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Information about the HTC Supersonic has been coming out in a steady stream recently, even though it has yet to be officially announced.
The latest leak offers some new pictures of this upcoming Android OS smartphone, which will reportedly offer a range of cutting-edge features, including a very large, high-resolution screen and 4G cellular-wireless networking.
One of these images is clearly a rendering, but HTC frequently uses renderings to show off its products. And it matches the picture of this model that came to light earlier this week (shown here).
The second image shows the rear of the Supersonic, with the name clearly emblazoned on it (shown here). This picture also helps confirm reports of two of this device's features: a dual-LED flash and a kickstand.
A Preliminary Overview of the HTC Supersonic
A roadmap of 2010 products that leaked out of Sprint recently listed an HTC model with WiMAX, but gave no other specifications. Several more unconfirmed reports have revealed some additional details on it, though.
The HTC Supersonic will supposedly have much in common with the HTC HD2, but with Google's Android OS instead of Microsoft's Windows Mobile. Both models will supposedly have 4.3-inch touchscreens, slim tablet shapes, and 1 GHz Snapdragon processors.
On top of Android OS 2.1 (or possibly version 3.0), the Supersonic will run HTC Sense, this company's alternate user interface that expands on Google's standard one.
As mentioned earlier, this upcoming model will reportedly have a kickstand to hold it up while the user is watching movies on the comparatively large screen.
Despite all the leaks, many details on the Supersonic, such as the camera resolution or battery capacity, remain unknown.
Also unknown is when the release will be, but it's not likely to be for quite a few months.
With the Mobile World Congress just a few short weeks away, many people are already speculating about what little surprises mobile phone manufacturers will be unleashing on the showroom floor. For HTC, the most solid device they have that everyone is focusing on is the HTC Bravo.
The HTC Bravo first popped up when HTC’s 2010 roadmap got leaked. The roadmap contained 5 Android smart phones and 3 Windows Mobile devices, of these, only the Bravo has been confirmed to be in production. The roadmap was quickly forgotten when December rolled over and everyone got excited about the coming Google phone –especially when it was revealed that HTC would be working on the Nexus One.
It came to no surprise that many people thought that the Bravo is the Google phone itself -considering the fact that the hardware specs for both the Bravo and the Nexus One are so similar. It was not until January did news that the Bravo and the Nexus One were two separate devices and both were going to be launched this year. Google pushed through with the launch of their Android phone early this January and HTC has announced that the Bravo is expected to launch this March.
Should HTC decide to unveil this device on February at the MWC in Barcelona, Spain, it will be one of the first Android smart phones to be released after the Google phone. Considering that not many people opted to get the Google phone, the Bravo just might be the Android device people are waiting for.
Specs wise, the Bravo comes with similar specs to the Nexus One; both devices have Snapdragon Android processors, 3.7 inch AMOLED touch screens and 5 mega pixel cameras. The Bravo does have a little extra -720p HD video recording.
Just before the start of the MWC, we’ve received info about some new phones, however, there always seems to be some smartphones slipping through the mazes, which have not yet formally made their appearance in the press. Take the Samsung Galaxy 2 for example, which is apparently the successor to Samsung's first Android smartphone, and this time it has improved specifications. The first information that has reached us about the Samsung Galaxy 2 creates high expectations of a fairly advanced Android smartphone. This Samsung Android smartphone features a fast 1GHz Snapdragon processor and is said to feature up to 32GB internal memory for the Apps, photo, video and all sorts of data.
Samsung Galaxy 2 smartphone equipped with 3.7" AMOLED touchscreen
The display of the Samsung Galaxy is quite large, as it measures 3.7-inch, and is of course a touchscreen of the AMOLED type. It also comes equipped with a digital camera, offering an image resolution of 5 Megapixels. The Samsung Galaxy 2 is said to run on the Android 2.1 operating system. After all, they wouldn't want to offer anything less than the full experience to the consumer, who will activate mobile Internet on the Galaxy 2. Fast hardware and optimal software will have to be the perfect combination.
Samsung Galaxy 2 phone specifications
In terms of hardware, everything seems to be fine for the Samsung Galaxy 2. The phone specifications come across as high-end specs, and it's only logical the phone should support Wi-Fi, HSDPA and UMTS. Whether the built-in GPS will guide the way to Barcelona, where MWC 2010 is held, remains a surprise for now. However, we will surely get to experience this soon enough, during our visit to the Mobile World Congress...
Samsung have announced The Samsung Monte, a low-end touchscreen mobile phone that is expected to follow up on the success that Genio left off on.
The Samsung Monte has an equally humane name (as opposed to Vodafone’s recently announced 547) to the Genio and looks just as compact and smart from Dialaphone’s pictures.
The S5620 Monte has a WQVGA 3.0″ touchscreen display and is supported by 3G HSPDA. Monte will have 200Mb internal memory plus a MicroSD slot for expanding memory. And in terms of connectivity there is a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones, plus GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. A Touchwiz operating system (exampled in the video below) is expected on the Samsung Monte handset, and is expected to appear at MWC and released later in March.
