Sprint's Mogul smartphone runs Windows Mobile 6 Pro

By Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 19 June 2007 07:24

Mobility

The Mogul smartphone from HTC just added to Sprint's product range is the first CDMA device in the US that runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition, the carrier claims.

The phone features a 2.8in, 320x240 pixel, colour display and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

In addition to providing handheld Internet access, the phone can be used as a modem for a laptop or other computer, and is also able to take advantage of 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connections.

Among the standard software are Pocket PC Internet Explorer and Windows Office Mobile, including support for direct wireless access to Exchange Server 2003. Another first for Sprint is that the Mogul allows the use of Java applications.

Although the Mogul initially supports EV-DO Rev 0 (typically 400-700kbps with peaks up to 2Mbps), a promised free software update will subsequently deliver higher Rev A speeds. (Rev A provides a useful increase in peak download speed to 3.1Mbps plus a more significant boost in peak upload rates from 153kbps to 1.8Mbps.)

Sprint's Rev A upgrade began in San Diego last October, and is expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year.

The combination of a touch screen, camera, Internet access, stereo Bluetooth and support for a music download service (Sprint Music Store, from July) begs comparison with Apple's iPhone. The Mogul costs $US399 with a two year service agreement and just 786M of memory (256M fixed plus a 512M microSD card), so perhaps the $US499 price tag on the 4G iPhone isn't as far out of kilter as some commentators have suggested.

While the Mogul can be fitted with a larger memory card, it is limited to 2G. A 2G microSD card can be purchased for $US20-40 depending on brand and retailer.

Compared with its predecessor, the Sprint PPC-6700, the Mogul has a 20 percent longer battery life yet is thinner at just 0.73in. It also has speakerphone capability and offers speaker-independent voice recognition.

"The Mogul by HTC gives customers the power to be more productive and manage a busy personal and professional life with the most advanced wireless capabilities and features available on any pocket-sized device," said Danny Bowman, vice president of customer equipment for Sprint.