Rumor: A Pair of AT&T Phones Get Leaked

Engadget is reporting that AT&T has some new phone goodness headed our way for the back half of 2009.

If the frenzy around the Palm Pre coming to Sprint in just about 9 days doesn't make your head spin, Palm fans should get ready for the Palm Eos which is expected to show up on AT&T. Eos is expected to replace the last Palm OS smartphone currently on the market, the Palm Centro. From the slides that Engadget got their hands on, we have now officially leared that Eos' code name was the long rumored "Castle" smartphone.


Andorid fans should get ready for the new HTC Qwerty slider, Lancaster. This GSM "consumer social messageing device" should get the under 30 crowd lining up at their local AT&T stores in early August if the rumors are correct and everything falls into place between now and then.

You can read the Palm Eos and HTC Lancaster articles over on Engadget.

BGR: VZW's HTC Touch Diamond Drops This Week

BoyGeniusReport.com has a new post up today stating that they have gotten word that Verizon's custom HTC Touch Diamond will be launching later this week. If the report is correct, the Touch Diamond will go on sale this Friday, April 10. The initial launch will be limited to B2B/Telesales/Web customers.

BGR goes on to state that the the Diamond can be had for as little as $199.99 with a qualifying two-year service agreement. Don't want to extend your current contact? That's fine, but Verizon will be asking you to hand over $469.99 for this unit.

BGR's operatives have listed the following items as having been changed from HTC's stock mobile:

• CPU: Qualcomm 7500A
• Speed: 528 MHz
• RAM size: 128MB
• Flash size: 256MB
• Display resolution: 480×640
• 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus
  

Also included is Windows Mobile 6.1 and an EVDO Rev. A cellular radio.

For more details, check out the full BGR article including photos of the Verizon model.

MWC: HTC Magic Going Live on Vodafone

Last week at Mobile World Congress (MWC), HTC and Vodafone took the wraps off of the first hardware keyboardless smartphone, the Magic. Magic is powered by Google's Android operating system and is running the "Cupcake" software build which comes complete with an on screen soft keyboard.

According to the HTC website, the Magic has the following specifications:

• Processor: Qualcomm® MSM7201a™, 528 MHz
• Memory: 512MB ROM, 192MB RAM
• Dimensions: 4.45 x 2.17 x 0.54 inches
• Weight: 4.18 ounces
• Display: 3.2-inch 320x480 HVGA touch-sensitive TFT screen
• Network: HSDPA/WCDMA/GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Device Control: Trackball with Enter button
• Expansion Slot: microSD
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, 802.11g Wi-Fi, and HTC's ExtUSB
• Camera: 3.2MP

More details about the Magic can be found on the HTC website.

The Vodafone press release reads:

"The stylish new handset is exclusive to Vodafone in the UK, Spain, Germany and France (SFR) and available on a non-exclusive basis in Italy. Customers can ensure that they are the first to receive information about the HTC Magic’s availability, pricing and pre-ordering by registering their interest via their local Vodafone website from today.

A tablet-style device, with a sleek design and unprecedented compactness for a smartphone featuring the Android platform, the HTC Magic enables a superior mobile internet experience, providing broad flexibility for personalisation via the application-rich Android Market. Available in white in the UK, Spain and France, black in Germany and in both colours in Italy, the HTC Magic will be for sale in several other Vodafone markets over the next few months.

“Delivering an unbeatable mobile internet experience for our customers is a priority for Vodafone, so we are very excited to be introducing our first Android-powered smartphone in the spring,” says Patrick Chomet, Global Director of Terminals, Vodafone Group. “Following our joining of the Open Handset Alliance, we have worked very closely with HTC to bring this cool new phone to the market. Our customers want to access a wide range of the most attractive mobile devices to help them make the most of their time - the HTC Magic helps meet that need.”

The HTC Magic will be available later this spring to Vodafone customers in Europe. The press release did not mention specific pricing based on contract commitments. For more details, visit the Vodafone website.

BGR: Sprint Smartphone Line Up Leaked

BoyGeniusReport.com has gotten then hands on some upcoming handset changes coming to Sprint over the next few months. Take the list with a grain of salt, as I agree with Mr. Epstein that it will likely be "later" than "sooner" for the Palm Pre to launch, especially if Sprint is sitting on a large inventory of blue Treo 755p handsets.

