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Any doubters who weren't convinced by the blurry image of the HTC Diamond on Sprint should take heed: the Diamond is hitting North America in CDMA and it's hitting hard. First up appears to be Canadian CDMA network Telus, who's going to be selling the device “this summer” for the reasonable(ish) price of $149.99 (Canadian) with 3-year contract.

Even better, they're beating the pants off ne'er do well competitor Rogers by offering reasonable data rates: $15 for unlimited email and IM, $30 for unlimited email, IM, Web, etc.

As you can see from the image at right, this CDMA Diamond isn't a carbon copy of its GSM brother -- it has more curved top and bottom edges and the d-pad looks to be a bit different as well. Actually, it bears a striking resemblance to the European T-Mobile MDA Compact IV. We're waiting to hear if the specs have changed significantly. Here's to hoping that WiFi stays, because we wept when the original HTC Touch lost WiFi as it made the jump from GSM to CDMA

More details at Telus' site once they toss up the little wonder.

We had high so-so hopes for the Toshiba Portege G810, with SPB's Mobile Shell built into the interface from the get-go, and Pocket Plus and Full Screen Keyboard thrown in for good measure.

But Pocket Now has run the device through its paces. And while the guts of the G810 are still nothing to sneeze at (and you gotta love the lights), a lack of tactile feel from physical buttons and beyond sub-par battery life are cited as reasons to pass on this one, especially with a $700 price tag.

Read the full, extensive review here.

Via Engadget Mobile

The Samsung i740 just got profiled over at Czech site mobil.cz (translated here, by way of SlashPhone), and it's nothing to get too worked up over. It's just a standard Quad-Band Edge phone with WiFi, GPS, FM Radio, and no physical keyboard. No 3G here folks (and given the low-end specs, quite likely no US release either).

What is interesting is that dial-pad where our standard d-pad belongs. We're famously unhappy with the Samsung i780 and i788's touchpad, so we're not holding out hope that this thing is anything too innovative, either. Also, if it really is a rotary dial, that's pretty cool for scrolling up and down, but it doesn't look like you could press for left or right. Turns out moving left and right with the d-pad is something we do all the time.

We already know that the Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade for the Sprint Touch is due any minute - the unofficially official ROM leak told us that much. Now we know a bit more -- a post in the Sprint Application Developers forum (by way of Gear Diary) spills the beans: “first part of July” is the target. The improvements are about what you'd expect from a full Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade with GPS support, though we suppose it's worth mentioning that EDVO Rev A, a new communications manager, and “2 icons for rotating the screen” on HTC's launcher will also be included.

'Course, being who we are, now all we want to know is when Sprint will catch up with their neighbors to the north and bring us the HTC Diamond.

Ah, summer. A time for basking in the sun, taking (now painfully expensive) roadtrips, and suing the everloving crap out of anybody and everybody you can think of. That's what Typhoon Touch Tech and Nova Mobility systems think, anyway; they've filed suit against pretty much every darn touchscreen manufacturer on the face of the dearth, from Apple to HTC to Samsung. You might just want to check the lawsuit to see if you're named there too, dear reader, because the list is long. The patents are for “Portable Computer with Touch Screen” and the plaintiffs contend that the infringements are “willful” (read: extra bad) because the defendants should have known about the patents; or did know; or whatever.

The best part? Typhonn Tech exists solely to create just this sort of excitement. When the 2nd link in your header is “licensing & litigation highlights,” you might be a redneck patent holding firm.

Where do you suppose these lawsuits were filed? Do we really even have to tell you? Yes, you guessed it: in East Texas' rocket docket.

Touch-screen lawsuits hit Apple, HTC, Dell, Toshiba, others [via PocketPC Thoughts]

So the big rumor floating around the 'nets these days is that Sprint is set to increase the cost of PDA plans for all smartphones. More specifically, they will require you to sign up for one of their "Simply Everything" plans.

What does that mean? Currently, Sprint users can opt to pay a very reasonable $15 for basic "Power Vision" + Voice plan, which gives them just unlimited data over 3g ($20 and $25 plans include extras).

The "Simply Everything" plan starts at $69 but includes 450 minutes voice, data, text, e-mail, Web-surfing, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, Direct Connect and Group Connect (it goes up to $99 for unlimited voice). That's actually a very cool package and very competitive.

The rumor, however, is that anyone buying a new smartphone starting July 13th (that date sound familiar?) will be forced to activate the phone with the minimum $69 plan--even existing customers in contract. And SERO plans may be included as well (Read: What is SERO?).

Yikes.

Unfortunately, there is precedent for this: the much hyped Samsung Instinct requires exactly such a plan, even under SERO.

For "new" customers to Sprint (we've heard they have a couple), these plans are actually quite attractive, but for current subscribers who have a better details...it's flat out scary (e.g. my cost after taxes would nearly triple).

What to do? Well, we'll just have to wait and see we suppose. It's still not clear if doing and ESN swap online will be affected, though it may just be, in which case signing that contract now and buying a new PDA full price won't even save you.

Stay tuned.

Via Sprintusers

Like cell phone companies? Consider moving to Dallas, TX, then. AT&T is moving their headquarters there for “easier access to customers and operations around the world.” For those worried about jobs in San Antionio, it does look like the big beast is leaving quite a few of their employees behind... and it's not like AT&T is getting any smaller anyway. The whole move should take about a year.

That's business-speak for “The drive from the Dallas Airport to San Antonio sucks.”

It's also business-speak for “Nokia, Nortel, and RIM also have all kinds of crazy big offices there, so we'll be able to pretend we're going out to business lunches with other hotshots more often while instead we're trying to catch the practice sessions of the fabulous Dallas Cheerleaders.” And so on.

...It might also be business-speak for “Dallas is much closer to Texas' Eastern Court District, home of the world famous rocket docket, which will allow us to pursue all kinds of crazy fun patent litigation more easily.” Heck, RIM and Motorola are doing it, why shouldn't AT&T get in on the action?

Those of you who have come up from the PalmOS to Windows Mobile have probably heard of Kinoma's Player, which combines a comprehensive mobile media guide with a player that supports a wide range of codecs -- think of it as SprintTV plus Podcacher plus YouTube plus flickr streamer plus music player ...minus stupid extra fees. Even if you haven't used Kinoma, you should know that Kinoma powers what little video power your Centro has these days.

Well take a look at the newly redesigned Kinoma homepage. They're talking about a mystery product called (for now) “Kinoma ???” Alright, we'll bite: we think it's a Windows Mobile version of Kinoma. Why would we say that? Could it be the gigantic Motorola Q9c at the top of the page?

We like Kinoma. We hope what they bring will make us love them, because Kinoma was one of those great pieces of software on the PalmOS that gives us teeny tiny second thoughts about Windows Mobile. ...from time to time.

thanks to Doc31 for the tip!