Think you can avoid having corporate email on your mobile device by buying a feature phone? Think again, as today Verizon Wireless announced an update to its feature phone email solution, Mobile Email 4.0. The downloadable application will allow users to connect their non-smartphone devices to Microsoft’s Exchange environment, leverage push email, and utilize an integrated contact list. The service will retail for $5 per month and is available to those with a data plan of at least $15 per month. The software is currently compatible with eight VZW phones, including the Samsung Zeal, LG Cosmos Touch, and Pantech Crux. Hit the read link for the full PR.

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We have a couple quick Microsoft tidbits here. Today, Microsoft announced that the official Bing mobile application for Android is available to all Verizon customers. If you have a Verizon Android device, and don’t like the ease-of-use and integration that is provided with Google, you can run on over to the Android Market and download Bing. You’ll also be thrilled to know that Bing for Android will be coming pre-installed on future Verizon Android devices. Joy.

Also, as a follow-up to a previous post… ActiveSync for Hotmail is now live. If you have a device that supports the ActiveSync protocol, and would like push email, calendars, and contacts, hit the read link to see how to configure the new hotness on your device.

Read [Bing] Read [Hotmail]

According to a report filed by CNET, Microsoft’s free email service — Hotmail — will get Exchange ActiveSync support beginning on Monday. The site quotes Microsoft’s director of product management for the Windows Live, Dharmesh Mehta, as the source of the information. There isn’t much else to say about it, if you have a desktop client or mobile device that supports the ActiveSync protocol you’ll have access to push email, contacts, and calendar appointments in approximately four days. Any Hotmail users out there excited?

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Hotmail, Microsoft’s free email platform, has been getting a horde of new features lately; not to mention a new slogan, “the new busy.” Blog liveside.net is reporting that the ability to access your Hotmail data via ActiveSync, a feature that was scheduled for release later this summer, is now working for some users. That’s right, you can get your mobile device of choice — assuming is supports ActiveSync — to synchronize your Hotmail: email, contacts, and calendar items, with push. If you’re a Hotmail user and give this a try, do let us know how it turns out for you.

[Via WMExperts]

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As was widely expected, Rogers today announced the immediate availability of the Samsung Galaxy Spica. The carrier’s fourth Android smartphone, the Galaxy Spica offers a 3.2″ AMOLED HVGA capacitive display, 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3.6Mbps HSDPA/UMTS, 800MHz processor and up to 7 hours of talk time and 10 days of standby for $79.99 on a standard 3-year deal. Anyone that was hoping it would come pre-loaded with anything past Android 1.5 aka “Cupcake” will be sorely disappointed, although we’ve received official word from Rogers that an update to Android 2.1 is in the works, there are “no details on timing to share at the moment.” C’est la vie.

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Sure, Mobile World Congress kicks off in just under a week, but that doesn’t mean all the big boys are going to hold off on their product announcements. Take Samsung, for example, which today announced the S5620 Monte. Running the propriatary TouchWiz 2.0 Plus UI, the Monte features one-touch access to popular social media sites like Facebook and MySpace while supporting services such as Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and Google Sync. Physically speaking we find a 3″ WQVGA capacitive touchscreen display, 3.2 megapixel camera, 200MB of internal memory expandable via microSD and chips for A-GPS, Wi-Fi and 3.6Mbps UMTS/HSDPA. Right now it doens’t look like the Monte is North America bound simply because it lacks the proper 3G bands, but one never knows. Pricing and availability have yet to be announced.

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Sony Ericsson today announced the Aspen, the latest handset in its GreenHeart line of eco-friendly devices. A no-nonsense Windows Phone geared towards business users, the Aspen’s features include a full-QWERTY keypad, 2.4″ QVGA dispaly, 3.2 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and SPB Mobile Shell floating on top of Windows Mobile 6.5.3. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the Sony Ericsson Aspen is scheduled to drop in Q2. And yes, this puppy is available with some US 3G love, albeit only on the 850 MHz band. Oh well. 1900 is teh suck anyway. Right, AT&T?

