CES 2009

(Credit: 3DVU)

For the hopelessly turned around, 3DVU announced Way2Go at CES this week, a mobile app and online mapping service that will let you put personalized 3D routes on your mobile phone.

Subscribers to the new Way2Go service will be able to create up to 30 3D aerial picture routes online, which they'll then be able to access from their cell phones through a downloadable viewer. GPS tracking and verbal and written directions will also be there to keep you on course.

In addition to using routes to get from point A to point B, the service lets you forward routes that your contacts can view and use themselves for free.

Way2Go's service will cost about $5 per month and will be available by the end of March on Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile phones, and to users in the U.S., U.K., and select Western European countries.

It will be interesting to see this service go head-to-head with Google Maps for Mobile, which currently provides driving directions and street view for free to select phones.

T-Mobile Shadow revisited: not just a rumor anymore.

(Credit: T-Mobile)

We've been hearing rumors about it for a couple of months now, but the T-Mobile Shadow (yep, just the Shadow, not Shadow II) had its officially coming out party on Tuesday night at CES 2009.

Taking over for the original T-Mobile Shadow, the updated version, which was manufactured by HTC, sports a fresh look with curved edges, a shinier face, and comes in two new color combinations: black with burgundy and white with mint. The other major additions are a faster processor (260MHz) and UMA support, so you can now make calls over Wi-Fi using T-Mobile's HotSpot service.

Aside from those differences, the T-Mobile Shadow is very much like its predecessor. The smartphone features a QVGA non-touch display and a slider design with a SureType-like keypad. Under the hood, it runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Edition and features integrated Bluetooth (stereo Bluetooth supported), Wi-Fi, a 2-megapixel camera, and a microSD expansion slot that supports up to 8GB cards.

Though T-Mobile did not announce an official availability date or pricing, the carrier did say it would be released in the coming weeks and we're guessing the pricing will be around the $149.99 range. In addition to the Shadow, T-Mobile also added the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 to its lineup earlier this week. Good to see some new smartphones at T-Mobile finally.

HTC S743

(Credit: HTC)

While everyone might be buzzing about the T-Mobile G2 rumors, HTC is plugging on with its commitment to Windows Mobile devices and announced on Tuesday that it will release the HTC S743 smartphone for the U.S. market in Q1 2009.

A variant of the HTC S740, which has been available in Europe and Asia for a few months now, the S743 features a 12-button keypad on front and a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard for all those messaging fanatics. In its closed state, the S743 sports a compact design that takes its inspiration from the HTC Touch Diamond. Unlike the Touch series, however, the S743 has a more traditional Windows Mobile user interface rather than the HTC TouchFlo interface and has a 2.4-inch QVGA nontouch display.

As you might gather from the lack of a touch screen, the smartphone runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Edition with Microsoft Exchange support. The S743 also has integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a 3.2-megapixel camera, and a microSD expansion slot. The quad-band GSM handset supports the 850/1900MHz HSDPA bands, meaning you'll get the 3.5G speeds with an AT&T SIM but not a T-Mobile one, since T-Mobile's 3G network runs on the 1700/2100MHz bands.

The HTC S743 will be sold as an unlocked phone and not with a specific carrier. HTC didn't reveal details about pricing but said it would be available through a number of retailers, including Dell.com and CDW.com.

Microsoft will have a bunch of stuff to show at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but a rumored ZunePhone won't be one of them, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.

Instead, much of CEO Steve Ballmer's focus will be on talking about Windows 7 from a consumer perspective. Microsoft is pushing to have Windows 7 done in time for the holiday 2009 shopping season, so that means this CES is Ballmer's best stage to tout its benefits.

While the desktop operating system will be front and center, sources say to expect Ballmer to talk about how Windows is moving beyond the PC and into a world of PC, Web, and phone, a refrain we also heard a lot from Ray Ozzie at November's Professional Developers Conference, where the world also got its first good look at Windows 7.

On the phone front, Microsoft may not have a ZunePhone, but it is going ahead with several other strategies--pushing phone makers to develop phones based on Windows Mobile, developing Windows Live services for phones running a variety of operating systems as well as a number of new "premium mobile services" based on its Danger acquisition.

The company has also talked about extending its Zune service beyond the company's own dedicated player and mentioned the phone as a logical place to access the service. We may hear more about timing of this at CES, I'm told. In an October interview with CIO UK, Ballmer mentioned the possibility of accessing the Zune service on Windows Mobile phones.

The Xbox will certainly get its due as well during Ballmer's keynote speech and, as is typically the case, expect Microsoft to announce some new partnerships at the show. A funny video and celebrity guest are usually safe bets as well.

So that's what I've heard, but if tipsters know any more, I'm all ears.