As with any leak, we suggest you approach this with a healthy amount of skepticism, but if a post made to PConline is to be believed, this upcoming Windows Phone 7 handset from HTC — the HD3 — is going to be an absolute beast. We mean, take a look at the purported specs:

• 4.5″ WXGA Super AMOLED multi-touch display
• 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash
• 720p HD video recording
• 1080p HD playback
• Wi-Fi / Bluetooth
• 3G / 4G connectivity
• 32GB microSD support
• 1GB RAM / 1GB ROM
• 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor
• 1800 mAh battery
• 115mm x 65mm x 10mm

Like we said, this is strictly a rumor, but how great would it be if it all came true?

[Via Gizmodo]

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Windows Mobile 6.5 isn’t dead, it’s just been given a bizarre makeover and loaded onto a strange new handset from Motorola in the ES400. Created specifically for enterprise customers that need a handset that’s as secure as it is rugged, the Sprint-bound ES400 will run Microsoft’s newly announced Windows Embedded Handheld, an OS that is currently based on WinMo 6.5.3. An EV-DO world phone with support for HSDPA roaming, the ES400 is kitted out with a 3″ VGA touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi a/b/g, barcode scanner, 600MHz ARM 11 processor, 256MB RAM and 1GB of internal flash memory. Pricing and a release date have not been set.

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We know there’s a big Apple iPhone announcement looming over, but that still shouldn’t stop some of those Verizon faithfuls from getting excited over brand new devices, right? We’ve scored shots of the BlackBerry Bold 9650 and LG Fathom making its way into Verizon’s internal systems. Most of you know all about the 9650, but the Fathom VS750, is a global Windows Phone with a QWERTY slider, 3.2″ WVGA display and 3.2 megapixel shooter. Couple this discovery with Verizon’s teaser that went out about six new devices coming, we should probably assume that the wait is almost over folks. Hit the break for a shot of the Fathom resting easy in Big Red’s system.

We haven’t been able to independently verify this in any way, but nonetheless we thought we’d share it with everyone as it makes a lot of sense. One our of Verizon connects hit us up last night and let us know what they’ve heard are five of the six upcoming handsets VZW was teasing about yesterday: the HTC Incredible, LG VS750, Microsoft’s “Pure” and “Turtle” and the Samsung Reality. As we mentioned, our connect isn’t sure what the sixth is, but we’re guessing it could be either the BlackBerry Bold 9650 or even Verizon’s Google Nexus One. Anyone hear otherwise?

Thanks, VZW!

T-Mobile is tapping into the popularity of the HTC HD2 with the creation of a trade-in program which allows iPhone owners to turn in their hardware in exchange for a credit ranging from $100 to $350 to be used towards the newly released smartphone. Available only by phone, at non-corporate dealers and through the usual business channels, the only conditions are that the iPhone being traded in must be in full working condition. Not a bad deal at all considering anyone taking up the offer doesn’t even need to sign up for a service contract. Now if only T-Mobile was able to keep these things in stock until the promotion ends on May 19th.

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No, you haven’t been imagining things: everyone and their grandma has indeed been using a smartphone to surf the web. From February 2009 to February 2010, AdMob tracked an impressive 193% increase in absolute traffic from smartphones. As it presently stands, or more accurately as it stood at the end of February, the iPhone OS reigned supreme at gobbling up data with 50% stake of AdMob’s smartphone traffic while Android and Symbian came in second and third with 24% and 18% respectively. RIM’s BlackBerry OS didn’t fare too well (surprise, surprise) at 4%, but that was still enough for it to escape the utter embarrassment felt by Windows Mobile which saw its 2% matched by the “Others”. Speaking of others, feature phones are using more data than ever with absolute traffic up 31% while MIDs like the iPod touch, Nintendo DSi and Sony PSP really took off with a gain of 403%, again, in absolute terms. Where these numbers will be a year from now is anyone’s guess, but with smartphones continuing to pick up steam and tablet devices being release at a fast and furious pace, its seems safe to say that next year’s numbers make these look minuscule.

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Man do we kind of feel bad for T-Mobile this week. Not only did they show up to CTIA with nothing but a crappy netbook, but today they start selling the HD2, a smartphone most people have already forgotten about thanks to the EVO 4G. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement — tons of people have been waiting for this phone for almost six months and no doubt a few die-hards are going to be queued up outside some T-Mobile shops to be first. But do you think they’re going to be all smiles this summer when things like the EVO 4G and fourth-gen iPhone are on sale and they’re 19,999 pennies lighter and still have over a year and a half to go on contract? Nope. 

