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While the official announcement wasn't supposed to cross the wires till next week, The Wall Street Journal went early with its story (please don't get me started on this) and published a review of the HTC Touch Diamond for Sprint.

Yes, that's right. The Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone is officially part of the Sprint family; not that it was a complete surprise. The HTC Touch Diamond, as well as the HTC Touch Pro (no announcement on this model yet), were long rumored for a CDMA carrier months before Wednesday's early coming-out party. So now that the floodgates are open, here is what we know.

Word's out on the HTC Touch Diamond for Sprint.

(Credit: Sprint)

There are a number of differences between the Sprint HTC Touch Diamond and the unlocked version we reviewed in late June. First, it sports a purple/burgundy backplate to add more flash to an already sexy phone. The smartphone is also a smidge thicker and heavier at 4 inches tall by 2 inches wide by 0.6 inch deep and 4.1 ounces, but keeps the same 2.8-inch, 262,000-color TFT touch screen.

Of course, one of the highlights of the HTC Touch Diamond is the TouchFLO 3D interface, which provides a toolbar along the bottom of the screen where you can move left to right with the swipe of your finger to launch applications. Sprint's version is optimized so that you can access things like live TV, weather, e-mail, photos, contacts, and more.

In addition to the toolbar, there are several programs, such as e-mail, the camera, and music, where you can go flip through your files and messages by swiping your thumb/finger up or down the screen with a cool animated 3D effect.

Moving on to the features, the HTC Touch Diamond for Sprint runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition, but rather than being content with the standard Microsoft Office Mobile Suite, the smartphone also ships with Dataviz's Documents to Go Suite and the Opera Web browser. We're sure many will be pleased with inclusion of these applications, which are arguably more robust than the former. Wireless options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (with A2DP support), EV-DO Rev. A, and GPS with support for Sprint Navigation.

HTC Touch Diamond

(Credit: HTC)

As expected, HTC officially took the wraps off the HTC Touch Diamond at a press conference in London Tuesday and great googly moogly, does this thing look hot! Not only does it look sexy from the outside with its sleek, black casing, but the Touch Diamond also features a revamped TouchFlo 3D interface that gives you a more animated and easier way to access your contacts, messages, and other content. You can do all this via the Diamond's gorgeous 2.8-inch, 680x480 VGA (yes, that's right, VGA) touch screen; plus, there's a new touch-sensitive control below the display to help you out.

The Touch Diamond is a lot more than just looks, though. The quad-band smartphone runs Windows Mobile 6.1 and has integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, and HSDPA support. HTC also noted that it will ship the Touch Diamond with a customized mobile Web browser that provides an optimized view of pages and lets you zoom and pan sites with one hand. In addition, the page orientation will automatically go from portrait to landscape mode when you turn the device sideways (hmm, sounds familiar. *cough, iPhone, cough, cough*) Other goodies include a 3.2-megapixel camera, 4GB internal storage, 256MB flash memory, and 192MB RAM.

The HTC Touch Diamond will start shipping in European markets this June, and then later in the quarter for Asia and the Middle East. As for us, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that we're actually getting our own version but unfortunately, we, as well as Latin American markets, will have to wait till the second half of 2008. Now, while the Touch Diamond certainly looks like a gem (sorry, had to do it), we're hoping it's more than just flash. And we couldn't help but be reminded of a similar-looking smartphone from Velocity Mobile. Mmm hmm, things just got interesting. Check out CNET UK's hands-on examination and our photo gallery of the HTC Touch Diamond.

A T-Mobile executive said Wednesday that the carrier will offer a Google Android cell phone by the end of 2008.

At a wireless conference in Redwood City, Calif., Joe Sims, vice president and general manager of T-Mobile USA's Broadband and new Business Division, said that he has seen prototypes of an Android handset, and that the first in a series of devices will be available in the final quarter of this year.

Sims confirmed an earlier announcement by T-Mobile International CEO Hamid Akhavan at February's GSMA World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. During a news conference, Akhavan promised a fourth-quarter launch, but he did not specify which of the carrier's markets would get it first.

T-Mobile is the first U.S. carrier to set a launch date for an Android device. Though it is a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance, as of December a T-Mobile representative would not confirm that the carrier would even offer an Android phone. Sprint and Verizon Wireless are also members of the alliance, but the two carriers have remained silent on when, or even if, they'll launch devices.

