Well, the netbook market is hotter than ever today with just about every manufacturer jumping on board. You can find your favorite take on the mini-laptop form factor from Toshiba, HP, Dell, Acer, and more. With the Nokia Booklet 3G just around the corner, we’re also seeing that traditional cell phone companies can do netbooks too.

As a result, HTC head-honcho Peter Chou says that the Taiwanese firm is very much interested in building a netbook of some kind. They’ll have to learn from what made the HTC Shift less than a stellar success and capitalize on what consumers want today. Chou says that the HTC offering will be unique in some way, but didn’t say which direction they were considering. An Android or Chrome-based unit, perhaps?

HTC seems to be doing quite well for itself again, thanks to its heavy involvement in the international market with devices like the HTC Hero, HTC Touch Pro 2, HTC Touch HD2, T-Mobile myTouch 3G, and so much more. Would you buy an HTC netbook?

Source: BGR

You can probably figure out the catch. In order to get your hands on teh touchscreen-only HTC Magic, you’ll need to latch onto a new three-year service agreement with Rogers Wireless and you probably need a data plan to qualify for that price too.

In case you didn’t catch it the first few times around, the HTC Magic smartphone gets a 528MHz processor, a 3.2-inch touchscreen display, microSD expansion, 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS with Google Maps, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and integrated WiFi.

Yes, I know it’s not the Motorola Droid. It’s not the HTC Hero either, but the HTC Magic still seems like a pretty solid offering. Interestingly enough, I only see the $0 price point in the flyer. Looking at the product page itself, the phone is still listed at $79.99 with contract.

At least that’s the rumor that’s currently making the rounds and, if these rumors are to be believed, the HTC Passion will be hitting store shelves at Verizon Wireless in time for you to sing Auld Lang Syne in Times Square.

As you may recall, the HTC HD2 gets Windows Mobile 6.5, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen, and a 5-megapixel camera. The HTC Passion for Verizon will have much the same spec sheet, except it seems to get Google Android 2.0 instead. Some are saying that the Passion is more like the CDMA version of the HTC Dragon.

The hardware buttons could get a slight redesign too, getting a look and feel more akin to the ones on the Motorola Droid. This way, the Android lineup at Verizon will be a little more uniform.

Source: Gizmodo

Previously known as the HTC Leo, the HTC Touch HD2 features a giant 4.3-inch WVGA display, but the real kicker is that this is a capacitive touchscreen and not a resistive one. This makes it a lot more finger-friendly, bringing it up to par with the Apple iPhone.

You might also remember that the HTC HD2 gets a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Windows Mobile 6.5, 5-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, GPS, Wi-Fi, FM radio, digital compass, 3.5mm headphone jack, TouchFLO 3D, and a microSD slot. This is one powerhouse of a phone.

Bear in mind that this is little more than a leaked slide at this point, but it looks pretty legitimate. The European launch of the HD2 is set for November 11, so here’s hoping that the American launch will follow shortly afterward.

Source: Intomobile

I don’t see any official confirmation one way or the other, but I’d say that the “new” T-Mobile Tap looks a heck of a lot like the original HTC Touch. You get a very similar touchscreen display and the hardware-based buttons underneath look very similar as well.

It’s possible that this is truly a new phone, more or less, since I do not think that this phone is running on Windows Mobile 5. Instead, it seems to be loaded with a regular “dumbphone” or “feature phone” operating system instead.

Specs include a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, web browser, media player, GPS, and that large touchscreen. The T-Mobile Tap will be made available in berry and midnight blue in time for the holiday shopping season.

Source: Intomobile

If you’re thinking that these two phones look eerily similar to something that you may have seen through another carrier, your impressions are mostly correct. The HTC PURE is the AT&T variant on the HTC Touch Diamond2 and the HTC Tilt 2 (also known as the AT&T Tilt 2) is their take on the HTC Touch Pro2.

The HTC PURE and the Tilt 2 will both come with full support for the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, so you will have the opportunity to browse, buy, and enjoy a range of applications on these phones. I’d imagine a handful of games, a Twitter client or two, and a Facebook app will be among the first out the chute. AT&T customers can choose to have their Marketplace purchases show up on their regular monthly bills.