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We’ve already given the world its first peek and Verizon’s upcoming HTC Ozone, nailed down its scheduled availability of June 29th/July 13th and pegged its pricing at $49.99 after MIR, but we’re not done yet because two of our VZW ninjas just hit us up with the complete spec list for the device — and plenty more. Just as we suspected, the Ozone features EV-DO Rev. A connectivity in addition to quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE. We’re also pleased to report that the GPS chip is not shackled to VZ Navigator and that Verizon will allow users to use the device as a tethered modem (for a fee of course). Hit the jump for the rest of the specs along with a sizable Ozone deck.

Thanks, anonymous and indelus!

Features

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard
• Dual-band 1xRTT/EV-DO Rev. A, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Pre-installed SIM Card w/ Global Support Kit
• Microsoft Office Mobile
• Adobe Reader LE PFT viewer
• Internet Explorer Mobile
• Windows Media Player Mobile
• 256MB ROM/128MB RAM
• WiFi 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
• 2.4″ QVGA display w/ 24k color
• Full-QWERTY with 5-way navigation key
• 2 megapixel camera w/ auto-focus and video capture
• microSD slot (up to 16GB)
• Voice command, notes/recorder capable
• Speakerphone
• Security locking features
• MMS
• AOL, WLM, Yahoo! IM
• Wireless Sync capable
• ActiveSync capable (v4.5) and Windows Mobile Device Center
• Mobile Broadband Connect capable
• VZ Navigator capable
• Visual Voicemail capable
• Device Insurance available
• Hearing aid compatible = M3/T3

Specifications

• 4.5″ x 2.5″ x 0.5″
• 3.7 oz.
• 1500 mAh battery
• 290 minutes talk-time
• 324 hours standby
• Head: 1.03 W/Kg SAR

HTC has been seriously the little (now big) engine that could. Does anyone even remember what the T-Mobile Pocket PC (Wallaby) looked like? Now the number one Windows Mobile manufacturer in the world, they show no signs of stopping — they even added Android to their portfolio. But let’s be honest, you’re here to check out the much-awaited update to the viciously popular HTC Touch Pro, the HTC Touch Pro2. So let’s get to steppin’, hit the jump and find out what we really think of the TP2.

Design:

Design is always going to be subjective, right? But you can most of the time appreciate a phone’s industrial design even if it’s not something you’d drop a wad of cash on. The Touch Pro2 is probably one of the sexiest Windows Mobile devices we’ve ever seen. Rounded edges, chrome bezel, huge screen, minimalistic buttons — all great things. What’s even more exciting, however, is that the design is completely functional. There’s not one single thing the designers did that gets in the way of real usability and let’s face it, this device is really the high-end corporate user’s dream device, so there shouldn’t be any complaints in this department.

Hardware / Keyboard:

It’s really exciting to watch newer products being released but it’s a little bit more exciting to see evolutions of previous handsets morph into something else. HTC told us that people really missed not having the tilting screen of the HTC TyTN II so they incorporated that back in. Additionally, people thought the HTC Touch Pro was a little too small and cramped, so they practically made the Touch Pro2 a HTC Touch HD with slide-out QWERTY. And oh man, what a slide-out QWERTY it is. Shaquille O’Neal himself (also a very happy TweetGenius user, might we add) would have zero problems typing on this thing. The keys are very, very spacious and have a great feel to them. It’s a plastic feel which is totally fine (even if they are really made out of aluminum), because it’s a quality feel. Something Palm should learn a thing or two from.

On a different note, have we mentioned how absolutely incredible HTC’s new soft keyboard is? Anyone using an HTC Magic or who has installed a non-Google build on their Android device (not a Google version) will know what we’re talking about. It’s almost as good as the iPhone’s keyboard and this is coming from using it on a resistive screen. Really top notch stuff here.

Screen:

If there was a such thing as the world’s greatest, the Touch Pro2′s screen would surely be in the running. It probably wouldn’t win, though. It’s really something HTC has no control over, but the fact that this is a resistive screen as opposed to a capacitive screen is a major strike against it. Really, they can’t do anything about it since Windows Mobile practically makes you use a fingernail to hit menu options. Once you accept the screen is resistive, though, it’s a damn good one. Unlike the Touch Pro where the screen wasn’t as responsive as everyone wished, the Touch Pro2′s screen is incredibly sensitive and responsive — paging through screens, sliding through TouchFLO menus and the like are all smooth as butter.