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As far as we here at BGR are concerned, once a product is physically in store it’s good to be sold regardless of whatever the squares at corporate may think about it and its designated street date. In the spirit of this (and because it’s an admittedly slow Sunday), today we’ve got a few videos of a T-Mobile HTC HD2 that YouTube user JDMiPhoner managed to snag at a Vancouver, WA Walmart a few days ahead of its March 24th street date. He decided to post a series of hands on videos which cover the unboxing, first boot up and configuration, app overview and a demo of voice commands. Excited? Good, because we’ve gone through the trouble of queuing them up after the break for your viewing pleasure.

P.S. If you can’t get enough of the HD2, you can check out an unboxing of it courtesy of one of our connects.

Thanks, to everyone that hit us up!

A lot happened in the US smartphone market from October 2009 to January 2010, but thankfully there are companies like comScore kicking about to help us make sense of just which platforms were the biggest winners and losers during this period. The biggest platform was not surprisingly Google’s Android which saw an uptick of 4.3% to a total of 7.1% thanks in part to the successful launches of handsets like the DROID, DROID ERIS and Hero. RIM’s BlackBerry OS, which faired second best with a gain of 1.7% continued to dominate the total smartphone market at 43%, but one has to wonder if RIM could have done just a little bit more. After all, it did launch the BlackBerry Bold 9700, Curve 8530 and Storm2 during these months. Apple’s iPhone didn’t do as well as many would have guessed, but its 0.3% increase makes quite a bit of sense when you consider the tradition of people holding out on iPhone purchases in the six months leading up the summer release of the devices later iteration. Nonetheless, it does hold a 25.1% stake in the US smartphone market. When it comes to market share, one’s success is another’s misfortune. Not exactly a stranger to losing ground, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile managed to shed 4.0% thanks in part to what can be politely summed up as a general indifference to its current platform (how things will change). After this, we saw Palm with a loss of 2.1%. In Palm’s defence a lot of this can be attributed to people finally getting around to ditching Palm OS, but the fact remains that thing’s aren’t going to well for a company that many felt was on the path to recovery just 15 months ago.

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LG certainly has a huge presence at CES this year with displays and phones almost everywhere you turn. So sit back while we bring all the handsets right to you and make you feel like you were here. Sort of. While we’ve seen of these phones before, there are a few that are still awaiting official details from LG. So here are some pics and details to hold you over for now, after the break.

Here we have the LG Chocolate Touch or VX8575. It comes in a purple or black finish and features a large touch screen. It has Dolby Mobile, a FM tuner, 1GB of memory for your tunes (with up to 16GB support), 3.2 megapixel camera with video, dual-band CDMA 800/1900 MHz and EVDO Rev. 0. Sadly, it doesn’t have Rev. A but the big item LG is pushing here is music.

Next up is the LG expo or GW820 – yep, the one with the projector on it. The projector is kinda cool and it’s pretty vivid, but unfortunately there weren’t any good surfaces (dark ones) where you could really see it shine. This is a Windows Mobile handset for AT&T. It has a touch screen and a slide out QWERTY keyboard, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, WVGA resolution Pico projector, 5MP camera, Wi-Fi, 16GB SD card support, finger print reader and if the pics don’t tell you enough, it’s for AT&T.

Here we have the long, lanky BL40 with its 4 inch wide screen tempered glass. It features a dual screen UI, cinematic screen, one touch copy and paste and gesture shortcuts. But there’s nothing about this phone that you didn’t already know.

The GT540 is definitely a feminine looking phone both in terms of color selection, texture and size. It packs Android as its operating system of choice and has a custom theme and widgets. It also supports DivX and WMV playback, which is a nice touch. Other nifty features include a 3MP camera that has face detection and tagging, various camera filters and LG 3Way Sync.

We’re not gonna lie, coming with Windows Mobile 6.5 and the form factor of this phone makes it look very Samsung-esque. The GW550 has various VPN gateway client support (Cisco), Juniper Network, Checkpoint), push email support, 2.4 inch QVGA display, A-GPS, Wi-Fi and a 3.2MP camera.

Another Windows Mobile 6.5 handset for LG, the GM750, on its CES showcase. This one has a 3 inch WQVGA touch screen, push email support, S-Class UI, 5MP camera, A-GPS and Wi-Fi.

If you were a fan of the original LG Shine, you might like the Shine II or GD710, although we it might be a little late for a sequel. Just like its predecessor, the Shine II is for AT&T. It features AT&T Music support, AT&T Navigator, a little 2MP camera with flash, and 3.6Mbps 3G capabilities on AT&T’s network.

