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Well, it looks like the Treo 755p is quietly dying. Sprint has ceased displaying the smartphone on its website before the device’s first birthday (it was released in May 2007). Apparently, high demand for the consumer-friendly Centro, combined with the presence of the Treo 700wx — a business-minded model — pushed the 755p to obsolescence. You can still nab the 755p through Verizon, which just introduced the device in September, though that could change if the rumors of them getting the Centro are true.

Update: Apparently, it’s just out of stock.

Or maybe we shouldn’t be calling it the HTC Touch, because Verizon has branded the devices for themselves. They’ve dubbed it the XV6900. It’ll hit the Internet on April 16th, and then head to retail stores half a month later. It will be a little thinner than the standard-issues Touches carried by Sprint and Alltel. Apparently, that’s not the only difference. Verizon will enable GPS, which neither of the other U.S. carriers have done. Other than that, though, the models are pretty much identical.
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So Verizon’s reasons for passing on the iPhone have become clear. Instead of focusing on just one device, they’re going for a multifaceted approach. In addition to the Touch, they’ve got the Samsung Glyde and the LG Voyager. They’re both touchscreen smartphones, though they both flip open to reveal mechanical keyboards. This should leave consumers more in their comfort zone — I’ve heard more than one person say they won’t buy an iPhone because of the touch keyboard.

The XV6900 will set you back $350 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year contract.

The tone for CTIA was set before the expo even began. On Monday, there was an all-day Smartphone Summit, which consisted of a number of panel discussions. These were led by representatives from top handset makers like Nokia and Samsung, as well as analytical companies like The Yankee Group and In-Stat. The overall message was that smartphones aren’t just for business anymore. We’re seeing an increasing consumer demand for them, which means that we’re going to see a convergence of mobile technologies. And beyond that, we’re going to see a number of new phones which will better meet consumer needs.
Read the rest of CTIA Roundup: “Convergence” is the new buzz word…

We’re just about ready for the floor to open up at the CTIA wireless conference. Make sure to check back later today, as we’ll be uploading audio, video, text…whatever we can get our hands on. In the meantime, you can check out our flickr set, which we’ll be adding to all day. For now, though, we’re going to run down some of the early announcements coming from the convention.
Read the rest of Early announcements at CTIA 2008…

Can you guess how many text messages we as Americans send on a monthly basis? Try 28.8 billion. With 243.4 million cellular subscribers (as of June 2007), we’re each sending on average about 100 text messages a month. If you’re not bringing up that average yourself, you surely know someone who does — I have a sibling who sends and receives no fewer than 300 messages a month. So if we’re spending all this time tapping out messages, we might as well explore the phones that are best for this.
Read the rest of The 7 best phones for texting…

We’ve been hearing a bit lately about how Motorola’s top investors haven’t been too happy with their mobile handset unit. And why would they? They were knocked off their perch as the world’s No. 2 handset maker this year, supplanted by Samsung. However, despite this, CEO Greg Brown said earlier this month that they were looking for a new mobile chief, but now it appears they’ll be looking for someone to buy their mobile unit. The pressure was applied by billionaire investor Carl Icahn. The split, though, is expected to happen next year, with the hope that it buys Motorola time to make the sale more attractive.
Read the rest of Motorola to split in two…

The trend in wireless handsets lately has been to pack as many devices as you can into one. The iPhone really set the standard here, as it’s a phone, web browser, personal organizer, and media center all in one. But it has the standard failings of all-in-one devices. That is, it doesn’t give you the full experience of any of them. MIU is looking to develop that device, though. They’ve got the HDPC, and I gotta say, it’s one behemoth of a device. They’re readying to launch it in July, though there’s nor real word on what carrier it will be with, or whether it will even be launched in the US.
Read the rest of Doing all-in-one the right way…

To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of the LG enV. Yeah, it’s a cool concept, but it just looks…flimsy to me. It might be bias, but yeah, that’s where I stand. But upon seeing the first pictures of its successor, well, I might be inclined to change my tune. Engadget Mobile is “hearing that the name “enV2″ is being tossed around in Verizon’s documentation (surprise, surprise).” There aren’t many details on the phone right now, but there are picture (!!). Those will be after the jump.
Read the rest of Pictures emerge of LG enV2…

It’s crazy how any phone that has the potential to anything like the iPhone generates a ton of buzz in the cell community. Is it contempt towards Apple and their sudden foray into the cellular world? Or is it more towards AT&T? In any case, the buzz is now about the Samsung U940 Glyde, which is the CDMA version of the F700. Photos have been leaked on the venerable HowardForums, showing an HTML browser and a “more cluttered” user interface than the F700. It does look like a viable smartphone option, with its touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard. But just from glancing at the shots of this, it doesn’t look like the iPhone is going anywhere anytime soon (you can pretty much say that after every new smartphone release).
Read the rest of Verizon set to launch Samsung Glyde…

You know, we’ve made exceptional progress with cell phone batteries over the past 10 years. I remember around that time, in the late 90s, when I had friends with cell phones for emergencies. But they could never be reached at their cell numbers, because their phones were never on. If they had left them on perpetually as we do today, the battery would be dead in a matter of hours. So even though it was deemed “emergency only,” it didn’t serve that purpose all too well. However, the technological expansion of the next few years provided us with lithium ion batteries which could stay on for hours and hours — even days — without fully draining. And so begun the wireless golden age in America.
Read the rest of Prolong your cell phone battery life…