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HTC press event photos

Here are a few more photos from the HTC Touch Diamond press event.

The initial introductions were made by Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. We were given a bit of background with lots of references to the HTC Touch and also mobile web browsing.

HTC’s Peter Chou

The first time we got to see the devices they were all held in plastic display cases so it wasn’t possible to play with them and taking pictures was tricky. However, you can see the cool media player interface shown in the image below.

HTC Touch Diamond Media Player

As you’ll be able to see from the shot below, the HTC Touch Diamond is extremely thin at just 11mm it’s less than half the thickness of the TyTN II. The Touch Diamond is also significantly lighter and weighs in at a mere 110 grams!

HTC Touch Diamond vs TyTN II

Although the buttons on the Touch Diamond are completely smooth they are still physical buttons with a positive click action rather than being touch sensitive. The ring you can see around the d-pad area is touch sensitive though and works like a jog wheel. Circling the wheel clockwise zooms in and counter-clockwise zooms out when used with Opera and Image Viewer, and probably other apps too.

HTC Touch Diamond navigation buttons

Finally, a number of the HTC people at the event had their own Touch Diamond devices and they all had nice leather slip or pouch style cases for their phones. The cases were good quality and had a soft material lining which wipes the screen each time you slide the Diamond in or out.

We’re not sure whether or not the case will be supplied with the Diamond as we were given conflicting information on this. Hopefully it will be included with the retail units.

HTC Touch Diamond case?

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Touch Diamond]

HTC’s Offical Touch Diamond press release

Here we have the official preess release from HTC:

A NEW AGE FOR MOBILE PHONES BEGINS; HTC UNVEILS ‘TOUCH DIAMOND’

Debut brings breakthroughs in size, style connectivity and overall user experience, leaves compromise at the door.

LONDON — May 6, 2008 — Born from a unique heritage of innovation and a deep desire to blend design with simplicity, HTC Corp., a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today unveiled its new flagship phone, the HTC Touch Diamond. Delivering unmistakable style and meticulous craftsmanship the HTC Touch Diamond is defined by its compact size, game-changing Internet and its new captivating 3D touch interface called TouchFLO 3D. The result is an uncompromising mobile phone that sets a new benchmark for phone sophistication and shapes consumer expectations for how a phone can be used.

“Today we mark a new era in mobile phone evolution, an era where beauty and size integrate with uncompromising innovation at broadband speeds,” said Peter Chou, president and CEO, HTC Corp. “The HTC Touch Diamond will make browsing the Web and using Web-enabled applications just as practical and easy to use as making calls.”

A New Dimension To Touch

HTC has taken a great leap forward in touch screen innovation with the introduction of its new 3D touch interface called TouchFLO 3D. TouchFLO 3D provides animated access to people, messaging, email, photos, music, weather and more. In addition, HTC is introducing a new innovative touch-sensitive control for interacting with Touch Diamond.

Making The Mobile Internet Fun

With the introduction of the Touch Diamond, HTC delivers an entirely new mobile Internet experience that utilizes broadband-like speeds with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA wireless connectivity. Committed to improving Web browsing, HTC provides a new customized mobile Web browser that enables easy viewing and effortless navigation of Websites in the way they were designed. As part of this browsing experience users can zoom and pan Websites with one-hand and automatically view optimized content that has been specially created to fit the display. Turning the device sideways automatically rotates the web page view from a portrait to landscape view.

In addition to Web browsing, the Touch Diamond includes a customized new, HTC-developed, YouTube application for watching a variety of user generated video content as well as utilizing Google Maps for mobile for mapping and traffic data.

Unmatched Style and Size

The Touch Diamond is crafted with precision to fit comfortably in a user’s hand without compromising on features or functionality. Blending contrasting design elements of metal and unique geometric facets, the Touch Diamond complements a user’s personal style.

Bursting with Innovation

The Touch Diamond delivers an unrivalled combination of features and functionality that set a new standard for integrating mobile phone innovation into a small package. The 2.8 inch display provides near-print quality viewing that enables beautiful Web browsing and viewing of photographs. The built-in camera includes an optical auto-focus lens that ensures the photos you take will be clear and consistent. Advanced wireless and auto sensor screen pivoting are just a few of the features that make the Touch Diamond experience a stand out.

Availability

The HTC Touch Diamond™ will be available to customers across all major European carriers in June. It will be available later this quarter in Asia and the Middle East. The North American and Latin American versions of the Touch Diamond will be available in the second half of 2008.

“Our long-standing relationship with HTC meant they shared their phone concept and worked with us from the earliest stage. This early collaboration is important to us because at Orange, we know that the right multimedia experience is about more than just the phone,” said Olaf Swantee, EVP of Orange’s global mobile operations. “Our approach is to select and test the best phones and integrate our applications, combining them with access to the Orange World portal, the best tariffs, integrated billing, a user-friendly interface and excellent customer support. With the Touch Diamond from Orange we have created a unique phone which has taken advantage of our latest service innovation to build upon the consistently rich experience customers expect from Orange.”

