TheWindowsPhone

Last year some smartphone specs were leaked out of Microsoft that many guessed were Microsoft’s Project Pink Chassis: a.k.a. the magical Zune Phone. Well Mary Jo Foley over at ZDnet seems to think that this Chassis was actually part of an evolving discussion at Microsoft on how to lock down their phone ecosystem so that they had fewer hardware partners that were required to adhere to much stricter specifications.

On a recent “Frankly Speaking” podcast (feb 20) the Microsoft Australia Developer Evangelist hosts Michael Kordahi and Andrew Coates discuss the three different chassis that will be available for Windows Phone 7 Series devices. Chassis 1, which was the one in circulation already, was for big, touchscreen-only devices with 1GHz processors a-la HTC HD2.

Chassis 2 phones will feature hardware keyboads – either Palm Treo-esque or of the sliding QWERTY variety – and touchscreens. Then there was Chassis 3, which they guessed might be candybar form factor.

They suggested that Chassis 1 devices would be the first out of the gates around Christmas, but offered no details on when the Chassis 2 and 3 devices might be available. We’ve already seen a prototype of the LG “Chassis 2” type design, with a sliding QWERY keyboard, so maybe we’ll see more than just Chassis 1 devices at Christmas?

The sheer variety of hardware devices available will certainly be one of the main advantages of Windows Phone 7. By locking in some rigorous hardware requirements for partners and OEM manufacturers Microsoft can ensure a consistent user experience across a broad spectrum of devices.

Palm released its Q1 results yesterday and, surprise, surprise, they did alright. Palm managed to ship 832,000 units in Q1, for $68millionn in revenue.

While we’re happy for Palm that the Pre is extending their existence, a more interesting piece of news was that Palm is planning on dropping Windows Mobile entirely in favor of their WebOS. You can see the full Q1 Palm results here.

A user by the name of CFay has put up a couple of ROMs at the PPCGeeks Forum that Palm Treo Pro owners may be interested in:

• WM6.5.1 Custom ROM
• WM6.1 “clean” ROM (all the bloatware cleaned out, optimized a little)

Both good news for Palm Treo Pro users. I believe he accepts donations, so be generous!

Okay, so maybe this isn’t ground breaking news but hey, bear with me — I love Heroes! (I realize I may be one of the few Heroes fans left in the world, heh). This week’s episode of Heroes on NBC featured none other than the Palm Treo 800w!

Character Noah Bennett used the Treo 800w to help him track and capture “evolved” humans — great choice of a device! It’s fast and can be used easily with one hand.

Thanks for spotting that, pocketnow!

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Go Canada!

Not only will Bell be offering the Palm Treo Pro and the Samsung Omnia, but now it looks as though Telus will have them too! Though, I wouldn’t celebrate just yet — looks like Telus is going to be charging more than Bell ($20 and $50, respectively) than Bell, and that’s based on signing up for a 3-year contract, too! Eep. I’m betting that there are more than a few of you out there who aren’t happy about that. But being that these devices are oh-so-cool, will you pay anyway?

Let us know what you think!

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Ooh an unboxing! Always exciting. Even more exciting is the fact that its a video of the unboxing of the Sprint (CDMA radio) version of the Palm Treo Pro. This device hasn’t been available in North America until now.

The Palm Treo Pro from Sprint comes loaded up with the newest version of Windows Mobile 6.1 which features the brand new Internet Explorer Mobile.

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Thanks to some more leaked information, we now know that the Palm Treo Pro is on its way. The leaked image show us that it will be “available 3/11/09 at Brightpoint and 3/15/09 in Direct Ship” for $549.99, launching a few days earlier than Sprint’s official date (March 15th).

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Finally, the Palm Treo Pro has come to Canada and it looks like Bell Mobility will be the first to get it in EV-DO Rev. A.

The Palm Treo Pro has been available as an unlocked phone since last fall, but still has yet to be offered by a wireless carrier in the US but rumour has it that it should be available though Sprint as soon as next month.

This device is now available to Bell Mobility customers for a limited-time price of $100 CAD with a three-year contract.

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Two new Windows Mobile phones have gotten official Sprint launch dates!

The long-delayed (due to apparent certification issues) Sprint Palm Treo Pro will now be released into the wild on March 15th. Next in line is the mysterious (and oddly named) HTC Cedar, a WinMo Standard (non-touchscreen) device that has a predicted launch date of June 2009. Nothing else is known at this time, but I’m sure we’ll here more about this pretty little blue handset soon enough!

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The folks at Gizmodo have brought up a very good question: Should Sprint drop the Palm Treo Pro with the Palm Pre on its way?

I would personally argue that they’re apples and oranges. They can both appeal to different audiences – WinMo fans, Palm OS fans, QWERTY lovers, and touch screen addicts. Why choose? Keep both, Sprint!

What do you think?

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