O2’s latest smartphone, the re-badged HTC TyTN II (right) has a UK release date apparently - November 26.
The device will be called the O2 xda Stellar and its set to be one of the most high-end devices in O2’s line-up. As well as the normal things like a QWERTY keyboard, it also features Windows Mobile 6, HSDPA, a three-megapixel camera and GPS.
According to coolsmartphone.com, O2 is just trying to get rid of its stock of xda Trion handsets first, before it unleashes the Stellar.
Presumably this means the Trion didn’t sell as well as O2 was hoping. Does this mean that O2’s customers’ appetite for xda devices is waning? With a device as powerful as the TyTN II, surely this isn’t going to be the case?
Although Sony Ericsson has always been vanguards of touchscreens in mobile phones, the release of the iPhone has put them in the unique position of playing catch up. The long rumoured P5i touchscreen wunderkind is looking ever more tangible and many are expecting an official announcement for the handset as soon as next week.
No actual spy shots of the device have emerged yet but the ever dependable Esato forums has a very nice looking render of the device as well as a run down of what are rumoured to be the finished specs.
Besides the 2.5 inch VGA touchscreen, the P5i is also said to sport a 5 MP camera with auto focus and flash, built-in GPS, Wi-Fi, 160 MB ROM, 128 MB SDRAM, a 360 MHz CPU, HSDPA/HSUPA connectivity and a MicroSD/Memory Stick M2 card slot. Most interesting of all however is the Symbian 9.3 OS, UIQ 3.2 touchscreen UI that runs on the device, something we have already been hearing murmurs about.
If these specs turn out to be accurate, this could be one serious touchscreen contender. As soon as we get the concrete details we’ll print them here.
(Via Esato forums)
O2 has confirmed it’s carrying the new version of its xda Orbit called, imaginatively enough, the xda Orbit 2.
HTC’s poor old smartphones always have a schizophrenic approach to their names, and this is no exception. O2 is calling the device one thing, but you might know it as the HTC Polaris or HTC Touch Cruise. Of course, when other operators carry it, it’ll have another name as well.
Needless to say, all these different versions will have the same features. They’ll have the new TouchFLO controls, a 400Mhz processor, quad-band GSM as well as 3G/HSDPA, a three-megapixel camera and wi-fi. Oh, and of course, as a HTC device, you know it’ll run on Windows Mobile.
O2 will start selling the xda Orbit 2 from early next month with pre-installed TomTom GPS software and a 1GB microSD card. Now, you might think this’ll be expensive, right? Wrong. According to reports, it’s going to cost a mere €99 (£65-£70) on a contract.
It’s got more under the hood than and iPod and it’ll cost less than an iPod Nano let alone the iPhone. Now that’s a bargain.
We want one. One of the new LG’s that is - not the models.
LG’s already won plaudits for its stylish, sexy handsets like the LG Prada and LG Chocolate phones, and now it’s turned its hand to smartphones with the LG KS20.
It looks similar to the Prada handset but the KS20 is more like a iPhone (surprise, surprise). It boasts a 2.8-inch touchscreen and runs on Windows Mobile 6 Professional, and to ensure connectivity has HSDPA as well.
As you would expect from all this, the LG KS20 is designed to be the ultimate mobile internet smartphone. It will play music and video content and has a two-megapixel camera, plus another for video calling. Further content can be stored on the microSD card slot.
It looks superb and from the sounds of the specs, will work like a dream as well. It could have the looks and the capabilities to make it the ultimate smartphone.
The catch? It’s not available in the UK. Yet. If you want one, you’ll have to get it in France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy, or wait until it’s undoubtedly released over here sometime soon.
UK operators 3 and T-Mobile are reported to be in discussions about sharing their HSDPA high-speed 3G networks in order to cut costs. The deal, which could save the two companies millions in network investment costs, would also speed-up deployment of HSDPA in the UK. Which is good news for us punters.
However, lurking in the corporate bushes is the prospect that T-Mobile could go on to swallow 3 whole, with the latter having been up for sale by its parent Hutchinson Whampoa for some time. If a buy-out by T-Mobile lead to an expansion of 3’s innovative services, such as its X-Series, then we’d be wholeheartedly behind it (there’s nothing worse than a company lingering on the point of sale for months or even years on end).
But corporate acquisitions often lead to less consumer choice rather than more — and for Hutchison to flog-off mobile internet evangelist 3 as the industry stands on the cusp of a mobile internet explosion (thanks to HSDPA) seems perhaps a little short-sighted.
(Via Mobile Today)
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