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Two much talked about smartphones from original design manufacturer (ODM) High Tech Computer (HTC) could find their way into the U.S. market by the end of the year, so says Pocket PC Thoughts after speaking with several anonymous T-Mobile USA sources. Both of these cellular-wireless handhelds are Pocket PC Phones. One is codenamed the Universal and the other Wizard.

Universal
The Universal opens like a mini-laptop with a QWERTY thumb keyboard, but when you flip, twist, and turn its screen—as with Sony's now-defunct Clie handhelds—it enters traditional, for a Pocket PC, tablet mode.

Whereas earlier models in the Universal series handled four GSM/GPRS bands, the (GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz) MDA IV/Universal loses a band in favor of UMTS support. UMTS, a first for a Windows Mobile device, purports to exchange data between 400 to 700 Kbps, or up to three faster than EDGE—GSM's 3G data-exchange standard.

Universal Twists

Universal Closed

                                   Universal

Unique to the MDA IV/Universal is a VGA (480 x 640 pixel) resolution display. There are two cameras—one for still images and the other for video—plus Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless networking, of course.

The Pocket PC Phone measures 5.2 x 3.2 x 0.85 inches (13.16 x 7.9 by 2.16 centimeters) closed and includes 128 MB of RAM plus a 520 MHz Intel XScale CPU. It is already shipping in parts of Europe.

Wizard
Like the Universal, the Wizard will most likely be sold under a variety of brand names; depending on the which manufacturer or mobile operator offers the device. In addition to T-Mobile, buzz last summer indicated Cingular Wireless would ship the Wizard in the U.S., perhaps soon.

As with the Universal, the Wizard is built on Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows Mobile 5.0. It has a QWERTY thumb-keyboards. But whereas the Universal opens like a mini-laptop with that nifty flip, twist and turn VGA (640 x 480 pixel) resolution screen to turn itself into a traditional tablet-style Pocket PC, the Wizard's keyboard simply slides out from underneath its more traditional QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) display.

As a Windows Mobile device, you'll be able to select either portrait or landscape viewing. Nonetheless, Wizard owners will most likely choose to use the smartphone in landscape mode when the keyboard is extended. With keyboard retracted it would seem to makes more sense for the screen to be viewed in portrait mode.

Keyboard Extended

Keyboard Retracted

                                   Wizard

Additional known features of the Wizard include a 195 MHz Texas Instruments OMAP850 processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GSM/GPRS/EDGE cellular network support. EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) is a 3G standard that delivers download speeds averaging around 125 Kbps, with bursts up to 200 Kbps or so.

As is the custom with many smartphones nowadays, there should be versions of the Wizard with and without a 1.3-megapixel camera. Corporate gatekeepers view features like integrated cameras with an increasingly jaundiced eye. They simply make it too easy for employees to share with others information that the enterprise would prefer to keep private.