Announced late last year in Europe and Asia, the HTC S740 - HTC's latest Windows Mobile Standard smartphone (see our photo- and videoviews) - wasn't compatible with North American UMTS bands since it supports European and Asian WCDMA frequencies at 900 and 2100 MHz only. Nevertheless, HTC America unveiled today that it now plans to launch a North American version - the HTC S743 - in the first quarter 2009 too. Like the S740, the S743 combines a traditional 12-key keypad design with a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard and it will supports AT&T's HSDPA (850/1900 MHz) network.

While details and specs are still sketchy, in its CES press release, Motorola announced the upcoming launch of the MOTOSURF A3100 Windows Mobile Professional smartphone, Motorla calls a "touch tablet" with a customizable home screen which is layered on top of Windows Mobile 6.1. This customizable home screen is said to has many applications that can be accessed with the tip of a finger, a stylus or an omni-directional trackball. The home screen icons can be personalized to give 'live' feeds on weather, news, personal and work E-Mail, messaging and calendar events. WiFi and 3G connectivity make the experience seamless and fast.

fring today announced that - in response to the ongoing development they've been doing to fring for Windows Mobile - Microsoft has recognized fring and awarded them their "Designed for Windows Mobile" certification which means it's 100 % Windows Mobile compliant. Secondly, and this is even more important for users, fring just released a major new version of fring for Windows Mobile devices, including Sony Ericsson's new Xperia.
Updates in this version include the new and improved fring Add-ons plus, fring included their popular File Transfer function allowing users to send digital files over IP to all their fring, Skype, MSN & Yahoo buddies at the click of a button.

Not that the T-Mobile Shadow II is official yet but "The Boy Genius Report" received some further information of what the Shadow II will be most likely. According to these information, the Windows Mobile Standard smartphone will be called the "T-Mobile Shadow 2009" and is expected to be released on January 28th. Like its forerunner, the Shadow 2009 will also features the BlackBerry-like 20 keys SureType slide-out hardware keyboard and will still lack support for T-Mobile's 3G service. Other features are quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WiFi (including T-Mobile U.S.'s @Home support), Bluetooth, a large 2.6" screen, Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard as well as all the other Windows Mobile goodies you expect from a 2009 Windows Mobile smartphone.

Last month, some rumors floated around about a new and upcoming T-Mobile Dash (aka the HTC Excalibur) which turned out to be true. However, it's not a completely new T-Mobile Dash but just a color update to the 2006 released T-Mobile Dash. Still not 3G capable, this sleek Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard smartphone keeps you connected with all your E-Mail easily. View and share photos, videos, and attachments or browse the Web. Still available exclusively from T-Mobile, the black T-Mobile Dash, has a soft-touch exterior and full QWERTY keyboard. It still supports quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth and WiFi and also features the now outdated 1.3 megapixel camera.