The actual resolution of the display is 800×480 and it’s a whopping 3.6″ measured diagonally. In addition to being highly responsive, it’s vivid, bright, clear and crisp.

TouchFLO 3D:

We have touched on TouchFLO 3D in many different sections of this review as you have read and will read below. But, to focus on just TouchFLO 3D, a lot has been added since the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro. For starters, it’s finally landscape! If that wasn’t enough, HTC has gone ahead and built upon the Touch HD’s TF3D by adding in a Stocks page, revamped Weather page and a new Calendar page. All extremely welcome additions.

Phone:

What good is a phone if the phone doesn’t work? While voice calling in very old versions of Windows Mobile was a pain in the ass, Windows Mobile 6/6.1 has made it bearable. Luckily HTC’s TouchFLO interface makes it rather enjoyable. Anyone who has used a recent HTC device knows this pretty well, but on the software side, everything is cleanly laid out. Your recent call log is integrated with the dialpad, and you have the option to flip between a standard voice call and a video call. Don’t get excited; that’s for international users only because it’s a carrier-supported feature.

As far as the hardware goes, calls we made and received came through loud and clear. Literally. The ear speaker on the TP2 is a little bit higher than you’d anticipate but you get used to it very quickly and it proved to work without any issues. Volume on the in ear speaker was sufficient enough to provide audible call quality on the streets of New York City and our callers could hear us quite well, too.

Messaging:

HTC has excelled at making Windows Mobile a more-usable platform. What in the hell would the world look like without it? What’s more interesting with the latest version of TouchFLO is the messaging integration. In addition to having phone calling, you’ve now got access to your entire communication history with all of your contacts. Once you click on a specific contact, you’re able to see all the recent calls, all recent emails, all recent text messages, and even Facebook updates all in a neat and clean interface. It’s rather remarkable.

Integration of these features isn’t just skin deep either — you can even click on a contact’s thumbnail image in an email and start a conference call that way as an example. Really cool stuff that’s incredibly useful.

Speakerphone / Conference calling:

This is one of the big selling points of the new Touch Pro2 — the speakerphone and Straight Talk. The brilliant part of HTC’s heavily-customized TouchFLO interface is what they’ve been able to do with conference calling. You can literally just hit 4, or even 5 numbers or contacts, and instantly, the Touch Pro2 will transform from a phone, to a mobile conference room and conference all parties together. You’ll also get options to individually drop certain parties from the call while it’s in progress. But, look, what good is some bad ass conference calling software without some business-grade speakerphone action? As soon as you flip the handset over so the screen is face down on your desk (or whatever surface really), the call will instantly change over to speakerphone. Ok, cool, we guess. Most speakerphones suck and you can barely hear them. Not here, though. Besides being super loud and clear for you to listen to, the Touch Pro2 has got dual microphones. One for noise-cancelling and one to actually pickup your voice for uh, talking. This makes for an absolutely wonderful conference calling experience — it’s the best we’ve ever used on a mobile phone. Plus, if that wasn’t enough, there’s a dedicated mute button right in the middle of the speaker so you can hurl insults and nasty words at your boss while he’s talking. While muted, of course.

Battery life:

The TouchPro2 ships with a large 1500mAh battery and it’s pretty good. HTC quotes talk time over a UMTS connection at a whopping six and half hours. Unfortunately, since our review unit is a Euro-spec unit, we weren’t able to participate in sexy 3G-calling voice tests. Their quoted EDGE talk times are listed at about eight and half hours, and we can pretty much say those numbers are incredibly close to being accurate.

On EDGE and Wi-Fi, our unit constantly got us through a full day of work. This included heavy email using a Microsoft Exchange Server with ActiveSync configured, a ton of web browsing using Opera and Skyfire, staying logged into IM with BeeJive for Windows Mobile, and some light to medium voice calling. On 3G, however, we’re pretty sure our battery life would have been reduced by at least 35%, let’s say. That’s an estimate, but a pretty conservative one. To make two paragraphs short: the Touch Pro2 has very good battery life but your usage patterns will obviously vary, thus your battery will as well.

