MWg, whose Zinc II slider doesn't look half-bad, whose handsets may actually be manufactured by HTC, and who -- let's face it -- is very unlikely to ever release a device with a US carrier, has officially launched in Europe. Modaco was at the event and grabbed a shot from their presentation. Therein, MWg said that they plan on releasing a device in Q4 of 2008 called Flame II. Let's take a look at the specs:

• Big screen, “3.5 inch or higher”
• Multimedia Features
• Windows Mobile 7
• 3.2mp camera
• GPS

...whoa, waitasecondtherecowboy! Is MWg claiming they're going to release a Windows Mobile 7 device by the end of the year? Good eye, catching that one, Paul!

We're doubting it will happen (it is just a roadmap from a very new and untested company), but it's interesting nonetheless. At any rate, it at least is another sight that we can expect Windows Mobile 7 leaks, like the one we first pointed out to you earlier this week, to start coming up on us on a regular basis.

We heard yesterday from Everything Q that the Verizon Q9c would be hitting today, a full week earlier than previously expected. Seems to be the case, as heading over to Verizon's site shows the Q9c as available for $199 after contract and discounts and whatnot.

If anybody picks one of these suckers up, we're curious to hear what the real differences are between it and the Q9m. We're expecting tat the Q9c may not have the fancy “the m is for music” today screen, but we're wondering if the focus on “VZ Navigator” in the promotional materials means that there's unhindered GPS in them thar Q9cs. Given Verizon's lip service about “openness” lately, it would be the right thing to do.

Thanks to Chris for the tip!

Let's face it: if you're reading this blog there's a healthy chance have a Windows Mobile device on your person at all times. Even, we suspect, when you're working out. Don't just let it sit there clipped to your shorts (or tucked into your spandex. By the way, please stop doing that. Ew.), instead you can put it to good use by tracking progress and details in your workout.

Create an Excel spread sheet for your workout plan. Along the top you can label each date and along the left hand side you will have all your workouts and weight. As you go from day to day you can enter weights lifted and exercises performed. This way at the end of each month you can use the option to create a graph and see how you have been doing. It may not hold a candle to the superb Nokia Sports Tracker, but it's a start.

There's other workout-related uses too. Gym playing crappy top 40 during your reps? With your Windows Mobile phone you can customize the music you listen to according to your work out. Running a 4 mile distance today? Try some Eye of the Tiger from the Rocky theme song. A set of lightweight A2DP bluetooth headphones can also help keep you from getting wires tangled with those crazy Bowflex machines too.

A great idea is to use your WinMo device to track your diet. I suggest you pick up Health and Diet Manager to keep track of food. This program tracks everything from calories to protein, and exercises allowing you and your diet to be one again. Now at the end of the day you can sleep easy knowing you cut those extra calories out of your diet.

If you're a slob like a certain Editor I know, you might need to set your sights a little lower. Say - use your Windows Mobile smartphone to send twits to Qwitter, a site that uses Twitter to help you quit smoking.

These are some ways you can use your Windows Mobile phone to slim down or size up for summer. Let us know in the comments how you’re using your Windows Mobile phone to stay in shape.

Rumors and new devices this week: the HTC Touch Diamond, the Treo 800w, and more. Plus: a whole heapin' helpin' of listener emails. Plus - there's an “announcement” at the very end that you'll want to hear. Listen in!

• Download it directly with this link
• Subscribe via iTunes
• Subscribe directly to the Podcast feed with your favorite Podcatcher here
• Check out Microsoft's Getting Started with Podcasts article
• Listen to it here with this flash player:

» Read the rest of "WMExperts Podcast 13 - HTC Diamond, Treo 800w, and Your Emails"

Another day, another crazy Sprint rumor. First we heard the crazy rumor that T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom was considering a Sprint acquisition. Then Sprint officially announced their spinning off at least a portion of their WiMAX infrastructure into a new company called Clearwire. Now this: the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sprint is also thinking about dumping Nextel ASAP.

No deal is imminent, these people say, characterizing the discussions over Nextel's fate as part of an ongoing strategic review at Sprint. But the fact that Sprint is even contemplating undoing the Nextel merger highlights the problems facing the No. 3 wireless carrier in the U.S. - WSJ.com (reg required for full article)

Anybody else thinking Sprint is getting rid of the stuff they know nobody else is especially interested in as a way to make themselves a juicier buyout target?

So what do you do when you can’t get the girl of your dreams? You go for her sister named AOL. That's the rumor, anyway. According to Geek, Microsoft is currently mulling over an AOL acquisition.

Seems Microsoft is out for whatever it can get these days. Since they missed with the approach to Yahoo and got no where, they decided to go across the street and knock on AOLs door. Some say it was to put pressure on Yahoo while others say it was a back-up plan. In either case, it looks like Microsoft is pretty serious about picking up a company that combines some online services with a serious online ad revenue model. AOL certainly fits the bill: hitting $5.2 billion in revenues last year.

