In an interview with German newspaper "Welt Online", Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony speaks about the future of Sony but also about a possible future of Sony Ericsson and this future might not be as bright as the past was. When Sony and Ericsson merged as Sony Ericsson, Sony brought its design and media competence into the new venture while Ericsson brought is technical know-how and both together created some exciting phones, except the not so successful Symbian-based UIQ smartphone line. Anyway, it looks like Howard Strigner isn't happy with the current situation of Sony Ericsson and while he hasn't mentioned to either leave the joint venture or to take it over, the interview shows that he's thinking about Sony Ericsson's future:

Earlier this week we reported about the dispute between SiRF and Broadcom and SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. responds tonight to earlier speculations, that its products might be banned from the U.S. According to this information, SiRF and the ITC staff have independently filed appeals with the International Trade Commission (ITC) for review of the ITC Administrative Law Judge's (ALJ) initial ruling that certain SiRF products infringed upon patents held by Global Locate, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Broadcom. In addition, SiRF has taken measures to reassure its customers of multiple alternatives to address this initial ruling to enable SiRF customers to continue shipping their innovative products into the US market.

DataViz today announced the availability of its flagship mobile office suite Documents To Go Premium Edition 3.0 for devices running Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.x Professional and 5.0 for Pocket PC Phone Edition. Already available for Windows Mobile Standard, BlackBerry, Symbian and Palm OS, Documents To Go, will now allow users of Windows Mobile Pocket PC devices to view, edit and create Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files as well as view PDF files on their devices and in their native formats. DataViz has also enhanced the PDF viewer included with their mobile office suite with this release of Documents To Go for Pocket PC.

Adobe, the maker of the world's famous Photoshop software just unveiled that its Photoshop.com service goes in a mobile Beta in September and will initially support selected Windows Mobile smartphones. Adobe Photoshop.com Mobile will allow you to upload, view, and share your photos online from your phone. All you need is a supported Windows Mobile phone and your Photoshop.com account ID. Have Photoshop.com Mobile upload photos from your phone to your Photoshop.com account as soon as you take them. You can store up to 5 GB of photos there free. (Photoshop.com Plus members even get 20 GB of free storage).

Following the earlier photoview of E-Ten's upcoming Glofiish V900 Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 smartphone, this videoview shows some of the hardware highlights in detail. As mentioned, the V900 is a quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE and triband UMTS/HSDPA smartphone and it will be the first 3G Windows Mobile smartphone featuring Europe's widely used free to air digital DVB-T TV service. Following the latest developments, the V900 also features a (VGA) flat panel which makes it easier and nicer to use with thumbs and therefore, the device lacks the Windows Mobile typical Start and OK buttons. The autofocus camera on the backside features a 3 megapixel CMOS chip and quite nice is the fact that the device uses a standard 2.5 mm headset plug instead of propriety headset plugs:

While many GPS-enabled mobile phones and Windows Mobile phones uses Qualcomm's gpsOne technology for embedded GPS, not all mobile devices either use Qualcomm chipsets or Qualcomm's GPS enhancement. And therefore, Broadcom's latest victory might prevent a release of SiRF-enabled in the U.S. As Broadcom announced yesterday, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has recommended that the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) bar from importation into the U.S. infringing chips of SiRF Technology Holdings, and all downstream products that incorporate those chips. The affected products include personal navigation devices (PND), GPS modules and receivers, personal digital assistants (PDA), and cellular telephones.

HTC today announced the launch of a new Windows Mobile Standard smartphone, the S740 which follows, with its QWERTY slide-out keyboard, the design-concept of the HTC Touch Pro but also features a traditional 12-keys phone-pad. At a size of 116.3 x 43.4 x 16.3 mm and weight of 140 gram, HTC's latest Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard smartphone features quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE as well as dualband (900/2100 MHz) UMTS/HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps, WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and GPS/AGPS. The QVGA non-touchscreen measures 2.4" and the main fixfocus camera supports 3.2 megapixel:

Unveiled during the Mobile World Congress back in February, the E-Ten Glofiish V900 is yet one of the few Windows Mobile smartphones which features the, mostly in Europe, supported DVB-T digital TV standard. It's powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and supports quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE as well as triband UMTS/HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, WiFi b/g, an inbuilt SiRF Star III GPS receiver, and an FM radio - in addition to the support of DVB-T.
The V900 is backed-up by 128 MB RAM and 256 MB ROM which can be expanded via microSD cards. The 2.8" touchscreen supports the DVB-T typical VGA resolution and the main autofocus camera with photo light supports 3 megapixel while the front facing 0.3 megapixel ix used for UMTS video telephony:

Unveiled back in February and confirmed again in June, E-Ten today let us know that they will soon launch the Glofiish V900, the first Windows Mobile DVB-T 3G smartphone and the Glofiish X610, a 2.5G entry Windows Mobile smartphone. The Glofiish X610 is an upgraded version of E-Ten's X600 featuring E-Ten's Today screen plug-in, based on Spb Mobile Shell V2.1 as well as the ID is a little different from Glofiish X600 by using a flat touchscreen (which is quite common for today's Windows Mobile Professional smartphone). Powered by Windows Mobile 6.1, the X610 features a Samsung SC3 2442 CPU at 400 MHz, 128 MB Flash ROM and 64 MB SDRAM (expandable via microSD memory cards).

