“Tired of trying to import the GSM variant through grey market means? Well, LG’s Chocolate phone is about to be offered through an American CDMA service provider: Verizon Wireless has just announced that they will be adding the VX-8500 to their lineup.The music-centric slider will most likely sport V CAST compatibility for loading up the tunes on the go. It almost seems fitting, given the black and red theme found on the chocolate and a similar scheme accompanying V CAST.As far as what features this phone will sport (and which Verizon will be crippling, as they are known to do), nothing has been set in stone just yet, so we’ll just have to wait until the teaser page offers us a little more.An earlier rumour hinted at an October launch, but more recent information seems to be pointing towards a release closer to August 7th launch. Stay tuned for more as it develops.” via mobilemag.com
HTC bringing smartphone coolness to DoCoMo
“Taiwan’s High Tech Computer (HTC) will enter the Japan market for the first time later this month when it begins selling a Windows Mobile-based smart phone with NTT DoCoMo, the two companies said Wednesday.The “hTc Z” will be targeted at corporate clients. It will run the Japanese version of Windows Mobile 5.0 and be able to connect to Windows Server and Exchange Server 2003 SP2 email systems, allowing corporate email, calendar and other information to be pushed to the device, DoCoMo said.The device has a QWERTY keyboard and dual-mode WCDMA and GSM/GPRS network support. There’s a 2.8in color display with QVGA resolution (320 x 240 pixels), Bluetooth and 802.11b/g wireless LAN support.It will go on sale in late July at a price yet to be announced. HTC and NTT DoCoMo will formally unveil the product next week at the Wireless Japan 2006 trade show in Tokyo “via digitalworldtokyo.com.