Connectivity:

It’s pretty much a standard nowadays for any high-end device; quad-band GSM/EDGE, tri-band UMTS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 or higher and GPS. Unfortunately, the Touch Pro2 we reviewed didn’t have three UMTS bands, just two. These are the 900/2100MHz UMTS/HSPA bands that are incompatible with North America’s 3G bands. Since 3G is such a standard feature in today’s world, we couldn’t enjoy the TP2 as much as we’d have liked to. Don’t fret, though — when you get your own Touch Pro2 you’ll be pleased as punch with all the connectivity options loaded in here.

Minor annoyances:

There’s a few things that aren’t quite perfect here. The camera, while being a decent 3.2 megapixel sensor, didn’t get upgraded like the Touch Diamond2 did. We would have loved for a 5 megapixel shooter in here. Additionally HTC has removed the flash module. Handset makers don’t get it twisted — leave the motherloving flash in your phones.

This isn’t much of an annoyance since the hardware works quite well, but in fairness we figured we should point out that the Touch Pro2 actually runs more of the less the same internal hardware as the original Touch Pro did. It’s not a bad thing like we said, but anyone hoping for a major spec bump, you won’t really find it here.

Lastly, there isn’t a directional pad anymore on the front of the device. This isn’t the worst thing to happen, but it was really nice having that on the front part of the Touch Pro to make navigating a little bit easier. The trade off is that the screen is obviously larger which does help when using touch selections as opposed to hardware keys.

Conclusion:

It’s pretty apparent that there will be an HTC Touch Pro2 in your own carrier’s flavor pretty soon. In the U.S. alone, just from leaked photos and information floating around, T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon will all get their own version of the device. What’s even better is that they will all be roughly the same. The keyboards won’t range from usable to world’s dumbest configuration (cough, Touch Pro, cough) and we have a feeling the physical exterior will be pretty close to the stock HTC units as well.

This is an incredibly interesting summer, though. You’ve got this device, the Nokia N97, the Palm Pre, the iPhone 3G S, the Google G2, and a bunch more handsets to choose from. How will you make up your mind? Form factors are pretty similar with the aforementioned devices. Most have a physical QWERTY slide-out or flip up, and all have on screen keyboards except for the Palm Pre. We can’t say that one OS is better than the other for your taste and usage, but we can confidently recommend the Touch Pro2 as the best Windows Mobile device in the world. That might not make your decision any easier, but as long as you’re considering a Windows Mobile phone, the Touch Pro2 is going to be the reigning champ for a long, long time. Or at least until HTC releases the Touch Pro3.

Regardless of what phone you end up choosing, one thing is 100% certain, folks. It’s going to be a hot summer.

Having long since been given the green light for sale in the US by the FCC, Sony Ericsson announced today that the unlocked W995a Walkman will go on sale July 6th at Sony Style locations across the US. Identical to the W995 Walkman in every way save for the inclusion of a tri-band UMTS/HSPA (850/1800/1900MHz) radio, the W995a is the type of device that we’d like to see SE continue to push out alongside smartphones like the Satio. Here’s why: a 2.6-inch QVGA display, 8.1 megapixel camera with auto focus, image stabilization and face detection, video calling, Wi-Fi, aGPS, FM radio with RDS, Media Go, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support and a 3.5mm headphone jack can all be yours, unlocked, for around $600. Pretty appealing, is it not?

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So by now you’ve probably seen that our Rogers HTC Dream demo unit recently arrived in a locked safe and are wondering why such a fuss has been made over a device that has been for sale in the US from T-Mobile since October of 2008. While the device is physically the same of course, there are quite a few differences compared to the stock Android OS and it really took us by surprise. Want to know more? Grab a coffee, slip on your spectacles and a hit the jump for the review.

