Articles

A brave chap named Black93300ZX over at xda-developers has dropped $900 on what is almost surely a Touch Pro bound for AT&T. How do we know it's AT&T-bound? Well, note the lack of a front-facing camera, the slightly different keyboard layout, and also that it's working on the US' 850 band for 3G data.

No word on when this will actually arrive, of course, and we're still expecting the CDMA version to land on Sprint first. Still: fans of the slider and owners of the Tilt now have a pretty clear upload path.

Thanks to wmpoweruser for the tip!

In the forums some users have found a neat little exploit to see other devices on the Sprint network. But is it something to worry about?

Probably not.

The trick is to use Resco Explorer --> Menu --> File --> Network --> Map Drive

After waiting a few moments if you hit the [+] sign to expand the list, you may see a bunch of device IDs. Interestingly, these appear to be all Sprint devices as WiFi is not enabled at the time and my Treo 800w is on Sprint.

So what is going on here?

Click to read an explanation plus some more screenies...

Basically this appears to be info broadcasting from our devices (and laptops with connect cards) to the carrier towers. Snce a WM device is basically a PC, you can see who's on the network. There are two important caveats here though:

• None of the devices in the list are user accessible
• This is not exclusive to Sprint's network

The former is important for those concerned with security. But this appears to be equivalent to turning your Bluetooth on in "Discovery" (Visible) mode in a crowded area. You too will see the screen populate with devices. In fact, using a freeware tool like BT Spammer could allow even more malicious use than browsing your carrier network.

Lesson learned? Don't leave your BT on in "Visible" mode--not only does it zap your battery, but it is a security risk! Thank you though to all the commuters at Penn Station NYC for giving me hours of amusement.

The latter caveat is also relevant. This doesn't seem to be a Sprint network thing as forum member alcedes says he can do the same thing on AT&T (and suspects T-mobile won't be much different).

So, is there any real concern here?

Doubtful. We don't see any thing serious, alarming or unique and at this point it seems more of a novelty. The only real danger here is you'll kill your battery if you leave it on "Map Network Drive" for an extended duration. Most WM devices are not acting like file hosts, so they should not be accessible and we don't see any open ports.

But hey, we'll keep you posted if t3h 1337 h4x0|2z find some ZOMG! cheats with this knowledge ;-)

It's not just the Alexander that Motorola is cooking up, we're also getting the 'Atila.' BGR (natch) just dropped the news, it should be a WM 6.1 Pro/Touchscreen device sans physical keyboard. Other goodness includes full Quad Band Edge / Tri-band 3G, WiFi, GPS, 1130 mAh battery, Qualcomm 7201a chipset, and a size of 80mm x 109 mm x 13.75mm. That last, friends, makes it comparable to the HTC Touch.

It's not all goodness, sadly: we're looking at a 240x320 screen resolution. Offset that with what looks like a geniune trackball (yeah, we're a little jealous of the BlackBerry's trackball lately, sue us) and maybe it's not so bad.

The Atila isn't going to revolutionize anything, but it should be a cute little phone. Release it, Motorola, and release it soon.

Big ups to HTC, they've taken their ROM download section out of their e-Club and placed them directly in their support section! Just click on your device, click on “Software downloads,” and then go to town. PocketPC Thoughts notes (correctly) that you'll still need a serial number in order to get the download.

The e-Club isn't going away, though. HTC will be putting up all sorts of free downloads there for their registered members. Up now - a heapin' helpin' of ringtones.

In addition to the expanded compatibility and retail availability of the Redfly, we're also happy to announce that Celio is sponsoring a giveaway. Yes, folks, we're giving away a free Celio REDFLY. Heck, Celio also tossed in 10 T-Shirts as runner-up prizes as well.

One more piece of news: there's now an Official Celio REDFLY Developer Forum, where you can go and get questions about the Redfly answered by the WMExperts community and by the folks directly at Celio. Which apps work with Celio? Which ones dont? How long does the battery last? What graphics capabilities does the Redfly really have?

Contest details after the break!

How to win a Celio REDFLY

1. Comment on this post or head to the associated thread new Redfly forums at WMExperts
2. Answer the question at the top of the thread, namely “How will the Redfly help me or my business?”
3. While you wait patiently for September 1st (the date we'll announce the winner), read our review of the Redfly or check out the compatibility list.
4. On Sept 1st, we'll pick the winner and 10 runners-up randomly from all the posts in the thread (one entry per person).

More Rules

1. Not open to Smartphone Experts employees or contractors (Sorry, writers!)
2. Only one entry per person from the thread will count towards the drawing, but you can enter as often as you'd like.
3. Not really a rule, but remember that the Redfly has a limited (but growing) compatibility list, check it out here.

