Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Official

via Gizmodo by matt buchanan

Hard to believe Sony Ericsson's Xperia X2 wasn't official until this moment�honestly, we care more about the awesome the Android-powered X3 at this point�but Sony just made it real, it running Windows Mobile 6.5.

The hard specs: 3.2-inch WVGA touchscreen, 8.1MP camera, HSPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, TV-out. And oh yes, the panels custom interface on top of Windows Mobile is back, though refined, as we saw earlier. It'll be out later this year for 699 euros, so um, not cheap if it ever comes to the US.

HTC Firestone

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz on 6/23/09

We saw a rough mockup of the HTC Firestone, the successor of the HTC Touch HDthat may appear on August. The specs of this Windows Mobile 6.5 look sweet:

� Phone: GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS900, UMTS2100.
� GSM and HSDPA connectivity.
� Windows Mobile 6.5.
� Screen 3.6 inch WVGA touchscreen display transflective TFT, 65,536 colors.
� CPU: speed 600Mhz Qualcomm 8250 processor.
� Memory: 256MB RAM and 512 MB ROM.
� Slot: Micro SD.
� Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR.
� Wireless LAN: 802.11b, 802.11g.
� AGPS.
� Gyro Sensor.
� Headphones: 3.5mm.
� Main Camera: 8 million pixels

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2

via�Gizmodo�by John Herrman on 6/11/09

You'd be forgiven for doubting, or at least being disappointed with, the�first blurry shots of the Xperia X2,�Sony Ericsson's rumored followup to the�pricey-but-pretty X1. Today, we get a much better look.

The first thing that jumps out here, aside from the phone's tastefully designed brushed aluminum shell, is�Windows Mobile 6.5's finger-friendly visage: indication�though not confirmation�that this'll be one of the first wave of major 6.5 handsets, alongside�previously-announced hardware�from HTC. But above all, this means no Android, probably. Oh well!

The keyboard has a distinctive look too, bearing more resemblance to a full-size PC keyboard than a cellphone keypad. Hopefully the changes are strictly aesthetic, seeing as the previous model's keypad was one of its strongest points. Sadly, the original source isn't saying a whole lot about his device beyond what we can observe for ourselves, so for now, we simply gaze.

Opera Mobile 9.7 to Support Flash, Google Gears, Server-Side Compression

via�Gizmodo�by John Herrman on 3/30/09

Despite being the obvious choice for WinMo browsing,�Opera Mobile�9.5 is far from perfect. That said, the next release,�due in a few months, might even put the likes of Mobile Safari to shame.

How's that, exactly? For one,�Flash Lite�will be supported, opening up a plethora of previously inaccessible streaming video sites.�Google Gears�will provide offline Google web apps and better performance, competing with the upcoming�Offline Gmail feature�bound for WebKit-based browsers.�OpenGL ES�hardware acceleration will add a missing fluidity to movements, assuming your phone has 3D hardware and drivers (like most HTC handsets). Most importantly, 9.7 will have the option to connect to�Opera Turbo, the content compression service used in�Opera Mini, which does a lot to knock down loading times for a small sacrifice in image quality.

Fans of�Skyfire�might notice that these features�excluding Gears�are all available on their browser already. True! But one thing isn't: proper VGA and WVGA support, which prevents it from being usable on�every desirable�Windows Mobile�phone, period. So basically, this is very good news. [Opera Mobile�via�Information Week]