Check this out, the HTC Excalibur is being approved for distribution in the US. This QWERTY equipped Smartphone with landscape QVGA screen is built by HTC, the same company responsible for the HTC Wizard and other fantastic Pocket PC & Smartphone designs.
Rumored to be a Moto Q killer, the HTC Excalibur is a Microsoft Smartphone based device with the standard compliment of Bluetooth, WiFi, and GSM/GPRS/EDGE support. Look for this on the Cingular or T-Mobile networks, though there is no indication at this time as to which carrier will pick it up first. I hope both will snap this bad boy up ASAP!
Very interesting – if this article from Engadget Mobile (link below) is true, then Verizon customers will have no trouble roaming off-continent with this device.
I’ve known they were working on this type of solution for awhile, but frankly, I’m surprised that they have it ready to go in the timeframe mentioned in the article.
Verizon subs waiting for the latest BB goodness, your wait is over!
So Skype seems to have released a new version of the Pocket PC interface to their service (though I believe its actually in beta yet). Though they have not worked on reducing the system requirements so all us HTC Wizard users can use the software, they have several new features.
Among the changes:
feature: Multi-chat support
feature: SkypeIn support
feature: Voicemail support
feature: Call forwarding support
feature: Profile editing
feature: Detailed search
feature: Contact list information with avatar and mood messages support
feature: Improved chat-more emoticons and ‘set topic’ ability
feature: Animated emoticons
feature: Skype Launcher
feature: GSM and Skype callsmanagement
feature: Larger Dial Pad and delete button in Dial Pad
feature: Online help
feature: One click access to Skype from the device home screen
change: Contact list sorting
bugfix: Saved SkypeOut contacts are shown without their name in the Log tab
bugfix: VM sender Skype name is displayed instead of the real name
bugfix: Chat partner username instead of the real name displayed in tab head
bugfix: ‘Clear Log’ doesn’t work for unknown SI call
bugfix: Call duration is only in minutes:seconds
bugfix: Search enabled while offline
bugfix: ‘Hold’ is enabled, when the call is already on hold
bugfix: Call ‘hold’ is allowed before call is answered
bugfix: ‘Hold’ reminds checked with new conference call
bugfix: Possible to send just space in chat
bugfix: Overlapped notifications on Start tab
bugfix: Contact names are overlapped in Contact list
bugfix: Allow calls and allow chats menus are empty while signed out
bugfix: Scrollbar doesn’t reach the end in Call log
bugfix: Selected privacy option not updated first time
bugfix: Title bar notifications are not removed after signing out
bugfix: Incoming chat will create notification when some dialog is open
bugfix: Offline icon changes to pending for contact who hasn’t been online for a long time
bugfix: Call duration is delayed for longer calls while browsing other programs at the same time
So it looks like TMo is getting the UMA (Universal Mobile Access) thing moving! Good to see, they seem to be the first wireless carrier to move in this direction.
Of course with their T-Mobile HotSpot service, this is a natural fit to leverage the investment in both GSM and WiFi networks. At least the information I was presented with a few months ago alluded to using the phones on the HotSpot network as well as home & unsecured wireless access points.
This is also interesting because of Sprint’s latest announcement that they will be using WiMax as their 4G platform. Its not that WiFi and WiMax are that close in technology, its that true broadband networking solutions are being used for wireless communication services on a large scale.
And it further proves that the ubiquitous Ethernet standard is exactly what the information age needed during the 80s/90s to develop cheap, quality, plentiful networking capabilities.
Its nice to know that T-Mobile is making huge efforts to win a large portion of the wireless spectrum that they require for 3G services. The company has had the short end of the stick when it comes to wireless spectrum licensing since it started deploying data services.
I’ve been with the T-Mobile as my wireless provider for over 5 years, and have had no issues with call quality, coverage, or customer support. The things I’ve hoped they would improve on, they have; such as handset/device selection, high-speed data services and new features.
So I’m confident that if they are able to win the wireless spectrum they need to roll out 3G services nationwide, they will help lower the cost of high-speed data offered by all the carriers here in the US. Brighthand.com’s Ed Hardy has an article talking about this very topic – good read.
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