HTC Touch Pro & Diamond on Sprint, Verizon?!

Sprint and Verizon have signed a deal to carry not only the HTC Touch Pro, but the Touch Diamond as well! CDMA-ers have to be elated as these are 2 of the most anticipated devices of the year. Release dates at this point are unknown, and so are all those ever so important juicy details, but one thing we do know is that the Touch Pro has already been approved by the FCC.

Rumor has it this is their eager attempt to try and snag some people away from the ridiculously popular iPhone. As far as we can tell, the iPhone will not be available on a CDMA network (Verizon & Sprint, etc) for quite some time.. if ever, so this is a nice pickup.

Looks like we’re going to keep a look out for an HTC press release on these bad boys, until then..

[Via Phone Mag & Into Mobile]

HTC Touch Pro Gets Fondled

The “business professional” version of HTC’s highly anticipated and self congratulating HTC Diamond recently got played with by MobileBurn, SlashGear and PhoneMag. The Touch Pro and Xperia will go head-to-head for your hard earned bucks in a few months, but why wait to start information gathering?

The folks at MobileBurn liken the Touch Pro as a Diamond clone… with a slideout full QWERTY keyboard added and an inherently thicker body. This QWERTY Keyboard is of course what helps pit it directly against the Xperia X1 from Sony Ericsson. Early reports of the Xperia were that the tactile feedback on the full QWERTY buttons were less than par, giving the Touch Pro an easy advantage should its keyboard be worthy.

According to SlashGear, although the QWERTY buttons on the HTC Touch Pro are smaller than on some of the other HTC devices, they still have a good feel to them and are “usable”. That sounds like an advantage over the Xperia… but not much of one. And some folks, like the boys at IntoMobile, have contested the school of thought that the Xperia keyboard is dysfunctional to begin with.

Its early… but its nice to see the Touch Pro get played with. Here is the video but unfortunately, the secretive folks at HTC removed the battery beforehand, so its a hardware only demo!

Overall this phone looks pretty snazzy. Kudos to HTC… and well done on offering the same phone with a touch screen only and full QWERTY version - the more options the better!

[Via MobileBurn, PhoneMag, SlashGear]

HTC Diamond Available At… CompUSA?

We’ve been wondering when the HTC Touch Diamond would knock on the American door and it finally has, thanks to the hospitality of the folks at CompUSA had 200+ stores nationwide but they’re now down to about 16 stores and have been purchased by Systemax to help build the assets and value of their TigerDirect subsidiary.

Curiously enough, TigerDirect doesn’t feature the phone on THEIR website but CompUSA does. And while we don’t really care what retailer gets it, we do care about some of the info dropped on that CompUSA page.

For one, it’ll sport a tri-band GSM Radio and it features GPS, WiFi and 3G connectivity. The doozy here is that it will cost $780 without a contract. So, even if you’re looking at a $200 discount for 2-year contract and some type of mail in rebate for $100, the phone is still around the $400 mark. Ouch.

We’d like to compare this with the American version of the HTC Touch Pro, spec for spec and price for price. Because if you’re already spending $400+, why not shell out a tiny bit more and get the works?

[Via IntoMobile]

HTC Touch Pro Officially Announced!

You’ve previously known it as the HTC Raphael… but no more! You shall now address your royal mobileness as the HTC Touch Pro!

This thing is a real beauty and get this - it’s actually an improved version of the glorious HTC Touch Diamond - designed with a full slide out QWERTY keyboard and improved specs with the business person in mind.

Scroll down for specs and revel in these pictures that are so sexy the make you want to Touch Pro yourself:

A whole gang of folks reported on this before us, so we’ll give them all their due respect:

HTC Diamond Tour & Accessories

So the recent release of the HTC Cubic Zirconia was all but ignored considering that the HTC Diamond is well on its way to becoming one of the top tier powerhouses in the mobile world.

Well, for folks who feel the same way and are eager for the Diamond to hit the streets, we wanted to let you know that HTC has a little promo site and tour of for the diamond. You can visit it here.

[Via HTC]

HTC Cubic Zirconia

Until the Diamond is released, everything coming out of HTC (minus an Android Phone) is nothing more than a second rate wannabe - sorry ’bout it. That’s why the recently revealed HTC P3400i is nothing more than Cubic Zirconia.

For mobile fans, you want to just move past the news until the Diamond drops, but in reality, it is a nice little entry level smartphone for those just entering the “phones that do more” market.

But don’t say we didn’t warn you. As soon as folks are flashing their Diamonds that only cost 1/3rd of the price more, and you’ve got your left-in-the-dust wannabe Cubic Zirconia, you’ll wish you took our advice to hold out, save up a few bucks and splurge on something a little nicer.

HTC Touch Diamond Pictures, Unboxing

Ooh La La… the HTC Touch Diamond is looking better with each and every passing day. When the (somewhat) mysterious product was announced, many were disappointed HTC’s forthcoming Android phone wasn’t the cause, but these pictures are making us feel a lot better about the whole thing.

Diamonds may be forever, but when does forever start?








[Via SlashPhone & ePrice]

HTC Planning May 26th Android Handset Unveiling?

An invitation has been floating around the interwebs asking some of the top tech sources to “Witness the Next Wave of HTC Innovation,” at a press conference in London on May 6th.

Some folks are speculating this will be the official unveiling of the first ever Android Phone… the HTC Dream. The verbage of secrecy and unmatched innovation make this seem like a logical choice. However, there are plenty of doubters out there.

The pessimists remind us that Android handsets certainly won’t be available before the 2nd half of 2008 and for them to do enough testing and sampling of 3rd party applications to make Android worth the buy… an October or November launch is probably accurate.

We agree… We agree…

But what these pessimists have forgotten is that Samsung recently upped their efforts in order to push out an Android Phone before HTC. Releasing the first Android Phone has become a matter of Pride and HTC doesn’t want to lose that distinction.

Some may still argue, “It doesn’t matter whose device comes first… when Android phones are made available for purchase it will matter whose Android phone is better.” Initially… yes. But HTC is looking to advance in the ranks as a mobile manufacturer and having created the first Android enabled device would be a huge notch in its belt. If Android is incredibly successful as many analysts are predicting, being the “Original Android Makers,” will be an honor that nobody can take away.

We’ll admit… part of the reason we’re leaning towards this May 6th event being the Day of Android Destiny is because we WANT it to be. Let us see the Dream… please?