The HTC PURE gets a 3.2-inch WVGA touchscreen, 5MP autofocus camera, expandable memory, gravity sensor, and an ambient light sensor. Expect to pay $150 with contract and mail-in rebate.

For the HTC Tilt2, you get a 3.6-inch WVGA touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard, HTC StraightTalk, and a 3.2-megapixel camera, aswell as the TouchFLO 3D experience. Look for the Tilt2 to run for $300 with a two-year agreement and $50 mail-in rebate.

Source: Slashphone

There is certainly a mixed response to the whole “chin” thing on HTC smartphones, seeing how some people prefer the chin-equipped version of the HTC Hero and others decry the lack of a chin on the Sprint-bound version of the Hero, but one thing is for sure: you will not see the Leno-esque feature on a non-Android phone.

Coming straight from One & Co, the design firm that works with HTC on these kinds of things, only Google Android phones will get the chin treatment. Not all Android phones will get a chin, but all chinned phones will have Android.

This angled base is meant to be more “playful” compared to the “dark, glossy finishes” of Windows Mobile devices. The latter is meant to appeal to a professional audience. What do you think? To chin or not to chin?

Source: MobileCrunch

Benjamin Tan works at Microsoft China as the senior director of the GCR Mobile Team Unit and he’s saying that 15 different manufacturers are on board with the Windows Mobile 6.5 revolution. Not only that, but Tan also goes on to mention that these 15 manufacturers will be releasing 30 new Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets before the end of the year.

Considering that Windows Mobile 6.5 doesn’t officially hit the scene until next month, that only gives the handset makers about two and a half months to get their phones out in the marketplace. You have to remmember that this is on a worldwide scale, though, so this goes well beyond the AT&T Tilt2 smartphone.

Among the names mentioned are HTC, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Acer, Toshiba, and HP. For the carrier side of the equation, Tan let us know that AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo, Softbank Mobile, SKT, Telstra, and Telus are all a part of the Windows Mobile 6.5 thing.

Will this be enough to make WM6.5 the preferred platform for both regular consumers and corporate customers? Will it be able to usurp Symbian, BlackBerry, and iPhone? With this many options in phones, it just might do it. Maybe.

Source: BGR

Previously known by its Whitestone codename and even mistaken for the Touch Diamond2, the HTC Imagio is an all-new handset for Verizon Wireless that will get its juice from the newest Windows Mobile 6.5 stack. You get a large 3.6-inch WVGA touchscreen display, an adequate 528MHz Qualcomm processor, 512MB ROM, 256MB RAM, an autofocus 5-megapixel camera, and GPS.

In addition to the CDMA/EV-DO stuff to handle the Verizon network, the Imagio is actually a world phone with GSM connectivity too. This way, you can plunk in an international SIM card and go traveling through Europe and Asia while maintaining your emails and contact lists.

Moving a little further into the future, Verizon Wireless is also set to get its hands on another HTC-sourced handset in the same month. Closer to the end of October, you can expect to get the HTC Predator with Google Android. Details are slim on that handset, but it’s good to see some ‘droid love head to the red checkmark.

Source: BGR

That release date puts the new AT&T Tilt 2 just a few days after the official Windows Mobile 6.5 launch, so that doesn’t provide AT&T and HTC with very much time to update the ROM. My guess is that an update will be provided shortly thereafter to give users the new OS, but you’ll probably be stuck with Windows Mobile 6.1 in the interim.

This would be in line with the HTC Touch Pro2, the phone that has already launched in some form through Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. As you may already know, the Tilt2 is really just AT&T’s branded version of the Touch Pro2, reverting back to the Tilt naming scheme that it used some time back.

Assuming that the specs on the AT&T Tilt2 will be identical to the versions being sold elsewhere, we can expect to find Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, a 3.6-inch resistive touchscreen at WVGA resolution, quad-band GSM, dual-band HSPA, TouchFlo 3D, GPS, five offset row QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3.2 megapixel camera, and a secondary front-facing VGA camera for video calls.

No word on price, but I guess we’ll find out by next month when this phone launches.

Source: Intomobile

UPDATE: So it seems that this phone will come with Windows Mobile 6.5 at launch after all. Sorry for any confusion.