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Where would the Touch Pro 2 be without a keyboard-less little brother? Adrift, that's where. Adrift without a sibling that sports nearly identical specs, to wit: 

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro
• 3G, quad-band edge
• WiFi, GPS, FM Radio
• Motion sensor
• 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7200
• 512ROM/288 RAM
• MicroSD Expansion
• 4.25" x 2.09" x .54"
• 4.15 oz
• 5mp Camera
• 1100 mAh Battery
• 3.2" 480x800 WVGA screen

Right, you guessed it, pretty much identical specs, thinner and cooler form factor. Even better, take a look at the bolded section there — the Diamond 2 drops the onboard memory in favor an an honest-to-god microSD card slot. HTC may not have brought the U.S. the Touch HD, but if it denies us this, too, there will be blood ... continued grumbling. Which brings to availability: Q2 2009 for Europe and Asia, global availability "later in the year." In other words, it should arrive slightly ahead of the Touch Pro 2 and U.S. release seems, well, seems inevitable.

We're a little teary about HTC dropping the facets on the rear of the device, but not that teary. Plus, we're actually pretty excited to see what looks to be touch-area underneath the screen that looks to be a dedicated zoom bar, just as with the Touch Pro 2.

Full press release after the break

A few more tidbits from the HTC Press conference that didn't make it into our post on the device earlier.  Tidbit the first: the Touch Pro 2 is certainly more than just an minor update to the original Touch Pro.  The changes come in both hardware and software and they're significant and significantly cool.

HTC is introducing a few software features along with a few innovative new hardware features, all of which make the Touch Pro 2 one Mean Business Machine.  The Touch Diamond 2 is also getting a few neat software features. You know what time it is, it's time to join us after the break.

Just back from HTC's mega-packed press conference (no kidding, it was literally standing room only).  We've already posted on the HTC Touch Pro 2 and the HTC Diamond 2, but the best moment of the conference came at the end.  After Microsoft Exec Andy Lees took the stage and promised "more to come" about Microsoft's outing, HTC CEO Peter Chou re-took the stage and went ahead and said what Lees wouldn't: that announcement will be Windows Mobile 6.5

We can't blame Chou for doing it, though, because he wanted to make sure everybody knew that the Touch Pro 2 and the Touch Diamond 2 were both ready to rock with Windows Mobile 6.5 whenever it comes out and that anybody who gets one will get a free upgrade.  We also got a tiny bit more color on when the two devices will actually launch (with WM6.1): The Diamond 2 in "early Q2" and the Touch Pro 2 in "late Q2."

We have more to say on both of these phones, which are actually a bit more stellar than our previous posts let on (especially that Touch Pro 2.  Prepare for a few Zowie Moments.)

As if the Touch Diamond 2 and the Touch Pro 2 weren't enough, HTC packed some sneaky little software updates in its press release. Our favorite: HTC Pure Push Internet technology. Here's what HTC has to say about it:

HTC Push Internet alleviates slow downloading and rendering of Web pages on a mobile phone. Users can preselect their favorite Websites to get immediate access to them when needed.

Sounds like you can save pages to your phone and HTC will periodically send updates of the page to you in the background. Could be a real timesaver for those who haven't discovered RSS on Windows Mobile yet.

There's more, too. TouchFlo 3D apparently is going to be better integrated with Windows Mobile at a deeper level (meaning, yes, that TF3D might actually be a more substantial update to WM 6.1 than WM 6.5. We're just saying). They're enlarging touch-focus areas throughout the OS and delivering "more consistency."

Finally, HTC has taken a page from the webOS and is presenting you with a new contact information screen that will show you all your recent calls, emails, and texts for that contact — whether in-call or not.  A personal contact history for each contact that aggregates all that info sounds pretty spiffy to us.

More detail as we get it!

Mobile World Congress is officially under way in Barcelona, Spain, and we boxed up the head WM Expert, Dieter Bohn, and shipped him to Europe to digest and send back all the latest in Windows Mobile and cell phones in general.

So sit back, relax and prepare to take in an onslaught of news as we're expecting some pretty major releases.

If you want to keep track of everything MWC09, pre- and current, use this link to do so. And as always, the latest Windows Mobile news will flying at you at the top of the page here.

So we're totally expecting an avalanche of Microsoft news Monday from Mobile World Congress. (hint: remember that Spain is a few hours ahead of the United States.) In the meantime, Windows god/guru/kung fu master Paul Thurrott snagged a page where you can pre-register for the new My Phone service.

Head on over and give them your e-mail addy, and they promise to let you know when you can actually get in on the sync goodness. And, no, we're not cool enough for a promo code.

Thanks to our frenemy Rene from The iPhone Blog for the heads up.

With our editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn, off in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, the inmates site editors are left running Around SPE this week. So, while he'll be breaking news and giving us some hands-on observations on all the new software and hardware on display, we'll be keeping you covered here at home, starting with a quick recap of where we are right now:

CrackBerry.com

In the world of BlackBerry, T-Mobile customers were happy to see the official roll out  of the next-generation BlackBerry Curve 8900. With AT&T said to be dropping support for 2G phones, there has been some worry that this new Curve wouldn't come to AT&T, but with the 8900 SKU now showing up on AT&T systems, it's likely the device will launch there in the next month. The BIG new this week comes from the CrackBerry Podcast. Kevin was in NYC on for a RIM Business Solutions Press Preview. While there, him and Craig recorded a podcast and for the first time had an employee from Research in Motion on the show. Joined by Mike Kirkup, Manager of Developer Relations, they tackle a bunch of topics from the upcoming App Store to OS 5.0 and whether or not Flash support will appear in a BlackBerry browser and more! Listen Here. More after the break!

Looks like Microsoft is getting in on the early release action -- a day before Mobile World Congress 2009 even gets started, they've made the website for Microsoft Recite live.  Great, so what is it?  It's an intelligent voice note application.  You hit a button and speak your random note into it: "Get Milk," "George's favorite band is the Georgia Satellites," "Sara's anniversary is November 13th," etc.  Recite will store your notes for playback later.  How do you find them?  Just speak again "George's Band" -- and the software will use some fancy algorithms to locate your voice note and then play it back for you.

Unlike Jott (et al), there's no transcription or other method for getting your voice notes off the app if you so choose (which may cause you headaches).  Microsoft is also recommending you have an unlimited data plan, just in case.  Oh, and Bluetooth headsets need not apply.  It's a technology preview (read: Beta), but actually works much better than you might expect.  It's a neat little app and might come in handy for folks that prefer voice notes.  It's also free, which we're pretty sure is better than not-free.

You can download it here. You can follow the official Recite Blog here.  You can watch a neat little video about the entire thing after the break.

Update: Did we mention it was a "Technology Preview?"  We did?  Good.  Because the app is crashing intermittently on a Treo Pro. When it doesn't crash, it works quite well.  Here's one nice bit: since it works directly with the audio files, it doesn't matter if you speak in English, French, or even Esperanto.