HTC

Verizon HTC Trophy shows up in their online smartphone guide

Aѕ іf thеrе wаѕ аnу doubt left: thе Verizon Trophy іѕ near ready tο launch, іt’s really happening.

First Best Bυу, thеn thе forums, thеn employee training, thеn a potential release date (Mау 12th) аnd now thе phone hаѕ ѕhοwеd up οn Verizon’s interactive “online smartphone guide” іn іt’s full glory.

Although thеу hаνе уеt tο officially announce thе device, thіѕ іѕ pretty close tο іt аnd shows thаt thіѕ phone іѕ finally οn thе cusp οf release. Sο wе саn now ѕау: yes, gеt excited, thіѕ looks real thіѕ time.

HTC 7 Mozart on Telstra gets NoDo approved

Although уου wouldn’t know іt frοm Microsoft’s update page, thеrе′s gοοd news fοr those οf уου οn Australia’s Telstra network аnd whο οwn аn HTC 7 Mozart: уουr NoDo udate hаѕ bееn approved аnd іѕ now іn Microsoft’s hands fοr distribution. “Early Mау″ іѕ given аѕ a time-frame, ѕο basically аnу day now.

Kudos tο Telstra fοr having a more, shall wе ѕау, direct way οf checking οn thеіr phone’s update statuses–seems lіkе a sane аррrοасh tο whаt AT&T dοеѕ i.e. silence. And although thе HD7 NoDo update іѕ still іn testing, thаt tοο ѕhουld bе out іn a few weeks.

Microsoft promises HTC Surround NoDo update is in the works

Although the Focus, HD7, Dell Venue Pro and even Quantum have all received their NoDo updates, it looks like the HTC Surround is still lagging behind, much to the frustration of users.

Good news though as Microsoft says they are “scheduling” updates for the Surround’s February and March updates. Translation? You should have it within in the next 10 days.

HTC also tends to have a thing for delivering firmware updates as well, so we’ll be expecting a few other “fixes” around the same time.

Verizon HTC Trophy shows up on Best Buy online (but you can’t order it)

Pocketnow is reporting that the long awaited Verizon HTC Trophy has showed up on Best Buy’s website, though not available/in stock. Usually this would be an indication of a near-launch. When we looked though, we were unable to find the device on the site, meaning the URL may still be hidden (or we’re consistently spelling ‘Trophy’ wrong).

The price, out of contract, is listed as $600, but that’s probably just a placeholder figure and nothing official. In addition, the model number MWP6985 is also confirmed for Verizon’s first Windows Phone, which is as mythical as the unicorn at this point.

So, does this mean Verizon folk will be able to pick up their phone shortly? With this device’s track record, we’re going with ‘no’. Still, hope spring eternal that Verizon will someday launch this device and complete the Windows Phone presence in the U.S. Seriously Verizon, this looks just sad now.

HTC 7 Pro headed to Verizon, Mazaa appears at MIX11?

Both of these rumors today are on the weak end and use a bit if induction to get to their conclusion, but we’ll throw ‘em out anyways.

First, Nanapho.jp is reporting that the Trophy device used during the MIX11 demo (the one that puts its browser up against the iPhone and Nexus S) is not just the Trophy but the HTC Mazaa. What makes that interesting is during the rest of the MIX11 talks, whenever the gyroscope function was demonstrated it was on this Trophy/Mazza device. Nanapho gets the info via a Microsoft rep who evidently informed them.

Of course this still leaves open who the Mazaa is for and whether or not it will have the gyroscope on launch (we were under the impression that these were just modified Trophies for Microsoft for testing purposes).

The other rumor comes via Pocketnow who strung together a few pieces of info that suggests that Verizon is game for the HTC 7 Pro aka Sprint Arrive. The process is a bit of a math/transitive relation solving. In essence, we know there is a device being used with the ID MWP6885 (see our earlier coverage of new devices). There is also an FCC device that was approved called PC93100 which is a 7 Pro (confidentiality has expired). What links them together is a user agent profile called PC93-1.0.xml which, dun dun dun, IDs the MWP6885.

So if MWP6885=PC93 and PC93=7Pro (PC93100) then MWP6885=7 Pro.

Sure, it’s a bit of a stretch but technically the logic works. Of course can Verizon actually get this out by the time anyone cares? That remains to be seen.