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Diamond]

HTC Confirm the HTC Touch Diamond

As expected, HTC have launched the HTC Touch Diamond at today’s press conference. You can find all the details on the HTC site (they’ve just updated it) but I’m just editing and processing the photos and video of the event. These will be online shortly.

Lots of cool features in the device:

HTC Diamond vs TyTN II

Confirmed HTC Touch Diamond Specification:

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Diamond]

HTC press event coverage

Today HTC are holding a press conference in London where they will be announcing ‘something big’.

It is expected that the big announcement will involve their new HTC Diamond and Raphael handsets but there could well be some surprises along the way.

I’m on my way in to London now and the event starts at 11am. It’s rather a full programme with several activities scheduled with Peter Chou (CEO of HTC), Eric Lin (HTC’s Chief Designer) and John Wang (Chief Marketing Officer).

I’ll be posting news throughout the day and uploading video where possible. As HTC are allowing only one reprsentative from each publication, Paul (MoDaCo) and I will be working together and between us we hope to bring you the best possible coverage.

Fingers crossed we’ll be getting some hands-on time with new devices so please check back throughout the afternoon to see what we’ve found out!

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Orange, HTC, HTC Diamond]

Toshiba G710 and G910 available Mid-May

Toshiba re-entered the PDA/Phone arena in 2007 with the Toshiba G500 and G900. With a great specification including a VGA display, the G900 received good reviews and sales in the UK, but was somewhat hampered but what some would deem ‘buggy’ software.

Wanting to continue and improve the range Toshiba has announced the Toshiba Protégé G710 and G910. The big brother to the G900 the G910 has all the features required by demanding users today, whilst the Toshiba Protégé G710 is a compact messaging smartphone.

With a clamshell design the G910 has a 3” VGA screen, QWERTY keyboard full HSDPA connectivity, Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11b/g, GPS, biometric fingerprint reader not to mention the onboard cameras!

Toshiba G910a

The G710 has a few less features, but is by no means lacking. A QWERTY keypad, GPS, Bluetooth and a sleek and slim design, the G710 is a perfect messaging device.

Toshiba G710a

Pricing of the Toshiba Protégé G910 has been confirmed at £348+VAT, and the G710 at £185+VAT with first UK stock being available form 14th May.

If you think one of the above devices are suitable for you, or you require more information, Clove Technology, PDA and mobile device experts with 15 years experience have the answers to your questions. Visit www.clove.co.uk for more information or to place your order.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Windows Mobile blog, G910, G710, Toshiba, Tracy & Matt]

Devicewire free delivery weekend

Here’s another great offer, this time from our friends and Devicewire. Here in the UK it’s May bank holiday weekend and to celebrate the extra day off Devicewire.com are offering free standard UK delivery on all orders placed between now and 8am on Tuesday 6th May so if you have been considering a new handset then maybe now is the time to head on over to Devicewire.com to make your purchase!?

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Devicewire, Free Delivery, Tracy & Matt]

Samsung i600 now under £100

We all love a bargain so check out this offer – eXpansys have brand new and unlocked Samsung i600’s available for just £99.95 including VAT!

Keep in contact with your office. The Samsung i600 seamlessly synchronises your calendar, contacts and tasks, making sure your always up to date. Full Microsoft Exchange support delivers your e-mails to you the instant they arrive, making sure you don’t miss important information.

The only thing to note is that these are unlocked devices but are pre-configured for Orange for use on the Orange network and are Orange branded. You can hoever turn off most of the Orange branding and still use these phones on any network so they’re still a fantastic brgain!

Go check out the product page on the eXpansys site for more details.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tags: smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Samsung SGH-i600, Orange, Samsung Windows Mobile blog]

Neonode N2 changes colour

More Neonode news today and this time the N2 goes colourful.

The N2 will soon be available in 4 new colours as well as the original black. I think these look extremely cool!

Neonode N2 colour lineup

From the press release:

Neonode, the Swedish mobile communication company that develops touch screen technologies and designs mobile handsets, today announced the availability of Neonode N2, its highly acclaimed touch screen phone, in a new range of colors on the company’s web shop.

The new color portfolio holding the lively mix of the colors Lime (green), Azure (blue), Rubine (red) and Roza (pink), will initially be available through the company’s web site, www.neonode.com, and is expected to be rolled out to current markets during the course of the year.

The Neonode N2 has been available in black since its launch in August 2007 and sold 31,000 units in Q4 2007. Due to increased customer demand, Neonode decided to move up the launch of a new specially designed color portfolio.

“The color portfolio is an important part of our strategy to spread the brand and product awareness as well as ramp up the production and reach our sales targets,” said Daniel Stålbo, Director of Marketing at Neonode. “These new colors will be a natural part of several upcoming promotional campaigns and we also expect them to be a powerful tool when entering new markets.”