Sims did not drop any details on the promised device, though HTC is rumored to be developing a device called the Dream. Motorola, HTC, Samsung, and LG are members of the Open Handset Alliance as well.

Though U.S. carriers have long resisted open platforms like Android, T-Mobile's adoption of the platform is another sign of how carriers have begun to loosen the reins. According to CNNMoney.com, Sims said that though the carrier was at first skeptical, T-Mobile now views Android as a way to encourage innovation and customer choice.

HTC Touch

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

Today, Sprint officially announced its plans to offer the HTC Touch smartphone with availability starting on November 4 for $249.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate. If you'll remember, we reviewed an unlocked version of the Touch back in June, which made headlines for its all-touch-screen interface--pre-iPhone release. Though we had major issues with the poor text entry input methods (or lack thereof), it didn't seem to bother too many CNET readers, garnering an average 8.5 user rating.

The Sprint HTC Touch features some enhancements and carrier-specific services not found on the previous version, including EV-DO support and access to Sprint TV and the Sprint Music Store. The Windows Mobile 6 smartphone also continues to offer a 2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP and DUN profiles supported), a speakerphone, voice-activated dialing, and a microSD expansion slot that accepts up to 4GB cards. Apparently, there were some slight tweaks made to the touch interface as well; we're expecting to get our review unit the next day or two, so we'll give you the full rundown then.

Samsung U900

(Credit: Phone Arena)

Remember back when Verizon Wireless COO Jack Plating scoffed at the iPhone in a company memo, calling it the "iWhatever"?

Yeah, we all chuckled. Although he couldn't point to a single device that would command the attention of the Apple phone, he tried to rally his troops by saying that AT&T wouldn't be able to compete with Verizon's choice of phones.

UTStarcom XV6800

(Credit: Phone Arena)

Meanwhile, gadget blog Phone Arena says it's found Verizon's road map for which products are in store for what remains of 2007. Is this likely to erase the iPhone from our collective memory? Of course not. But here's what may be coming down the pipe.

Not all of these are new rumors--Samsung Electronics' SCH-i760 showed up on the "interwebs" last month, as did a Verizon-stamped Palm Treo 755p.

RIM Blackberry Pearl

(Credit: Phone Arena)

But check out what else they found: The Motorola Q9m and Q9c--CDMA versions of the Q9h--and the XV6800 and SMT5800 from UTStarcom--both with slide-out keyboards. There's also an improved from Research In Motion.

Motorola Z6c and Z6tv, both multimedia sliders, are on the list, as are clamshells from Motorola (the basic 8630), and Samsung's U410, U700 and U900 (with a 3.0-megapixel camera and, according to Phone Arena, a decent camcorder). Two LG clamshells--the VX5300 and VX8350--round out the list (literally, they both have curiously rounded edges).

Sprint Mogul by HTC

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

Man, if I were a Sprint or Verizon Wireless customer, I wouldn't be the happiest camper in the world. After all, the CDMA faithful have had to sit back and watch for the past few months, while their GSM counterparts at T-Mobile and AT&T got one new smart phone after another. Yet, things are starting to look up--for Sprint subscribers, anyway. Today, the carrier announced the Sprint Mogul by HTC, the long-awaited successor to the Sprint PPC-6700. It sports a thinner design, Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition, a better camera, and more memory. Yet, we have some issues with it. Read our full review here to find out what they are and decide for yourself whether you should start saving your pennies (all $399.99 worth) for this puppy. The Sprint Mogul will be available online and through business sales channels starting June 18 and in retail stores nationwide by mid-July.

Click to start HTC Touch slide show

(Credit: HTC )

HTC, the company behind many of today's most popular Windows Mobile smart phones, is known for offering a broad range of devices. It has done petite, thin, and powerful, and it's even gone above and beyond traditional smart phones, as we saw at CTIA 2007 with the introduction of the HTC Shift and HTC Advantage. And now here's the company's latest twist: the HTC Touch.

The details:
Announced today for the United Kingdom (foiled again!), the HTC Touch features a technology called TouchFLO that allows you to operate the smart phone just by swiping your finger on the device's 2.8-inch, 65,536-color touch screen. The motions are preprogrammed to perform certain actions. For example, swiping your thumb in an upward motion launches a page where you can access contacts, media, or applications; sweeping left to right rotates through the various functions; while you can close out of apps by swiping downward. In addition, the screen knows the difference between the touch of a stylus and your finger and will act accordingly, and there's a new HTC-designed home screen where you can get one-touch access to your messages, calendar, contacts, and weather conditions.

