Have a quick glance at specs:

General: 2G Network     GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network     HSDPA 2100
Size: 129 x 70 x 9.9 mm
Weight: 129 g

Display: TFT resistive touchscreen, 256K colors (65K effective)

480 x 800 pixels, 4.1 inches
- Touch-sensitive navigation controls
- Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
- 3D user interface
- Shake control
Sound:     Alert types     Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
Speakerphone: Yes
Phonebook: Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records: Practically unlimited
Internal Memory: 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
Card slot: microSD, up to 16GB
Data: GPRS     Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps
EDGE     Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G     HSDPA, HSUPA
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
Bluetooth: Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
USB: Yes, microUSB
Camera: 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus
Features: Videocalling
Video:    Yes, VGA@30fps
OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz processor
Messaging: SMS (threaded view), EMS, MMS, Email
Colors: Black, White
GPS: Yes, with A-GPS support
Java: Yes, MIDP 2.0
- Pocket Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, PDF viewer)
- MP3/MP4 player
- Facebook and YouTube apps
- Photo editor
- Voice memo/dial
- Organizer
Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1000 mAh
Stand-by: Up to 276 h
Talk time: Up to 5 h

Phone definately has all the top specs you need from a smartphone, to name a few: 1GHZ Snapdragon processor, large memory, 4.1 inch display, GPS, HSDPA and accelerometer. Phone is very slim and easily fits in shirt pocket. You would think that this kind of device would cost you dearly, but currently there is a deal at Orange shops where you can get this on Pay as You Go for only £149.99 with £10 top-up. That is very good value for money, especially if you want to use the device for internet surfing and watching videos on the move.

On the other hand, there are few drawbacks that I think worth mentioning. Device runs on Windows 6.5, although much improved, still not the best mobile operating system. Also screen is resistive touchscreen, which means not very responsive to finger touch, but you will be ok using nails or stylus. Headphone jack is only micro USB, but there is an adapter to 3.5 mm bundled in the box.

Offer for this phone is only available from Orange shops or online, so if you are looking for inexpensive large screen phone, get your Toshiba while stocks last!

Improved Functions and Fixes:

1. When you launch the Camera while the system is working on other programs, the preview screen may become black.

2. When playing a video, sometimes a portion of the video will be cut off a little bit.

3. Fixes Audio playback problem with the speaker. Specific issues: sometimes the music will turn off and on after 10 minutes, or there is a buzzing sound or no sound at all.

4. Fixes the problem of not being able to receive MMS when in standby mode.

5. When launching music via the Music tab on TouchFLO 3D, the sound may intermittently turn off for a second and come back on.

HTC support site gives instructions on how to apply the update. Please remember to backup your data before the update, you will need to re-install additional applications that you might have been using before install.

Skyfire was only available to customers in US previously but now you can type in your UK mobile phone number on Skyfire website for over-the-air installs and also you can download the application to your desktop and install to your mobile device. Browser can be installed on devices running Windows mobile or Symbian.

Browsing multimedia rich websites on Skyfire is absolute pleasure, you can watch embedded flash videos or Silverlight content. Websites appear exactly as they would on desktop browser. We have tested popular video sharing websites like Youtube, ESPN and Vimeo, videos play without any problems.

Skyfire browser experience is client-server based, so before you see your website on your mobile device, Skyfire server does some processing of websites before sending them to your phone. Because of this, BBC iPlayer videos do not play, because BBC website identifies you as a non-UK visitor.

Otherwise browser works well, apart from occasional hickups. Download, try it for yourself and share your experience with us!

Phone is not cheap, as you can see, you will need to dig out £524.99 out of your pocket for this device!

If you want this device subsidized by network carrier, then you will have to wait till Orange starts selling, which is exclusive carrier of this handset.

Touch HD is another multimedia focused device that has huge 3.8″ screen and driven by touch interface.Device is powered by Windows mobile 6.1 and has HTC TouchFLO 3D user interface.

The HTC Touch HD is exclusive on the Orange UK network until 2009 from £79.99 on an 18 month, £40 per month contact. Orange offers internet browsing up to mobile internet browsing up to 250Mb per month, which is very low in comparison to 3GB  of data that other providers offer. Orange should revamp it’s data tariff, because there is no point of having this multimedia device with such low data allowance.