Now onto the Big Boy. This is LG’s latest and we didn’t get much info on it. There will be a keynote later and we were told that video will be available on YouTube this afternoon — we’ll update that in here. But the GW990 packs an Intel Atom Processor, a 4.8″ panoramic screen, PC class Internet experience, HD video with 3D gaming, and multi-window multi-tasking. If LG has a winner on its hands at CES, this thing is it.

So, what do you think of LG’s offerings this year? Let us know while we go grab something else to serve up!

There are a series of recent events and announcements that could lead one to believe that Sprint, LG and Microsoft are working together to announce something big. Sprint has been planning a big show for CES on January 6 and calling it the “must-attend” event of the entire exhibit, and announcements will be made by Dan Hesse and Steve Ballmer. There is little need to second guess what is in store for the announcement if Ballmer and Hesse are taking the stage together.

For the following evening, Sprint and LG have been separately sending out invites to the same event, so it’s very likely the two are working together on a new device. This shindig is also going to be hosted by Brooke Shields. Throw in the announcement from the night before, Sprint’s aggressive plans to launch WiMax-enabled devices, and we have the makings of a Windows Mobile WiMax device on Sprint’s network. None of this is written in stone, but what else could it possibly be?

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Since the very first day it was announced for Europe and Asia, we have known that the HTC HD2 would make its way to the US by the first quarter of 2010. A specific carrier was not named, although the rumor mill was quick to point to T-Mobile, something which was shortly thereafter given credence after the leaking of an alleged internal slide which featured the device. Today a new video featuring a leaked copy of ROM 2.01 proves once and for all that the device is undergoing testing by T-Mobile USA as the boot screen clearly shows the logo of T-Mobile’s “Stick Together” slogan. As for what’s new in 2.01, Windows Mobile junkies will likely love the live preview of files in the Documents tab as well as some much needed spit polish to the music library. Hit the jump for a quick video rundown.

[Via WMPoweruser]

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If you live and die by HTC, you might be very excited to know that the company’s portfolio for the first half of 2010 has been leaked online. HTC’s portfolio was presented in Vienna back in October in a global meeting, and now it’s available for us to see. The phones are broken down by category: Design, Performance, Social and Productivity (can’t a phone be two or more?). Lined up are a number of Windows Mobile 6.5 devices and Android devices, so we hope you’re sitting down for this one. Hit the break to see how the phones are broken down by category and to see some images of the devices themselves!

Under Design and Lifestyle, we have the Legend and Salsa and they’re both Android devices. The Legend is set to be available in March 2010 and the Salsa is slated for June 2010.

Under the Social category, HTC has the Tide and the Buzz. Both are Android devices and scheduled for April and May 2010, respectively.

For Performance, HTC has the Bravo and it definitely looks like it’s packing a lot of high-powered hardware. It has a Snapdragon QSD 8250 1GHz CPU, is capable of 720p HD video recording, 3.7″ WVGA AMOLED screen, a 16GB MicroSD card in-box and a 1400 mAh battery. It’s slated for April 2010 and yes, it will also be packing Android as its choice OS.

For the Productivity category, HTC has the Photon, Trophy and Tera and these will all be WinMo 6.5 devices. The Photon and Trophy are coming in April and May 2010, respectively, but we’re not quite sure on the date for the Tera yet. If we had to guess, it would be in June 2010 following the first two.

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Windows Mobile and Symbian users don’t ever have to worry about getting lost or having to remember their favorite places again. Google recently announced that Google Maps has been upgraded to version 3.3 for Windows Mobile and Symbian. The upgrade now allows you mark your favorite items with a star and keep those synced between your computer and phone. As soon as you upgrade on your WinMo or Symbian device, Google will ask if you want those starred items synchronized between your phone and Google Account. For those of you that rely on starred items in Google Maps, you’ll also be happy to know that you don’t have to go through each favorite spot individually on your phone.

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It took an awfully long time for it to come to market, but today Verizon Wireless has begun selling the Samsung Omnia II in time for the busy Christmas shopping season. Verizon’s second Windows Mobile 6.5 device after the HTC Imagio, the Omnia II sports a 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of internal memory expandable via microSD plus standard smartphone features like Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth and EV-DO Rev. A. connectivity. Of course the Omnia II lacks the Imagio’s global roaming functionality, but honestly, after taking a look at that 3.7″ WVGA AMOLED display, it’s pretty hard to think about anything else. That is unless you can’t afford the $199.99 2-year contract price.

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