Sprint Mogul by HTC

There was a lot of hype on the Sprint Mogul UMPC (Ultra-Mobile Personal Computer). The Sprint Mogul, also known as the PPC-6800, first came into the tech spotlight last May, and it was told it would release in October. Sprint recently announced that it would be out in June 18th, which means that it should be out as you are reading this. You should know that is by HTC.

Well, the Sprint Mogul may be one of the most anticipated piece of mobile hardware about this year, with the exception of that lovely iPhone. Speaking of the iPhone, the Sprint Mogul has a lovely touchscreen interface.

So what does the Sprint Mogul have? For starters, upgrades. Sprint Mogul’s predecessor, the PPC-6700 or Apache had an aerial antenna and Windows Mobile 5. However, the Sprint Mogul has an internal antenna, as well as the new Windows Mobile 6 Professional. Other upgrades include doubling the internal ROM (256 MB), and a mircoSD instead of a miniSD.

Needless to say, it is almost three-fourths thinner than its predecessor, and has a longer battery life due to its 1500mAH Li-ion battery.

Then there is the usual features for an UMPC, like a QWERTY keyboard. I have been told that the slider QWERTY keyboard is reversed direction, which takes getting used to. It also has a jog wheel controller, making resemble an iPod knock-off. There is also a 2.0 Megapixel camera that can take pictures and video footage, which has slightly more megapixels than Sprint’s last UMPC.

As for the software, there is more than just the latest version of Windows Mobile. While we are on that subject, let me not fail to mention that this guy has a full Microsoft Windows Office suite with PDF and ZIP viewing support. It also has Wi-FI with both 802.11 b and g capability, Bluetooth 2.0, and a QUALCOMM 7500 chipset. There is apparently EVDO on this guy, and it is REV A upgradeable later in the year.

If you are interested in this phone, hopefully you should be able to get it now. I know that sounds really vague, and trust me, it is deliberate. I’ve heard many dates as to its availability, which range from now until July. The launch date is June 18th, while the retail is July 16th. The price is about at $550 USD, but a 2-year service agreement will slice $150 off that bill.