Mobile operator Sprint today officially launched its Mogul smartphone, offering Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition, a sizable touchscreen, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, an integrated camera, integrated Wi-Fi, and decent battery life. The Mogul is made for Sprint by HTC and marks a rare occasion HTC has ventured into the realm of CDMA devices, though there’s a bit of a catch—for now, the phone only offers EV-DO Rev 0 data speeds, with support for EV-DO Rev A coming later by way of a software update.
“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, Sprint’s VP of customer equipment, in a statement. “With support for Windows Mobile 6, Bluetooth and integrated Wi-Fi for data, customers have more choices for staying productive on the go today.”
The Sprint Mogul is an update to Sprint’s PPC-6700 Windows Mobile 5 device, offering a 2.8-inch touchscreen display, 64 MB of RAM, microSD storage (the Mogul comes with a 512 MB card), a 2 megapixel video-capable camera, a convenient thumbwheel for one-handed scrolling and operation, a speakerphone, a slide-out QWERTY keybaord, and up to four hours of talk time on the standard battery. The Mogul runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition, which means users get the PocketPC version of Internet Explorer, mobile versions of the Microsoft Office suite, Outlook email that’s compatible with Exchange Server 2003, and support for downloadable applications from the Sprint PCS Software Store. Moreover, the Mogul offers Bluetooth wireless connectivity (and can act as a modem), sports 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connectivity so users can hop on the Internet from Wi-Fi access points. The 800/1900 CDMA phone offers EV-DO Rev. 0 and 1xRTT data capabilities, and Sprint is promising the Mogul will be able to support EV-DO Rev A data speeds with a post-launch software update; also coming post-launch will be access to the Sprint Music Store and “good mobile messaging” via Sprint’s own middleware solutions.
Sprint says the Mogul will be available online and in Sprint business channels this week for $399 (with a two-year service agreement). Although Sprint stores aren’t supposed to get the Mogul until July, the phone is reportedly available from some retailers now. Sprint says support for the Sprint Music Store will be available as a downloadable upgrade in July.