Thanks again to Celio for sponsoring the contest!

Our pal Kevin over at sister site CrackBerry.com snagged a Rogers Quarter 3 Roadmap. They're interested in the Blackberrys, of course, but we're interested in this: it looks like Rogers will officially be picking up the HP 910c, which our dear reader Eric reviewed for us a few weeks ago. Pricing and exact availability dates are unknown, though you can pick one up yourself directly from HP for 500 clams.

Eric was a fan of the 910c and rightfully so, but the question of whether or not AT&T will officially pick it up the US is still up in the air. Nice to see Rogers step up to the plate, now if they'd only continue their trend of capitulating to user demand and reducing data prices.

I'm a Missing Sync man myself, but there's another piece of sync software out there that may be worth a look: SyncMate (We've covered it before). It comes in both free and a $39.95 paid version. Free will get you basic PIM sharing (and internet connection sharing!), while the paid version will add media and notes sync to the mix. The new update adds a 'Mail Plugin' which will apparently add in the ability to sync Mail account settings. SyncMate also supports WiFi Sync

Day-to-day, though, I'm not plugging in to sync most of my PIM stuff. Instead I'm syncing calendars and contacts to gmail via Address book's built in support and Spanning Sync for Calendars. Once it's all up on Google, I'm using the free (and excellent) Nuevasync service. It seems to work with everything but contact photos (gmail doesn't support them), but it keeps me in sync with at least 2 PIM categories.

[via]

Some people in our forums aren't too happy with the seemingly extra step to launch an Email in WM6 i.e. where that "Delete" left key is now, there used to reside the "New" key.

While I'm not sure how to actually change that key to something different, there is another alternate solution (actually dozens! but we'll just do one): create a shortcut link to a New Email/Sms.

Read on to find out how!

To do this, you just create a link to "tmail.exe" found in \Windows. I use Resco Explorer.

• Find the "tmail.exe"
• Select "Properties" (Menu --> File --> Properties)
• Shortcut Tab
• Edit Target
• Add "mailto:" (no quotes) to the command line

It should look like this: "Windows\tmail.exe" mailto:

Creating such a link will bring you to an Account selector, where you can choose your new message.

Want to get more sophisticated, like creating a new email from your Outlook account with the subject "Hey there" automatically addressed to Bob? Here are those parameters which should work:

Other optional parameters that can be added (leave out the "mailto:" part though and go in this order):

• -to "personx@theiremail.com"
• -subject "Insert subject here"
• -service "Name of Account" (

Then throw the link to your Start Menu or use your favorite launcher. I've attached a pre-made link in this post here, for those less inclined.

Not sure if this works on every WM device out there, so post some feedback or your solutions!

We already showed you the Samsung Omnia hardware (full review coming soon), with its nice, brushed-metal battery cover. Here we see it again in with a white battery cover. Samsung also reports that they'll be continuing to improve the software end with more Today screen improvements. Here's to hoping they get that done quickly and that AT&T really and truly does pick it up, as rumored.

We like the brushed metal better ourselves, but options is options.

Read: CNET Asia [via]

For those who've been following the whole Skyfire browser trend, you'll know that to get the app you have to enroll in their beta testing.

What's worse is that beta testing is closed (invite only) and if you sign up now, there's very little chance of getting in on the glory.

Well, thanks to this little tip, you can bump your application up and get the download link now:

• If you have never registered, just go here and enter in CNET100 in the code section
• If you have previously registered, but did not get enrolled, go back and re-enter your info exactly (same number, same email, same name) and now enter the code: CNET100

You should see a screen that says that they've found your registration and you'll get an SMS link to download the Skyfire browser.

No telling how long this will last, so jump on it now! (Only U.S. based customers though, sorry)

Thanks rex (via our fourms, via ppcgeeks)

Phone Arena has the full scoop on what exact new HTC hotness we can expect for Sprint and Verizon, but here's the short version:

Sprint's getting the Diamond first (HTC codename Victor) and it pretty much has the same specs as the Telus Diamond. Expected ship date, as we guessed the other day, is still Sept. 2nd.

Next up for Sprint is their version of the Touch Pro (HTC codename Herman). True to the 'Pro' in the name, we've got double the ROM (512) and a MicroSD card slot. Plus, of course, that keyboard. Expected ship date sometime in October.

Verizon is getting these devices as well, but interestingly they won't be identical. Both their Diamond and Raphael will have the slower, Qualcomm 7500/400MHz processor and lack other features like the accelerometer. The Big V's Diamond, however, will drop the 4 gigs of internal memory in favor of an honest-to-god microSD card slot. Verizon's stuff will come after Sprint gets their period of exclusivity, however long that'll be.

Big ups to Phone Arena for the info!