First things first. Yes, the Rogers Dream does come loaded with Android OS 1.5 aka Cupcake. But, and this is a huge but (think J Lo circa 1999 here), it does not come with all of the awesome features that T-Mobile G1 users are enjoying / will be enjoying with Cupcake. You see, the Dream has been loaded with custom firmware that more or less kills off a bunch of the cool new features of the update, the most notable being the lack of the soft keyboard. Why is this? Well, take a look at the back of the device:

There isn’t any physical branding of the Google trademark on the device. This means that Rogers likely said no thanks to Google and asked HTC to make custom modified firmware build that includes the typical, ugly and permanent links to a few of Rogers’ mobile content shops and its website. On top of that, one of the most basic things we have come to expect in a smartphone — a note taking application — is nowhere to be found.

So what do you get in exchange? Well, you get Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support. It might not be the most desirable trade-off if you don’t make use of an Exchange server, but it’s not as if the soft keypad on Cupcake G1s is something to write home about when compared to other capacitive touchscreen devices anyway. Besides, it’s not overly difficult to run and get some custom firmware up and running for those who absolutely hate the physical keypad and forgot the Magic is also about to drop.

Android OS 1.5 is rather nice and features some much needed cosmetic changes here and there in addition to some new features. At the same time, it’s still more or less the same as Android OS 1.0 which you can read about in more detail in our G1 review. Since this is our first review of an OS 1.5 device, we think it’s time we mention the things that haven’t yet made it to Android that we think should have been included from day one. For example, it couldn’t be more annoying to have to touch and hold on a message screen for two seconds to be prompted to reply, forward or delete it. Surely Google of all companies could whip up a simper way to get stuff done without always having to rely on the keypad or menu keys to get stuff done quickly. After all, isn’t simplicity and ease of use one of the main reasons touchscreen devices are now coming out left, right and center?

The guts of the Rogers Dream include a 528MHz processor, 192MB RAM/256MB ROM, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, GPS, quad-band EDGE and dual-band UMTS/HSPA (850/1900MHz) at 7.2Mbps down and 2Mbps up. This gives the Dream more than enough power to keep it running without much lag even when running apps that are extremely resource heavy. And heaven help us if the Dream is not one of the fastest devices that we’ve ever used. Even in a busy area we were easily able to get 2Mbps down while breaking 3.5Mbps and beyond here and there. GPS signals are insanely easy to lock on to and seems to work in buildings where other devices struggle to keep a lock on a signal. As for the Wi-Fi part, well, it’s Wi-Fi so it’s quite a bit faster than HSPA. But like we said, the Dream is a champ when it comes to cellular data speeds. The best part? We were able to get a full day out of the Dream before the battery died at around 2am. Just be careful with that Wi-Fi connection because it seems to have an insatiable thirst for juice.

We have to hand it to HTC because they really know how to make a touchscreen display and the Dreams is no exception. It’s respectable at 3.2″ with a resolution of 320×480; the display is crisp, bright and has a really nice feel to it despite the fact that it’s made out of some sort of hard plastic as opposed to the glass of most capacitive panels. Still, it’s extremely accurate and responds very well to the slightest touch. In terms of the overall picture quality, we would definitely rank it among the better displays currently on the market.

One of the things that makes HTC’s Android devices stand out as touchscreen devices is their inclusion of a trackball — the very same as seen on a certain line of smartphones that hails from the Northern Lands. Bluntly put, we never really use it because 1) it’s been programmed with a very low level of sensitivity, and 2) the sensitivity level cannot be changed. Why this is we’re not sure, but we highly doubt we’d use it even it we were able to crank it up to a comfortable 80 or 90 like we do on our BlackBerrys.

We’ve already covered two methods of input so now we move on to the full-QWERTY keypad of course. Accessible by moving the screen away via a sliding mechanism (which is solid and should survive a couple of years with power users) that almost instantantly converts the screen from portrait to landscape mode, the keypad takes a bit of getting used to and might feel a bit foreign to type on as the keys that are raised 1mm above the body of the device. It only takes about five minutes to adjust to however, but after five minutes of typing on the Dream you’re likely to want to take a chisel to the hump that contains all of the navigation keys because, damn, does that thing ever make for some seriously sore and cramped hands. Basically what we’re trying to say is that if you have small hands or short fingers, stay away from this phone because it’s just not gonna work out for you unless you have access to Prof. Farnsworth’s Fing-Longer. If you have the hands for it though, it’s not all that bad and we’d go so far as to say that despite its shortcomings we’d gladly take the Dream’s keypad over 95% of whatever else you can think of. Oh, one thing that we’d kill for Android to get is some sort of spell check. Seriously, what smartphone doesn’t have this?