If all goes well Microsoft can sweep AOL off her feet much cheaper than that snobby Yahoo. Still, this doesn't seem like quite as good a fit for Microsoft as Yahoo... and Yahoo itself didn't seem like that great of a fit in the first place. We're not going to say something smells a bit fishy here, except that we sorta just did.

We already knew that the 800w is in a closed beta program pending it's upcoming release on July 22nd - we know because the Beta program sign-up page explicitly said it was for the Zeppelin, the internal code name for the Treo 800w. Well now TamsPPC [via TreoCentral]notes that Palm also has a new program that will allow Windows Mobile developers to get in on the promotional materials for a couple of upcoming devices, the Zeppelin and the Skywriter. The image that accompanies the email explaining the program is pretty clearly just a dummy casing (or just a mockup) to hide the final look of the device - as you can see it's ugly as sin.

The squarish shape to this Skywriter reminds us of another mysterious squarish shape from the Vodaphone's leaked roadmap for 2008: the Palm Drucker. Honestly we're only expecting a couple of Windows Mobile Treos from Palm this year: the 800w and a GSM version of the same, codenamed Drucker. Seems pretty obvious that it's in testing now and that it has this fancy new codename (companies like to switch up the names to throw folks like us off).

The target launch date for the Drucker (/Skywriter, we hope) is, coincidentally enough, July 2008. Could Palm actually be releasing two Windows Mobile Treos on July 22nd -- in both CDMA and GSM flavors? If so, it would be a welcome change for a company that traditionally only releases devices until a temporary exclusive for a single carrier (usually Sprint) before they deign to release them for the other guys.

One of the most dominant questions asked from someone who has just bought a new phone is, “What’s a good case?”. If the side pouch style fits your fancy, then Smartphone Expert’s Side Pouch ($24.95) is a good answer for such a question.

Read on for the full review!

» Read the rest of "Review: SPE Side Pouch Case for BlackJack, BlackJack II"

We have a new twist of events in our WiMAX WaTCH: Sprint, after ditching Clearwire, is back together with them again. That's not the crazy part, though, the crazy part is that Sprint, along with Clearwire, has managed to cobble together $3.2 Billion US in investment to create a band new company, also to be called Clearwire. The money's coming from various sources, inclding Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks.

In other words, it looks like Sprint is dropping XOHM in favor of using this new company (which they'll control 51% of, by the way), though it may be that they'll keep XOHM as the Sprint-branded version of Clearwire's WiMAX services. These services, by the way, will also be available to re-sell to other companies:

“We've made an excellent start developing XOHM WiMAX services. Contributing those advances to a strongly backed new company - in which we'll hold the largest interest - provides Sprint with additional financial flexibility and allows Sprint management to leverage and focus on our core business.
”Additionally, the agreements allowing the new company and our cable company investors to bundle and resell Sprint's third-generation wireless services strengthen the distribution of our current services while reducing the complexity and enhancing Sprint's cable relationships,“ Hesse added. -[Clearwire Press Release]

Given Sprint's many, many woes, it's to be expected that they would do something to shake things up a bit. It remains to be seen whether or not this is the right move, but it smells to us like Clearwire is going to just offer ”big fat pipe“ services for data and voice. We've been begging for that since the inception of WMExperts -- here's to hoping that the new company can offer that.

In any case, it's clear now why Sprint signed a deal to use Google's services on their future handsets, innit?

A recent promotional video released by Microsoft, pimping its upcoming Live Mesh services, contained hidden treasure. The video depicts a typical suburban family, in a halcyon trance, engaged in various usage scenarios that Microsoft loves to employ as backdrops for its products. As a dreamy musical score plays on, a mother stands beside the family pool, using a Samsung i780 to capture photos of her son's swan dives. She then shares said photos with the rest of her proud family (because junior is obviously destined for great things with such impressive aquatic skills) using Microsoft Live Mesh. Go figure.

At 32 seconds into the video something interesting finally appears. An HTC Touch Dual comes into view, but blink twice and you'll miss that it's running an unmistakably different operating system - Windows Mobile 7. Its appearance is only brief, lasting a mere second or two, just long enough to get a quick look. Though somewhat distant and out of focus, the image clearly shows similar characteristics seen in other Windows Mobile 7 mockups, like a radically redesigned GUI and central Vista-like "Orb" (located in the softkey area) that replaces the venerable Start Menu.

Granted, this is only a promotional video, but it does at least provide an inside look at Microsoft's development roadmap for the platform, and proves that earlier mockups will bear a strong resemblance to the final product. This also isn't the first time Microsoft promotional material has leaked Windows Mobile deets --the Treo 800w image that appeared during Bill Gates' 2008 CES keynote was exciting too, but not quite as exiting as the future version of Windows Mobile that appeared during the same speech.

Who's up for some GUI goodness? I am!