smartphone

Eddie Wu, Microsoft's Managing Director of ODM Embedded Devices for the Asian market, stated that the company expects to have 40% of the global smartphone market by the summer of 2012.

According to Canalys, in 2007 Microsoft only managed to reach 13% of the market. The result is far from impressive, and I don't understand how they plan to reach 40% in less than 4 years.

Briefly: HTC held a press conference in Taiwan yesterday.

The spokesman announced that the company's new Diamond smartphone will be available there in June for $772 sans contract.

Note that the price may change depending on the region.

ASUS announced they'll be launching their new P560 smartphone next month.

The device was announced at CeBIT earlier this year; it runs the new Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 OS and features HSDPA, Wi-Fi, 3.2Mpix autofocus cam, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, GPS, microSDHC slot, 256MB of ROM, 128MB of RAM, and more.

The price is pretty high, though - €500 (about $772).

This is a product rendering of the future Xenium X-Connect phone by Philips.

It is a Windows Mobile 6 based smartphone with a 3" touchscreen, and such goodies like 3G UMTS/HSDPA radios, GPS receiver, AA/AAA battery backup, microSD slot, and Bluetooth 2.0 all powered by a 624MHz Intel processor.

Unfortunately, Philips Xenium cell phones are primarily found in Asia Pacific region, so we wouldn't count of seeing this one in Europe or U.

The preparation on the official site has finished, and everything is ready for the release of the anticipated Nokia N78 smartphone, which will likely take place in a couple of weeks.

The N78 was introduced back in February at MWC 2008 event along with the N96 model, and is definitely a phone that is worth every penny spent on it. The estimated price is $550 before taxes.

FCC has approved a new Windows Mobile handset from i-mate, the Ultimate 8502. It has a pretty impressive feature set, which includes HSUPA, TV out, integrated GPS, QWERTY, and much more.

We were hoping they would also approve the 9502 model, which is pretty much the same as the 8502, but in addition comes with a VGA touchscreen display.

Verizon Wireless announced it has added the Motorola Q9c to its smartphones lineup.

The phone is now available for $149.99 after a $100 online discount and $50 mail in rebate.

Features of the Motorola Q 9c include Windows Mobile 6 Standard OS, a large 2.4" color TFT display, 1.3Mpix fixed focus camera/camcoder, Stereo Bluetooth, as well as 128MB of internal memory and a microSD slot supporting up to 32GB.

Samsung has launched its mid-end SGH-i200 smartphone, announced back at the MWC show in Barcelona earlier this year.

Below you can find a list of its features. The phone should first become available across Europe in June 2008, followed by other regions.

Samsung i200 specifications:

• Operating System: Windows Mobile 6.1;
• Band: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz, WCDMA 2100MHz;
• Data: GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA;
• Size: 116.

Verizon has finally officially announced the Samsung Glyde smartphone for its CDMA network.

In fact, the phone needs no introduction, we know enough about it. It is a CDMA slider that has a 2Mpix camera with flash and autofocus, GPS, full range of Bluetooth profiles, microSD slot, a true HTML browser, and no support for VCAST TV service (like anyone cares).

FCC has approved the rumored Motorola A1600 MING 2 smartphone.

Judging by the available documentation this phone is for the Asian market and is not planned for a stateside release. But if you really want it, there's no problem in buying it outside the U.S. and bringing it back home, as it supports for quad band GSM, which allows for worldwide usage.

Other features include Linux OS, a 3.