Simultaneously with the color portfolio launch, Neonode today also presents a new corporate web site with enhanced investors and media information. The web site can be reached directly at http://investor.neonode.com.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): Tracy & Matt, Smartphone News, Neonode, N2, TMM]

GSmart unveils its newly developed UI

In a press release today, GSmart announced their new UI for Windows Mobile Professional devices; Smart Touch.

You can see their video demonstation here on YouTube and read the press release below:

GSmart has announced newly developed UI software – Smart Touch, a new interface that is intuitive, informative and flexible, a more user friendly interface that surely add-value to GSmart products and great benefit to GSmart users when it comes available in April.

GSmart, as one of the PDA phone supplier, it has established a sound position in the market when its famous world’s first (and still the only one) DVB-T roaming PDA phone were introduced to the public, and after since, GSmart has been harvesting the market productively and actively, it has introduced several new models, and each with unique features. GSmart’s hard work and ability in continuous innovation are well recognized in the industry.

Growing with the PDA phones and Smartphone market, GSmart has recently developed a new UI – Smart Touch, which is a finger friendly interface that works like iPhone, but it’s intuitive, informative and flexible features, makes GSmart phone much more personal than iPhone, it is a more integrated version with useful and interesting features.

INTUITIVE

Smart Touch is an interface that users can customize by adding in 16 most frequently used apps as shortcuts on standby screen, with the shortcuts list displaying at the bottom of the screen, users are able to find the shortcuts they want to activate by swiping across the screen and launch the program simply by tapping on the icon!

Icon-to-Icon

Furthermore, Smart Touch has iconized the shortcut list; users can add the shortcut from the list by dragging the shortcut icon to the activate icon, and vice versa: – the shortcut icon can be deleted by dragging to the icon to the trash bin icon. Users are able to manipulate their phone more intuitively and user friendly.

INFORMATIVE

As the main users of PDA phones are mostly business users, GSmart has planned to utilize the middle of the screen to display as much information as possible. For Smart Touch, it can now show the clock in two types of clock face, which are digital or hand clock, user can switch the two types of clock face simply by swiping fingers to the left and to the right. GSmart promise that it will develop further and more informative features should be able to display on the screen.

FLEXIBLE

For those that still adapted to the original interface, it is flexible to switch in between the original interface and Smart Touch. However, GSmart has confidence that the user friendliness of Smart Touch will keep the users no returning to the original interface!

Like the most phone features, users also can customized its own Smart Touch screen, set their own theme, color or even use their favorite pictures as the background. The flexibility and customization is to have the users enjoying more of the new interface!

GSmart revealed that the Chinese version Smart Touch has accidently leaked to the market in April, and has alre that Smart Touch software available to download in many websites, however, those illegal versions are not fully workable due to the protection coding. However, Smart Touch will introduce to European market after May, and GSmart users are able to experiences the genuine and sensational Smart Touch UI by then!

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, GSmart, Gigabyte, Tracy & Matt]

Neonode Lands Major Deal in Germany

More good news for Neonode and Neonode fans, as they’ve just struck a deal in Germany.

The Neonode N2

Neonode, today announced it has entered the largest market in Western Europe by striking a deal with Brodos AG, one of the leading distributors and retailers in Germany. The German market comprises 25.6% of all handset sales in Europe; according to a 2007 industry report by market research firm RNCOS.

Brodos AG has a wide-ranging franchising system of major retailers, including the company’s independent mobile chain of 500 outlets, my-eXtra. Brodos is the provider of major brands such as Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG. In addition to its own stores, my-eXtra supplies about 5,000 German dealers with mobile phones and enhancements.

The Neonode N2 will initially be sold in my-eXtra’s stores beginning in May and subsequently rolled out in Brodos’ extensive network of independent retailers. The first shipment was made in April.

With subscription at major carriers such as T-Mobile, Vodafone, E-Plus and O2 the Neonode N2 may be available to customers for as low as 1 EURO.

“Neonode N2 is a powerful and versatile multimedia mobile phone with state-of the-art touch screen technology that is likely to be well-received by our network of dealers,” said Stefan Vitzithum, CPO at Brodos AG. “We are confident that the Neonode N2 will be an attractive addition to our portfolio of consumer technology products.”

Neonode’s entry into Germany and Brodos AG is facilitated by Sapera GmbH, a major market entry and sales specialist liaised with all leading mobile operators, major distributors and service providers nationwide. As Neonode’s sales agent Sapera will, as a continuance, broaden the Company’s distribution and marketing reach in Germany.

“We feel that this partnership holds great possibilities and the Sapera-Brodos arrangement enables Neonode a perfect entry into Germany,” said Per Hellberg, Vice President of Sales at Neonode. “It is with great reassurance we are now launching the Neonode N2 in the largest Western European market.”

The Neonode N2 will debut in Germany on April 28 in a pre-launch campaign on the exclusive online fashion and lifestyle shopping community BuyVIP (www.buyvip.de).

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): Tracy & Matt, Smartphone News, Neonode, N2, TMM]