Aside from the advanced touch screen, the HTC Touch looks different than any other smart phone we've seen from the company. Known as the HTC Elf in some circles, the Touch is certainly petite at 3.9 inches long by 2.3 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick and weighing 3.9 ounces. One observer said it resembled the Rio Carbon MP3 player, and I'd say that's a fair comparison. It actually also kind of reminded me of a Tamagotchi toy--is that bad? HTC says the Touch is targeted more toward consumers who want to make the leap from a regular cell phone to a smart phone. Oh yes, this is a full-blown smart phone. It runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition and has support for push e-mail, integrated Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP supported) and Wi-Fi, a microSD slot, and 128MB ROM/64MB RAM. It's also equipped with a 2-megapixel camera and is rated for 5 hours of talk time and up to 8 days of standby time. While today's announcement was for the U.K., the HTC Touch is expected to cross the pond and ship in the United States during the second half of the year, though pricing and carrier have not yet been determined.

First impressions:
Fellow Craver Nicole Lee and I actually got some brief hands-on time with the HTC Touch, as the company paid us a visit last week. Personally speaking, I have my doubts about the smart phone. First, using the touch screen was a frustrating experience. I could never get it to work right. Swiping left to right didn't do much, and I couldn't really close out of apps by using the downward motion. I also noticed the screen held a lot of smudges, which bugged me. That said, I'm sure I could learn to use the Touch with more time. The HTC reps had a good handle on the workings of the touch technology (but one would hope so, since it is their product), and there's always a bit of a learning curve when you get a new device. No, my biggest gripe is there isn't an easy way to enter text. Given the compact design, a full QWERTY keyboard is clearly out, but are you telling me I'm left to peck out messages with a stylus and tiny virtual keyboard? I understand it's not a machine for the power business user, so composing e-mail isn't the issue here. But what about text messages or IMs? The phone may be great and the multimedia capabilities top-notch, but I'm a huge texter and if this is my only method of sending messages, I'll have to pass. BUT this is all after spending maybe 20 minutes with the device, so I'm not passing any final judgment yet. HTC is throwing an event tomorrow here in San Francisco for the global launch of the HTC Touch, and I should be getting one of my very own to test, and I'll give it a fair shake. So be sure to check back Thursday for our full review.

iPhone competitor:
Of course, with its touch screen capability, some are bound to wonder if the HTC Touch will rival the Apple iPhone. Come on, you know the comparison is bound to happen. So will it give the iPhone a run for its money? I don't know, and we won't know till the iPhone comes out at the end of the month. As far as HTC is concerned, the company said the Touch was in development long before the Apple announcement and it welcomes the competition and attention it brings to the smart phone space. How's that for a safe answer?

What are your initial impressions of the HTC Touch?

Click on the image to start the T-Mobile Wing slide show

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

Finally! Ever since the release of Windows Mobile 6 back in February, we've anxiously awaited the arrival of supported devices, and we're not talking about software upgrades or smart phones of the announced-but-not-yet-shipping variety (a la Motorola Q 9). No, if you're anything like us, you want to get your hands on one now and you finally can.

T-Mobile and HTC today announced the immediate availability of the T-Mobile Wing (aka HTC Herald)--through select T-Mobile retail stores and online, for $299.99 with a two-year contract. As the successor to the T-Mobile MDA, the Wing runs the latest Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition, sports a revamped design, and features an upgraded 2-megapixel camera. So why are we slightly disappointed? Read our full review to find out.

The rebranded AT&T 8525

(Credit: Cingular/AT&T)

Today, AT&T/Cingular announced a rebranded and upgraded version of the Cingular 8525 called ... wait for it ... the AT&T 8525. Aside from the new name, the 8525 brings push-to-talk capabilities and support for the carrier's Mobile Music and Cellular Video streaming service (aka Cingular Music and Cingular Video). This is, of course, in addition to the 8525's already powerful feature set of push e-mail, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, HSDPA support, and a 2-megapixel camera. The AT&T 8525 will be available starting May 14 for $399.99.

And hey, Cingular 8525 owners, don't get all worked up now. You can also spruce up your current device by downloading the software update from HTC's site. Cingular/AT&T says there are plans to release a Windows Mobile 6 upgrade for the smart phone later this year, but no specific date was announced today.