Device Name - Projected Warehouse EOL - Replacement (if available)

Palm 755P (blue) - Late May - Palm Pre (target in-stock 3/15)
Palm Centro (berry) - June
Palm Centro (green) - July
Palm Centro refresh (black) - July
Palm 800W - April - Palm Treo Pro (target in-stock 2/15)
RIM BlackBerry 7100i - August - RIM BlackBerry 8350i
RIM BlackBerry Pearl (red) - May
HTC Touch Diamond - July
LG Rumor (blue) - Mid February - LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
LG Rumor (green) - Mid March - LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
LG Rumor (black) - Mid April - LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
Samsung M520 Lumina - Mid April - LG LX370 (slider)
Sanyo 6750 Eclipse (pink) - June
Motorola Q9C - Mid June
Sierra 597E - July - Sierra 2-in-1 Aircard
Motorola VE20 - July

[Via BoyGeniusReport.com...]

HTC Announces the New Touch Cruise

HTC, the company best known for their stylish smartphone design kung-fu, has announced their latest smartphone, the HTC Touch Cruise.

The Touch Cruise is a Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 powered smartphone that features another stunning industrial design. The Touch Cruise just looks great!

Included in HTC's latest smartphone is a built-in GPS that not only integrates with an optional vehicle cradle to provide turn-by-turn navigation, but also integrates with HTC's new Footprints software. With the GPS enabled Touch Cruise and Footprints, customers are able to take photos and an audio recording while tagging the photo with co-ordinates provided by from the GPS receiver.

"The new HTC Touch Cruise is the first mobile phone to offer HTC Footprints, an application experience that enables people to permanently chronicle their special moments by capturing a digital postcard on their phone. Once captured, Footprints provides the ability to take notes and an audio clip of that favourite restaurant or special place while identifying its specific geographical location. In addition to identifying each postcard with its specific GPS co-ordinates, Footprints also auto-names each postcard with its general location or area.

Flipping back through their photos, HTC Touch Cruise users will be able to retrace their steps to that exact location in just a few touches. Unlike other devices with geo-tagging functionality, HTC Footprints works effectively outdoors and indoors, offering a more accurate record of location for future reference and navigation.

“Just as we have seen GPS technology transform how people navigate to new places, we are now seeing location-based applications like HTC Footprints changing how we interact and carry our memories,” said Peter Chou, President and CEO, HTC Corporation."

The published specifications for the HTC Touch Cruise are:

• Size: 102 x 53.5 x 14.5mm
• Weight: 103 grams
• WCDMA/HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with QVGA resolution
• HTC TouchFLO™, 4-Way navigation wheel with Enter and HTC Footprints™ buttons
• 3.2 MP camera, with fixed focus
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash ROM, 256 MB RAM
• microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g wireless
• GPS/A-GPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
• Battery: 1100 mAh
• Talk time: GSM: up to 400 minutes
• Standby time: GSM: up to two weeks
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7225™, 528 MHz
  

HTC is expected to begin shipping the Touch Cruise later this spring. For more details, check out the HTC Touch Cruise website.

New Name, Expanding Smartphone Coverage

Today is both an ending and a beginning. After long and careful deliberation, it is time to say goodbye to "Foleo Fanatics." In the year since Palm canceled the Foleo Mobile Companion it has become increasingly evident that the Foleo, in it's original configuration and name, will never be released.

The Foleo unit that I was able to use, even for a short while, showed amazing potential and I'm still looking for something to replace it.

However, the time has come to look beyond the Foleo and, starting today, Foleo Fanatics has become Smartphone Fanatics.

Smartphone Fanatics will continue where Foleo Fanatics has left off, providing you with the same great coverage of the Palm user community. We also plan on expanding our coverage beyond Palm's products. Moving forward, look for increasing coverage of Windows Mobile devices from great vendors like High Tech Computng (HTC). We will also be covering the exciting new BlackBerry smartphones coming out of Research In Motion (RIM). And, lastly, we also plan to cover everybody's favorite entertainment device, the Apple iPhone.

Welcome to Smartphone Fanatics!

Alan Grassia
Editor, SmartphoneFanatics.com