Best of WMExperts Week 4-4-08

First and foremost, a big thank you goes out to all our readers and to everybody who's been commenting on the posts, in the forums, and even hitting us up on Twitter. This past week might just have been our best-ever, traffic-wise. We do it because we love gadgets, but mostly we do it because we love to hear from y'all.

Read on for the Best of WMExperts this week!

Why was the week so big? CTIA 2008, wall to wall. The highlight of the trip was clearly our chance to get a First Impressions Review of the Xperia X1 -- a review that wouldn't have been nearly as comprehensive if we hadn't had a great set of questions from you all to pose to the Sony Ericsson exec we spoke with.

It wasn't all wall-to-wall X1, though. We liveblogged the CTIA Keynote, where Microsoft finally announced Windows Mobile 6.1 for real. Even better, Microsoft bequeathed us with a BlackJack II with a WinMo6.1 build on it. We promptly put through its paces back at the hotel room in our Windows Mobile 6.1 Video Hands-on. Expect a full review (though remember the build may not be final) in the coming weeks. As for shipping dates for WinMo 6.1 upgrades for current devices, our best guess is Summer -- Sprint confirmed as much for their devices.

The keynote also had a piece of bad news: the Chairman of the FCC intends to deny Skype's petition to require Carterfone rules for wireless carriers -- in other words, to continue to let carriers dictate what kind of phone is allowed and what kind of applications are on the phone. Much more on this and the other CTIA-industry-wonk stuff next week, though we'll just say now that CTIA lived up to our low expectations of the industry group's policy direction.

We had a whole heapin-helpin of device hands-on posts, though our personal favorite (after the X1) would have to be the new stuff from Velocity, the Velocity 103 and Velocity 111.

Last but nowhere near least, Malatesta has finally explained the painful MMS situation on Sprint (at a reader's request, no less). It's a quagmire, but there just might be light at the end of that tunnel.