The Dream features a flashless 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus and a dedicated camera button. It takes decent pictures, but even if we were to take a photo with the light cast by an atomic bomb going off behind us, the end result would still end up being pretty grainy. C’mon, no flash? It’s 2009 and the phone is a massive 17.1mm thick — you’d think they’d cram a flash in there. Here’s a sample pic.

It’s pretty funny that one of the least talked about features of any phone these days is how it handles calls. Okay, it’s a sign of the times we live in, but we like to make a phone call now and again which is why we are so pleased that making a call couldn’t be more simple than it is on the Dream. You can either punch in a number or contact name on the QWERTY keypad, or dial the number straight up on the touchscreen. As for call quality, the Dream really delivers from both the earpiece and the speakerphone. That said, things did start to sound thin and tinny when the volume was cranked above 75%, but this can be attributed to the fact that the volume can be set so loud that you’ll be crying for earplugs. As for calling features, swapping, merging and adding additional people to a call could not be more simple. The only negative we can find with the voice aspect of this device hasn’t a thing to do with call quality or connectivity but rather a lack of a proximity sensor. Would it really be too much to ask that all high-end touchscreen phones come with proximity sensors? It seriously sucks to have to tap a key to wake up the display.

So overall, we like the phone — hardware and the software — yet there are a few things that we just can’t understand like the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack and the proprietary charging / data cable port (which is quite ironic considering the Dream runs on an open source software platform). Still, these flaws aren’t exactly uncommon for HTC devices but we sincerely hope that this changes soon.

In closing, there are a lot of things we like about the Dream and there are some things that we dislike. Maybe we’re way too picky, but we still really like the HTC Dream; it’s just not the greatest. Bottom line: take it for a spin before you buy it. 50% of you will love it and 50% of you won’t, but there is no doubt you will at least enjoy the experience.

DataViz, makers of the immensely popular Documents To Go for the BlackBerry, Palm, Symbian, and Windows Mobile platforms will begin offering its products to Android users in 2009. In case you somehow haven’t heard of the company’s work, Documents To Go allows users to view, edit, and create Word, Excel, Powerpoint and .pdf files right on their mobiles, and RoadSync is one of the most popular third-party Exchange applications in existence. While DataViz apps do carry a hefty price tag, they’re also very well made and always come along with a lengthy trial period. No time line for release has been set other than it will be out sometime in 2009, so for now a simple email update sign-up page has been created.

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If you have been looking for an alternative to Blackberry or Nokia smartphones, the Motorola Q11 might be a good option. Some live shots floated around the Internet for a little while, but it’s now official and just cruising under the radar. Where it will be released and how much has yet to be determined, but we hear the device should be “affordable,” so expect it to compete with the major smartphone players. But just how affordable will it be? Well, the phone comes without 3G – major bad move for Motorola! Still, if you’re interested and are living in the Stone Age or an area without 3G coverage, we have the official specs for you:

• Windows Mobile 6.1
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity and no 3G
• 2.4 inch TFT screen, 262K colors and 320 x 240 pixels
• full QWERTY keyboard
• A-GPS and GPS with support for Google Maps
• Wi-Fi, used with Boingo Mobile
• WAP 2.2 / HTML / Pocket IE 6 for browsing the Web
• Integrated ActiveSync Email Push
• Java App for Instant Messaging
• MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WAV, MIDI, WMA, WAX, WMV player
• MPEG4, H.264, WMV, RV player
• Bluetooth 2.1
• MicroUSB/USB 1.1
• 3 MP fixed focus cam with LED flash, 8X zoom and video
• 128MB of Flash, 64MB of RAM,
• microSD card support, up to 32GB
• 1170 mAh battery for up to 7.5 hours of talk time or up to 195 hours of stand-by
• 115 grams and 117 x 64 x 11.7 mm

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