This thing's been in the pressure cooker for ages now, but it looks like T-Mobile might finally be getting within a stone's throw of actually releasing (or at the very least, announcing) the Shadow II, successor to the Shadow -- HTC's funky little Windows Mobile Standard slider targeted squarely at a consumer audience. The new model moves to WinMo 6.1 from 6 (we should certainly hope so), and as rumored, it appears to now support HotSpot WiFi-based calling. It's no G1 on the geek scale, but if you're looking to somehow strike a mythical balance between "cool" and "supports ActiveSync," we might just have your winner.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Not that you can't snag an HTC Touch Diamond in Canada right now, but those loyal to Rogers are still waiting. As of this moment, we still can't locate the WinMo 6.1-based handset on the outfit's website, but MobileSyrup has it that the phone will soon be released for as low as $199.99 on a 3-year contract (with a minimum $45 voice / data plan). Oddly enough, we're also told that it'll be available with voice-only plans for $449.99 (3-year), $549.99 (1 to 2-year) and $599.99 (month-to-month), while a data-only plan is available on the $499.99 handset (3-year). Weird, we know -- which makes us all the more anxious to hear this gibberish from the horse's mouth.

Remember that white Sega Game Gear that you always read about -- maybe even saw in a picture -- but never managed to actually find in real life? In the minds of average Game Gear owners, it reached near-legendary status; it didn't matter that the white wasn't necessarily any better-looking than the black, the sheer rarity of the darned thing made it an object of pure, unadulterated lust. Yeah, well, that's pretty much where we are with the white Touch Diamond right now -- we know it exists, but finding one is nigh impossible, and that alone makes it a thousand shades of awesome as far as we're concerned. Taiwanese site ePrice has some hands-on shots up and we think we're loving the look of the prism effect in the new color along with the two-tone action up front; yes, we'd like to see it launch everywhere, but a certain (perhaps nostalgic) part of us wants it to stay impossibly rare.

[Via Daily Mobile, thanks Daniel]

For now, Android's got about as much enterprise support as a Sidekick (well okay, a little more, but not much) -- so that's got to be keeping G1s out of the hands of throngs who are too tied-down to Exchange, Notes, or some equally stuffy piece of server-side software to be able to make the switch. China's QiGi feels your pain, which is where the company's surprisingly okay-looking i6 comes into play: the handset supports both Android and Windows Mobile, although you can't dual-boot -- you've got to choose one and run with it until you decide to install the other. It packs a 624MHz processor, 256MB of ROM, 128MB of RAM, a trackball, and -- in lieu of a QWERTY slide -- an on-screen Chinese keyboard with stylus support that we haven't seen before. Android, we love ya and all, but until you go through puberty, this multi-platform support is just about the best thing we've ever heard.

[Thanks, zsx]

This is really just confirmation of existence more than anything, given that we've already seen purported shots of both the Attila and Alexander before, but at least we're assured that these forthcoming Motorola smartphones are more than just subjects of one's Photoshopping escapades. The image you see above is accompanied by no additional information whatsoever, but we must say, these look strangely seductive in greyscale. Could these really be the first truly black-and-white handsets? Do it Moto, we dare you.

Can't say it looks like anything special, but Pharos has launched its latest Traveler courtesy of Dell. The GPS-enabled Traveler 619 boasts a 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard, 2-megapixel camera, 3.5G support, a quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE radio, Windows Mobile 6, Bluetooth / WiFi, IrDA and a battery good for four hours of yappin'. Order now for a buck ninety-nine and it should be under the tree in plenty of time.

[Thanks, Pavel]

Being that Velocity Mobile's 103 just made it through the FCC gauntlet a few months back, we knew the delightful 111 couldn't be too far behind. Sure enough, the Windows Mobile-based smartphone has made its final stop before hitting store shelves in the United States, though we can't say for certain where it'll actually be sold. Also of note, the linked Users Manual is inexplicably corrupt, so we can't say much about the functionality, either. Ah well, it ought to be landing in eager hands soon enough -- we can stand the wait. Maybe.

The popular rumor floating around at the moment is that Microsoft intends to announce self-branded handsets powered by NVIDIA's beefy Tegra architecture for next-gen phones and MIDs at the GSMA's Mobile World Congress in February of next year. Let's put aside for a moment the fact that Redmond continues to vehemently deny having any interest in getting into the hardware end of its Windows Mobile racket -- concealing the truth is a part of doing competitive business, after all -- and turn our attention to the practical matter of whether this makes any sense whatsoever. First off, Windows Mobile's strength lies in its incredibly deep and wide partner base, a base that includes visionary teams at HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola, and countless others. With Android and Symbian finally becoming viable opportunities for third-party manufacturers, Microsoft doesn't want to do anything that's going to hasten the revolt before it's able to wrap up version 7 (or at the very least, 6.5) -- and competing with your own licensees would be a bang-up way to do that. Granted, Microsoft did exactly that by introducing Zune following the PlaysForSure initiative, but let's be honest: Windows Mobile and Zune don't play in the same league. Zune's a hobby, a side gig; WinMo's a monster, a long-term cash cow that's got to be treated with the same franchise tag as Windows itself.

Look familiar? If you've got an eye for FCC label drafts, the shadowy figure here will ring a bell as Pantech's C820 -- perhaps better known as the successor to the Duo. Carried over from the Duo is the pair of slides that offer both numeric and QWERTY keypads for your tapping pleasure, but it could be argued that the C820 owns the original model six ways to Sunday in the design department; in fact, we'd go on to argue that this'll end up being one of the better-looking phones on AT&T when it launches, period. Thing is, we don't know when that launch is gonna be just yet -- so for now, just feast on some newly-updated FCC documentation and dream of a future filled with glossy black capsules running Windows Mobile.

[Via Phone Scoop]

If it's a 5-megapixel cameraphone you're looking for, there are decidedly cheaper entries on the market -- but if only a 5-megapixel WinMo Professional set will do, the Omnia's just about the best (read: only) deal you'll find on an American carrier these days. The CDMA translation of the smartphone that Samsung's been selling in other parts of the world for much of 2008 in GSM form carries over most of its key features, namely Windows Mobile 6.1 with TouchWiz, WiFi, DivX certification, the love-it-or-hate-it optical directional pad, and that beefy cam with flash and autofocus. It also nabs VZ Navigator support, stereo Bluetooth, a 3.2-inch 400 x 240 display, and 8GB of internal memory. Gives pause to that imminent Touch Pro purchase, doesn't it? Look for it to be available for order this week -- a full retail launch is expected come December 8 -- for $249.99 after rebate on a two-year contract.

[Thanks, Anthony C.]

If it's just gotta be Windows Mobile then the HTC Touch Pro is about as good as it gets. After HTC jumped the gun yesterday, the Touch Pro is up and dancing the QWERTY slide on Verizon's website exactly as rumored. $419.99 minus that $70 mail-rebate makes it yours for $350 with two-year contract. Right, $50 more than with AT&T.

[Thanks, Leindurstit]

It looks like HTC jumped the gun here just a little bit for two reasons: first, we've yet to hear a single peep (officially, anyway) from Verizon about its Touch Pro's existence, and second, the "Buy Now" link on the product page takes you to... wait for it... Sprint. We don't know much, but we know that ain't right. Anyway, hang tight, folks, because we're still hoping for a release this week -- we've heard rumors that it may have been pushed back, but from the looks of things on HTC's end, they'd just as soon get this thing out the door on the double.

[Thanks, Leindurstit]