Here is quick specification sheet for this handset:

• Size: 115 x 62.8 x 12 mm
• Weight: 146.4 grams/5.164 oz with battery
• Connectivity: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHzWCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz.
• Software/Operating system: HTC TouchFLO 3D with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 3.8 inch Wide Screen VGA screen (480 x 800 WVGA)
• Camera: 5.0 megapixel with auto focus – Second Camera: VGA
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash; 288 MB RAM
• Memory card: microSD^TM memory card (SDHC^TM capable)
• WLAN: 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth®: 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB^TM (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 1350 mAh
• Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 390 minutes*** / GSM: Up to 310 minutes***
• Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 450 hours*** / GSM: Up to 390 hours***
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7201a^TM 528 MHz

Good device consideration is that Touch HD has 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can use your own headphones for the best possible sound quality!

Via Orange Press Release

Device reminds of original HTC Touch but packs much higher specs and larger screen. According to MoDaCo, handset will have TouchFLO 3D interface and will be running on Windows Mobile 6. Here are preliminary specifications for this device:

- Qualcomm 7201A processor @ 528MHz
- 512MB ROM / 256MB RAM (+32MB on processor)
- WVGA
- 115mm x 62.8mm x 12mm
- GPS
- 5 Megapixel camera
- microSD slot
- 1350mAH battery
- 3.5mm headset jack

As you can see, device is very interesting, I hope there will be more information available soon from HTC themselves!

Device rumoured to be out before Christmas.

Via Modaco

Sony Ericsson will host a live global webcast on September 15 at 13:00 GMT + 1, offering viewers the first in-depth demonstration of the handset. You can register for this webcast on http://www.sonyericsson.com/premiere/.

 Rikko Sakaguchi CVP and Head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson said:
“We are extremely pleased with the innovation and new user experience we have created for consumers on the Xperia^TM X1. The in-depth demonstration on the web cast will showcase how this handset is truly unique. The nine panel eco system puts the user in total control of the primary experiences available on the phone and allows consumers to personalise the panel interface to suit their needs and lifestyle. The Xperia^TM X1 has the highest quality screen on the market, four-way navigation keys and optical joy stick to give a stressless browsing experience and, with its super fast processor and network speed the Xperia^TM X1 really bridges the gap between personal, entertainment and work mobile needs.”

Sony Ericsson supporting the launch of this long-awaited handset with 9 episodes of thriller about Johnny X, man with amnesia who is trying to piece his life together. Throughout these short films, capabilities of Xperia X1 will be displayed. Over a three week period, one new episode of Johnny X will be posted online at www.sonyericsson.com/Johnnyx every Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting on Monday, September 22. Check out the trailer for the series at www.whoisjohnny-x.com.

If you would like to have your hands on Xperia X1 before 30th September, head off to official global launch of the Xperia^TM X1 which will take place at Tent London as part of London Design Week between September 18 – 21st. Journalists are invited to attend the official Tent London opening party on Friday evening 19 September 2008 to see the Xperia^TM X1 and meet with Sony Ericsson spokespeople. To register, please email: sonyericsson@bm.comOpen to general public from 18-21st September, from 10am, with admission prices starting at:

* Public & Students £7.50 in advance £10.00 on the door
* Child (under 16) £5.00
* Child (under 5) FREE

In UK Vodafone will be selling this device first, probably following by other operators later.

Sony Ericsson.

Asus P552w packs impressive specs: Marvell Tavor 624MHz processor, 3.5G HSDPA connectivity, GPS, WLAN 802.11b+g , USB v1.1(FS), Bluetooth 2.0 and 2.8″ TFT, Touch Screen 65K color, QVGA 240 x 320 pixels to name a few.

Another advantage of Asus’s UI is Gester technology that enables users to perform a variety of navigational actions – such as selecting, zooming, scrolling and flipping – easily through simple flicks of their fingers.

Incorporated into Glide are also applications that enable users to access a wide range of functions such as looking up the latest news, checking the weather forecast, viewing photo slideshows and listening to music within a few finger taps. These applications, dubbed Multi-Home, Anytime Launcher, EziPhoto, and EziMusic.

P552w comes with Google Maps pre-installed, camera is only 2 Megapixels, which is somewhat dissappinting, considering phones with 8 Megapixel cameras are about to come out.

Here is a table of specifications of this device:

Source: Asus via Electronista

What’s even better, launch is expected this month! Hopefully this device will soon be available in consure shop as well.

Expansys UK is currently set expected release as 13th August, so you can pre-book your handset from them.

Via Coolsmartphone

Transit directions are available on Google Maps in more than 50 cities, in UK Google Maps is covering South East England. Other european countries that have full or partial coverage include France, Switzerland, Poland, Italy, Austria and Russia.

Other new features are star rating of businesses, search results show up faster, and user-generated content will now show in search results.

You can download new version of this software from here: google.com/gmm

Here is a video about Google Maps with mobile transit directions:

Source