This Android-based model will supposedly have a shape somewhat similar to the popular Motorola Droid, but without many of the high-end features.
Like its big brother, it will be a slider, with a landscape-oriented QWERTY keyboard. It will apparently have a smaller, lower-resolution screen than the Droid, though.
On this device's front, next to the touchscreen, will be three touch-sensitive buttons and an optical trackpad, rather than a trackball or D-pad.
The Droid Devour will allegedly debut with Android OS 2.1, the latest version of Google's mobile operating system, and have the standard suite of software for connecting to Google services.
In addition, it will have support for Verizon's EV-DO mobile broadband network, plus it will include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
The Devour is also allegedly going to have a 3 megapixel camera, 3.5 mm headset jack, a GPS receiver, a microSD memory card slot, and a 1420 mAh battery.
The new Sony Ericsson Vivaz is the second installment in Sony Ericsson's new lineup of communications entertainment smartphones, a mash-up of its well-known Walkman, Cybershot and messaging concepts. Like its Android sibling, the Xperia X10, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Symbian smartphone offers a new "human curvature" design philosophy. Sony Ericsson says this will be the way to instantly recognize this type of smartphone in the future, and if you're looking for an all-in-one smartphone solution tailored to consumers, the Vivaz will be a smartphone to keep an eye on in the months ahead.
Customizable Vivaz UI
When we played with the Sony Ericsson Satio a couple of months ago, its user interface came across as a rich cell phone interface rather than a smartphone interface. With the introduction of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz, however, a new and important tweak has been made: The five "home screen" panels first seen on the Satio have been extended and made more user-configurable on the Vivaz, including the ability to select Flash Lite content such as apps, games and animations.
Sony Ericsson has included Twitter and Facebook apps written using Flash Lite 3.0, and the manufacturer encourages third-party developers to offer Symbian and Flash content through its expanded PlayNow ecosystem, previously only available to music publishers.
Cybershot on steroids
While 720p HD recording is old news in the mobile industry, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz will take it all to a new level. A new dedicated video key will allow users to shoot HD video instantly with continuous auto focus, and footage can be shared via Wi-Fi to for instance YouTube while still using other phone features. Third-party Symbian developers will also get access to the HD recording capability through a Symbian Camera API, enabling a range of possibilities when it comes to for instance augmented reality apps.
Vivaz Specifications
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz has a 3.2-inch resistive touchscreen with a resolution of 360 by 640 pixels. The 8.1-megapixel camera is as mentioned above capable of recording HD video, and also packs face and smile detection. An 8GB microSD card will be included out-of-box, while up to 16GB cards are supported. Gamers should also be aware that the Vivaz supports OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 for improved 3D graphics. The smartphone is powered by Symbian^1 (S60 5th Edition), a 720 MHz processor and offers up to 75MB phone memory. The phone also offers Quickoffice's Microsoft Office viewer and Road Sync, in addition to Microsoft ActiveSync Exchange support out-of-box. Check out more specifications here.
Price and availability
Two GSM versions of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz will be released in Q1 2010, one supporting AT&T's 3G network and one supporting European and Asian 3G networks. A price tag or specific market availability has not yet been announced, but the phone will be available in the colors Moon Silver, Cosmic Black, Galaxy Blue and Venus Ruby.
Sony Ericsson on Tuesday took the wraps off Aspen, a new business-oriented smartphone that becomes the first Windows Mobile 6.5.3 mobile device to hit the marketplace.
Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is one of the shadowy leaked builds that have popped up since Windows Mobile 6.5 devices began arriving in October. Adding support for capacitive touch, multi-touch and a variety of user interface improvements that replace legacy menu and navigation elements, Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is believed to be Microsoft's attempt to improve on the lackluster 6.5 release while it readies Windows Mobile 7.
Aspen is part of Sony Ericsson's GreenHeart line of environmentally friendly smartphones, which are built from recycled plastics and use water-based paints. For this reason, the company describes Aspen as a "business phone with a conscience," although it's unclear whether the device is actually sentient and able to discern between right and wrong.
For business users, Aspen features a QWERTY keyboard and offers users the ability to "view and edit office files easily and comfortably," according to Sony Ericsson. Microsoft's MyPhone service, which remotely wipes data from devices when they're lost or stolen, is also part of the package.
Windows Mobile 6.5.3 has been hidden under the same shroud of secrecy that has obscured all of Microsoft's mobile plans in recent months. Microsoft has been dropping hints about upcoming mobile related news at Mobile World Congress later this month and at MIX10 next month, but it's anyone's guess as to whether these will involve Windows Mobile 7.
One theory gaining steam in the Microsoft channel is that the software giant will make Silverlight 4 the platform for building native applications in Windows Mobile 7 and future generations of Windows Phones. This makes sense because developers could reuse the .Net code they create for desktop applications to build applications for mobile devices and the Web.
Given the precarious position Microsoft is facing in the mobile space, the company is going to have to shake things up and come up with a new approach. Windows Mobile developers will be watching the MWC and MIX10 events to see what Microsoft has been concocting behind the scenes.
