earlier than expected. A post on the WinMo team blog says that the update to Redmond’s smartphone platform will officially launch on May 11, the first day of the Tech Ed conference. We’re figuring that could mean we’ll see the gold build demoed for the very first time, seeing how the version showed off at the glamorous MWC launch was described as an “alpha” cut. Of course, after that it’s all up to the carriers and handset manufacturers as to when we’ll actually see the OS loaded onto devices, but we’re sure the hacking community will find a way to satiate the impatient until then — or until Windows Mobile 7 comes out.

[Via Electronista]

Filed under: Cellphones

Windows Mobile 6.5 to officially “launch” on May 11 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yeah, something is definitely up in Zuneland. Not only did images of the Zune HD leak out late last week, today AdWeek says that Microsoft’s auditioning three major ad agencies for the launch of a new mobile service called “Pink” — which is the project codename for Zune software on mobile phones. No, this doesn’t mean any of those Tegra-powered Zunephone rumors are coming true — it’s far more likely that Microsoft is finally gearing up to re-launch Zune as the preferred media software and service for Windows Mobile, a plan Steve Ballmer’s been hinting at for ages now. Remember, Microsoft has to keep its large stable of Windows Mobile hardware manufacturers happy, and launching a hyped new phone of its own with a Zune-based OS would basically be perceived as stabbing a billion-dollar business in the back — not something you want to do when most of your partners are also deep in the Android game. On the other hand, you don’t audition three huge ad agencies just to launch a Zune app on busted ol’ WinMo, so there could be something big cooking — if you forced us to throw caution to the wind and just guess, what we’d want to see is that $500m Danger acquisition pay off in the form of a reskinned consumer-oriented edition of Windows Mobile that integrates Zune services, running not only on a touchscreen Zune HD, but a variety of phones from third-party partners. Wishful thinking? You bet — probably even crazy thinking — but it would certainly shake things up, and that’s never a bad thing. We’ll see how it plays out — care to share your dream Zune strategy in the meantime?

[Via CNET]

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Zune rumors heat up, MS getting ready to launch Zune software on phones? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

Well, what do you know? Yet again, the tech-savvy bunch producing NBC’s Life has managed to incorporate a relatively fresh piece of technology into the storyline. For those still waiting to check the season finale on DVR, you may want to skip ahead, but for those who either a) already watched or b) don’t ever care to watch, here’s the skinny. Roman Nevikov, Charlie’s arch enemy, appeared to be tracking his every move on Palm’s Treo Pro (minus the branding). ‘Course, he also considered using it as a weapon upside Reese’s skull, but thankfully no LCDs or QWERTY keyboards were harmed during filming. So sad he’ll never get to upgrade to a Pre, ya know?

Filed under: Cellphones

Screen Grabs: Roman Nevikov makes final call on Palm Treo Pro originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So the juicy part of this rumor has to be the fact that T-Mobile could get a branded version of the lovely HTC Snap (or rather the US-specific S522, which doesn’t carry the Snap name), a belief based on a leaked ROM rife with references to the carrier’s name and logo. Of course, seeing how T-Mobile was HTC’s partner on the Excalibur / Dash, it makes a lot of sense that they’d want to carry on the portrait QWERTY tradition there with an updated model, which is precisely where the S522 fits into the puzzle. This is where it gets weird, though: the ROM apparently has wiped all references to Inner Circle, HTC’s software tweak that lets you selectively filter out emails from anyone not on your whitelist. Why they’d want to get rid of it is unclear since it wouldn’t seem to affect carrier revenue in any way, so we’re holding out hope that it’ll reappear by the time the device ships — if this rumor even ends up checking out, that is.

[Via pocketnow.com]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Snap coming to T-Mobile sans Inner Circle? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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