Unveiled earlier as the Palm Treo 850w and even somewhat confirmed by Palm last week already, today Palm officially announced its latest Windows Mobile smartphone, the Palm Treo Pro. With its streamlined design and Palm shortcuts layered on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, the Treo Pro is a combination of sleek simplicity and robust productivity by featuring quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE and triband UMTS/HSDPA, WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and GPS capabilities.
The Palm Treo Pro has 256 MB ROM and 128 MB RAM which can be expanded with microSDHC memory cards, up to 32 GB. While the device lacks a front facing camera for video telephony, it features a 2.0 megapixel main camera on the back.

When HTC started back in the 90's of the last century, it started as an ODM for companies like Compaq (today HP) and for instance manufactured Compaq's best-seller Pocket PC, the iPAQ. However, as time went bye, the classic Pocket PC PDA segment more or less fade-out and today it's all about smartphones. When HTC announced its "Global Branding Strategy" early last year, HTC made clear that it wasn't re-launched as an ODM brand again: "In the future, HTC will provide consumers with consistent global marketing services under the 'HTC' brand name. This comprehensive global marketing strategy will build up real, long-term brand value for HTC and will boost the company's overall competitiveness".

Not that the HTC Touch Pro is anything new or unknown anymore. Far from it since HTC as well as T-Mobile and O2 Germany have announced its HTC Raphael versions already.
Nevertheless, all the different HTC Raphael versions just received the GCF (Global Certification Forum) approvals but the GCF also unveiled that there are two O2 versions planned: The already known Xda diamond pro from O2 Germany and the Xda Serra (most likely from O2 UK and Ireland).

Not that the Palm Treo Pro is officially announced yet but somehow, a Flash video demonstration briefly appeared on Palm's very own website (it has since been removed). Nevertheless, some screenshots stay and from what it looks, it might be the earlier leaked and so far as Palm Treo 850w aka "Palm Drucker" Windows Mobile Professional smartphone which features Palm's typical QWERTY thumb-keyboard. While the recently launched Palm Treo 800w is working in CDMA networks only, it's expected that the Palm Treo 850w (or Palm Treo Pro as we've learned now) is Palm's Treo 750 follower and therefore works with GSM and UMTS.

The smartphone with the most coverage 08/09 might be the Apple iPhone 3G but European smartphone of the year is a different one, it's the HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Corporation's flagship handset has been named "European Smart Phone 2008-2009" by the members of EISA, the European Imaging and Sound Association. EISA is a unique association made up of some the most influential lifestyle and gadget publications across Europe; consisting of 49 member magazines spanning 18 European countries. The HTC Touch Diamond was elevated above the competition thanks to its combination of innovative design and impressive functionality, applauded by EISA members.

In my humble opinion, there are not too many good and useable Twitter clients available for Windows Mobile smartphones but the best one - Tiny Twitter - just got an update which adds some interesting features like TwitPic-support as well as the possibility to post your location to Windows Live Maps.
Furthermore it now features a pop-up info screen, similar to the Windows Mobile SMS and E-Mail pop-up, info which notifies you about new and unread tweets, replies and direct messages:

HTC just send out a press information where the Taiwanese smartphone manufacture confirmed that it's still on plan and and in time for its first Google Android smartphone launch.
HTC replied to a report from Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research who recently said that HTC is "having structural problems to incorporate Google's demanded feature set" and HTC is "demanding a guaranteed minimum revenue surety from Google", from which Chowdhry concludes that "Probably HTC does not think there will be enough demand for GPhone".

If you are already in the pre-Olympic fever and you want to get more news beside the official channels, you might want to check out fring's fringOlympics fringAdd-on. fring's dedicated on-site fringsters are ready to bring the highlights and low down from the Olympics field and village, during day and night. fringsters can receive real time text and images updates via fring from fring very own fringentators (commentators, correspondents, play-by-players, unruly news distributors, etc) from the Olympics. The Olympic fringsters are equipped with the latest version of fring to bring you the hottest news as it happens, real-time updates and behind the scenes gossip from Beijing direct to your mobile.

