Official Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM for Sprint Mogul leaks out

Here's a deeply philosophical question for you: if an official ROM is released unofficially, is it official? We don't know, and frankly, we don't care -- the important thing is that a shipping-quality cut of Windows Mobile 6.1 for Sprint's Mogul has found its way onto the interwebs courtesy of the wizards over at xda-developers. It's not clear when Sprint or HTC might make this just a little more official than it already is and release it through one of their support sites, but in the meantime, at least we still have a shot at nabbing the goods through "other" channels. Let us know about any trials or tribulations you face getting your units upgraded, alright?

Sprint's HTC Touch (Vogue) gets Windows Mobile 6.1 update

Hey, Vogue users -- jealous of your Mogul toting friends, are you? Put all that angst aside, as an official Sprint firmware update has just been loosed that adds Windows Mobile 6.1 among other things. Not much else to say beyond that, and besides, shouldn't you have that download started already?

HTC Touch Diamond Hands-on Update

I'm still working on the full review, but I wanted to give everyone an update on that performance fix that was released last week for the HTC Touch Diamond. I installed the new ROM (it was easy, just run the executable on your PC), and now TouchFLO is noticeably faster. It's still not instant, but it's definitely improved to the point where it's usable and you won't really mind it. Yeah, it's passed that bar. I'd even say that it's just as fast as the iPhone. Current owners will be able to upgrade to the newer official ROM soon.

T-Mobile announces Motorola ROKR E8

As expected, T-Mobile has taken the wraps off its very own version of Motorola's ROKR E8, a glossy black candybar offering a 2 megapixel camera, 2GB of internal storage (plus a microSD slot that'll swallow up to 8GB more), stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, FM radio, and that so-called "morphing" keypad that selectively renders keys invisible depending on the mode you're using. It's missing 3G, but that's one feature T-Mobile customers are all too well acquainted to missing out on -- and considering that the just-announced flagship ZN5 doesn't even do any WCDMA, it shouldn't come as any surprise. Subscribers and would-be subscribers will be able to nab the E8 come July 7 for $199.99 on contract.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 hands-on, sorta

So here's the scene. We're at the Digital Experience show, trying to get our hands on a powered-up Sony Xperia X1. Sure, we found a unit that wasn't powered up, but that does you -- and us -- no good. Sony told us to come back in 15 minutes, so we grabbed some press kits, made a round of booths, and came back.

Sure enough, when we came back the X1 was powered up, but the nice booth lady tried to tell us that things weren't working just right and the unit was stuck on the config screen. After some jiggering, we determined the little X1 was just stuck on the touch screen calibration, and we were cruising through menus within minutes. It's pretty clear this unit wasn't ready for primetime -- you'll even see some HTC test apps in the below gallery -- but we were impressed by the screen's resolution and brightness. Windows Mobile 6.1 showed it face often in the UI, but the phone app and general utilities were looking good.

Overall, the X1 is a pleasure to behold -- it's one sexy device. That said, we'll have to wait how Sony Ericsson's user interface shapes up and just look at the pretty pictures in the gallery until mid-September.