Prepare for a bumpy ride in the MID/Smartphone space. A confusing one too because according to DigiTimes, one of the most successful smartphone designers is getting ready to launch Snapdragon-based phones. The target for launch is Q2 of 2009, later than the planned Toshiba TG01 which is also running Snapdragon.

The leaked roadmap from last month show’s two devices that would fit well with the Characteristics of the snapdragon platform.

 
HTC Ihoth and HTC Whitestone W. Images and info from jouwmobiel.nl

Also in the brief article, Digitimes states that HTC are designing with Atom. This is similar to news we had 10 months ago and could be anything from a phone to a next-gen HTC Shift.

Digitimes.

Someone leaked HTC’s roadmap for 2009, and among the low quality slide images was this one:

Looks pretty good, I like the glossy screen – it looks a bit like a digital picture frame. It’s hard to tell if the keyboard is the same capacitive one or if HTC is back to mechanical keys. Camera is still there, and there appear to be no buttons on the front. Regardless, we’ll be on the lookout for more “Thoth” info. Perhaps HTC shoved an Intel Atom in there? Ahh, one can dream… The possibility of it running Android is always present however.

There is also a nice looking Whitestone W device. Again, waiting for more info. 

I recall seeing this solution a while back on JKKMobile but Paul from MoDaCo has now got one for testing. Its a 47Wh battery pack for the HTC Shift from Mugen which should allow about 5hrs online time thus solving one of the HTC Shift’s biggest problems. It’s a tidy solution but at nearly $240, it’s a huge amount to pay for 5 hrs of computing time.

Paul is doing further testing and will report back on performance soon.

The HTC PR people must be having so much fun tracking what appears to be badly researched news and over excitement on the launch of Android. Hands-up. I did the same when I called ‘delays’ following some news from the Wall Street Journal. In fact, if I had looked back I my first ever Android report I would have seen that ‘second half of 2008’ is actually in the same timeframe as Q4! Nothing has changed.

Anyway, the same thing happened again this week with this story claiming that HTC are causing delays. Apparently that’s a load of bull as HTC’s PR people in Germany have just sent out an email note saying that there the story is wrong and they are looking forward to a Q4 release.

Im Namen von HTC nehmen wir wie folgt dazu Stellung:

1.  Der Hinweis in dem Artikel, es gebe eine Verspätung bei der Auslieferung, entspricht nicht den Tatsachen.

2.  HTC erwartet mit Spannung den Launch des ersten Android-basierten Gerätes im 4. Quartal. 

Which basically means. 1, its not the facts. 2, HTC look forward with excitement to a launch in 4th quarter.

You can be sure that there’s some shouting going on in HTC and Google offices as time draws near and that priorities are being set. PM’s will be under a huge amount of pressure and in some cases, jobs will be on the line. Fingers will be pointed and names will be named. Its all normal product lifecycle stuff, including the over-excited journalists!

Fans of total mobile device convergence might want to check this out as it looks like an interesting alternative to the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 that Kornel tested out a while back.

VGA touchscreen, keyboard, HSDPA, 3.2MP CAM, rotation sensor and GPS running on a Qualcomm MSM 7201A @ 528MHz (ARM11+ARM9) platform running Windows Mobile 6.1. Available in Europe, late summer and in North America after that.

With a little Opera 9.5 love this could keep a lot of people happy for a very long time! I think we should drop it into the database as an alternative solution don’t you?

More info at Engadget and TheUnwired.

I just blogged that 88% of my mobile device usage is with a browser. I dare say that if I had a device that was fast enough, had a good enough touchscreen and offered a real, http-based client browser then i’d be happy. Indeed, my own ideal device specifications from Feb 2006 run along those lines with the definition being open to any processing platform as long as it delivers a quality Internet experience.

This is the reason that I’m very interested in seeing how good Opera Mobile 9.5 is on the ARM Smartphone platforms. If it’s good enough its going to elevate big-screen smartphones into devices that I’d consider alongside an Intel MID. Take the iPaq 210/214 for example. Its only got a VGA touchscreen and no 3G but with Opera Mobile 9.5 it really could satisfy a lot of peoples mobile Internet requirements for a Nokia N810-beating price.

Matt Miller of ‘The Mobile Gadgeteer’ says Opera 9.5 is the ‘Best mobile browser I’ve ever used.’ and that it ‘provides more functionality than the rather revolutionary Apple iPhone browser.’ I say that this browser will make many people think twice about buying a MID because it not only looks and reacts well but its got some very nice advanced features. But there are clearly limitations. Google Docs didn’t work in Matts test which, although you may not use Google docs, should be a concern if you depend on complex sites like Meebo, iGoogle, Facebook etc. Flash-Lite is included which is good but how are other media types presented and supported? How fast can it render the full-fat Google Reader webpage? I know it takes a low-power PC about 15 seconds to render my Google Reader page. Any smartphone on the market today is going to have trouble doing that in under 25 seconds.

[Video after the break…]

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I knew Jenn liked the HTC Shift but I didn’t know she liked it that much!

It’s so easy, so versatile, and so much fun to use that I officially declare the HTC Shift X9500 as my hands-down favorite UMPC. It is the fifth ultra mobile PC I’ve purchased, the thirteenth ultra mobile PC I’ve reviewed/extensively used, and the one I like best.

Yes, Vista performs relatively smoothly on the HTC Shift and there’s no question about its looks. It’s a design beauty. The form factor is hands-down the most flexible you can purchase on the market today (and that includes all notebooks!) the quality of the 3G in terms of both reception and availability is second-to-none and I do agree, the case is the best I’ve ever seen on a mobile device. Viewers on the portal tend to agree too. It’s still at number 5 in the ‘charts’ after over a year and an amazing 132,000 individuals have viewed the product page nearly 200,000 times!

But 2-hours battery life Jenn. Is this a house pet?

I’ve laboured over the thought of owning an HTC Shift a number of times but I hate the thought of compromising on my Q1 Ultra 6-hours battery life, XP efficiency and 1024×600 screen but I would love to have the form factor back in my hands again. Here’s looking forward to a 1.8Ghz Atom Silvethorne-based HTC Shift 2 with 1024×600 screen and a minimum of 3 hours battery life. For that, I’d happily pay over 1000 Euros and possibly write as many articles about the device as Jenn has about the HTC Shift!

Give up my HTC Shift? Never! – Pocketables.

It looks like Arne Hess over at theunwired.net got his hands on a pre-release HTC Advantage X7510. He has posted an unboxing video for anyone interested in checking out this new version of the X7500. The X7510 doubles in SSD storage capacity from the X7500’s 8GB up to 16GB. Other notable changes — the unit is now running WinMo 6.1, the d-pad on the front left of the device has been removed, and the keyboard has been redesigned with a completely flat touch based input keyboard. The keyboard helps alert the user to key presses using haptic feedback in the form of a small vibration when a key is pressed as well as an audible noise. I’m not sure how well the new keyboard will work, haptic feedback definitely helps, but initial tactile sensation (ie: physically raised keys) is probably the greatest benefactor to a good typing experience. I’m not sure exactly what kind of technology is being used to detect keyboard presses, but if it is capacitive they could capitalize on it greatly by featuring an intelligent correction system like that of the iPhone’s. Unfortunately for some, recent news has told us that the X7510 will not end up for sale in the US. Click the image to head over to the video unboxing page.