HTC today announced that something great has happened for you since HTC is no longer holding its ROM updates behind an e-Club registration wall. As of Thursday, just like on HTC's US site, you will be able to visit the support section for any of HTC's unlocked Windows Mobile smartphone and UMPC models and see a link to downloads, including ROMs. For sure, these ROMs can be used with original HTC devices only and will not work with carrier branded versions (out of the box) but many of us has experienced the frustration of not being able to register a phone properly on the HTC e-Club, and therefore have been denied a ROM update. Actually HTC listened to all our complaints and opened the download to everybody.

Samsung Singapore just made its first ROM update for the SGH-i900 Omnia Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional smartphone available which can now be downloaded from the web.
This self-service ROM update (no more service center returns) should include new functionalities like new widgets for Samsung's custom Today screen and a brand-new Hanyu Pinyin text input method for typing in Chinese characters as well as several bug fixes. Other changes and enhancements are unknown yet because Samsung doesn't published a detailed change-log.

While the Samsung SGH-i900 Omnia was initially released in "modern black" (chrome front with black battery cover), Singaporean can soon select between black and white. As CNet Asia's Crave blog reported on Monday, Samsung Singapore will introduce a white version (with a slightly different structure) this weekend. Looks like Samsung is continuing re-releasing current devices with new colors, like before with AT&T's BlackJack II refresh.
Furthermore, CNet Asia reports that Samsung Singapore will also release a ROM upgrade in Singapore later this month, which includes new widgets for the custom Home screen and a brand-new Hanyu Pinyin text input method for typing in Chinese characters.

Not too much is known yet about Motorola's latest Windows Mobile project but The Boy Genius Report received information about an upcoming Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard (non-touchscreen) device which might follows the Motorola Moto Q. Code-named "Alexander", at least the screen indicates that it is a Standard smartphone, the smartphone features a slide-out QWERTY thumb-keyboard, a massive 5 - 8 megapixel camera, NVIDIA chip the handle 3D graphics and a aGPS receiver. However, no word yet about the used/supported WWAN technology or frequencies:

In addition to the HTC Touch Diamond information for Sprint and Verizon, phoneArena.com also received information about an upcoming North American HTC Touch Pro launch. According to these information, both, Sprint and Verizon, will release a CDMA version of HTC's upcoming HTC Touch Pro and like the GSM/UMTS version, the North American versions will also feature the 5-rows slide-out keyboard which Sprint's internal code-name is "HTC Herman" while Verizon calls it "HTC Raphael". This speaks for the fact that Sprint's Touch Pro will have the same design as the upcoming T-Mobile MDA Vario IV while Verizon's version will most likely look like the original HTC Touch Pro.

Following yesterday's posting about the expected release of the HTC Touch Diamond Windows Mobile Professional smartphone at Sprint, phoneArena.com received further information for both American CDMA carriers: Sprint and Verizon. According to internal information, the HTC Touch Diamond will be called HTC Victor at Sprint and HTC Diamond at Verizon. And while Sprint's HTC Victor runs on the original HTC Touch Diamond Qualcomm 7501A chipset at 528 MHz, Verizon's HTC Diamond only runs on a Qualcomm 7500 chipset at 400 MHz. Other differences are the memory: While the Sprint's Victor is expected to feature 256 MB ROM, 256 MB RAM and the well known 4 GB internal flash memory, Verizon's Diamond is expected to feature 256 MB of ROM but 128 MB of RAM only and also the 4 GB flash memory is left in favor of microSD card support.

The Opticon Mobility Group announced today that their H16 Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional smartphone was just certified by AT&T and they are currently seeking certification of their H19 Windows Mobile 5 Professional smartphone, for a September release. The smartphones are compatible with AT&T's GSM and GPRS networks. Certified AT&T and Opticon solution partners include Telenav, Corrigo, Salesforce.com, and Sybase iAnywhere. Opticon smartphones offer superior scanning abilities with a competitive price point, making them stand out over any other product. The H19 was recently recognized by AT&T as the Best New Network Compatible Device at the CTIA Wireless Tradeshow.

While neither Sprint nor HTC made any official announcements yet, Taiwanese' "The China Post" unveiled in its Saturday issue, that "the company [HTC] begin selling the handset [HTC Touch Diamond] through Sprint Nextel Corp. in August". This would make perfect sense since the EVDO Touch Diamond is on sale in Canada already and photos of a Sprint branded HTC Touch Diamond was spotted earlier already.
If Sprint is going to release the HTC Touch Diamond in the U.S., it's most likely that Sprint's version shares the feature-set of Telus Mobility's HTC Touch Diamond including Windows Mobile 6.1, EVDO Rev. A high-speed Internet and TouchFLO 3D: