We still don't have a firm release date (though the folks at the T-Mobile booth did give a sly smily when we mentioned the "late January" rumor) on the new Shadow, we do have a full hands on.  As expected, you're not going to see any 3G here, but you are getting a Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard smartphone with support for T-Mobile Hotspot - aka UMA aka VOIP aka free calls over voicemail.

After the break, get your spec rundown, brief impressions, and photo gallery, including some shots of how that UMA software sets itself up for ya.  As for an offical name, it's "The Shadow with Hotspot," but we're going to go with "Shadow UMA" because "Shadow II" is played out and "Shadow 2009" is just wrong.

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We really weren't expecting to see 3G out of the box with T-Mobile's upcoming Shadow II, and it's looking more and more like that's the case.

The bad news, from a blurrycam shot from TmoNews of the Shadow II: GPRS/EDGE only.

The semi-interesting news: We get another (albeit blurry) shot of how the color scheme's gonna play out, again confirming the red and silver paint jobs we've already seen. Also note the release date of Jan. 28, which also matches up with what's been reported.

So at this point our previous question still stands: If the Shadow II truely has a 1700MHz 3G radio as the FCC testing implied, will we ever see it implemented? And the other burning question: Is UMA and WinMo 6.1 enough of an upgrade to the Shadow line to make you want one?

Update: In more "meh" news, the Boy Genius reports that the Shadow II will be called ... wait for it ... Shadow 2009.

We’ve been expecting the (delayed) T-Mobile Shadow II to make its appearance late next month, and now there’s a Jan. 28 date tacked on to that, courtesy of a release schedule leaked to the Boy Genius Report. We’re also still expecting Windows Mobile 6.1 and access to T-Mobile @ Home. 3G support out of the box is still doubtful.

That’s about it on the Windows Mobile front, unless there’s something to the Motorola Renew, which is slated for a Feb. 4 release. Otherwise, there’s the photo-centric Samsung Memoir, a BlackBerry Curve, and offerings from Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Nokia.

There's been another sighting of the T-Mobile Shawdow II, and this time we have a release date to go with it, courtesy of TmoNews.

When last we saw the Shadow II, we were reporting a delay past the holidays and into the first quarter of 2009. The TmoNews post is in line with that, citing Jan. 28 as the day to mark on your calendars.

It's also looking more and more like this thing won't have T-Mo's brand of 3G out of the gate. But there should still be WiFi and T-Mobile @Home access, so that's still better than nothing for you data hounds.

The story also specs the phone with Windows Mobile 6.1, so we're still in search of the first device to launch with the fabled Windows Mobile 6.5.

Oh, the dreaded question headline. It indicates that, in all likelihood, you will finish reading this post and not have an answer to the question.

And you won’t.

You’ll be left pondering, like us, whether the T-Mobile Shadow II, recently outed by the Federal Communications Commission (thanks, guys!), will meet the public with 3G speeds. The conundrum, as posed by AllShadow.com:

• The FCC documents clearly show that the Shadow II’s radio is capable of working the 1700MHz band. That, as you well know, is T-Mobile’s very own 3G playground.
• However, the post’s author, Mike Benton, writes that he has an unnamed inside source who says that the Shadow II won’t launch with 3G.

Benton’s conclusion? The phone likely won’t launch with 3G enabled in the initial ROM build, thanks to delays in T-Mo’s rollout. He posits that an update (official or otherwise) likely will turn on 3G at some point.

Shocking, we know, to think that a phone would launch at the end of 2008 and still not have 3G. But the idea isn’t totally without precedent. When the Palm Treo 750 officially launched on Cingular (now AT&T), 3G wasn’t enabled. (Edit: UMTS was available, but not HSDPA.) That didn’t come until the update to Windows Mobile 6, though an easy patch leaked out soon enough. At the time, Cingular’s high-speed network wasn’t anywhere near what we’re used to today, and T-Mo’s 3G network is still in its infancy, though it’s growing quickly.

We've known for a while now that the update to the popular T-Mobile Shadow would be dropping on Oct. 15. We're still expecting it for $149.99 after rebate. We know it will support the T-Mobile @ Home service (UMA, for you acronym-lovers). We're still not sure if it'll have TMo's 3G service.

And what we're pretty darn sure of is that the paint job is sexy as hell. Granted, a little of that could just be light playing tricks on us. But even if that's the case, throw us in the briar patch. Check out more pictures here.

The Android fanboys better hope this isn't sitting next to the G1 in the store.

Via BGR and Cell Phone Signal

TmoNews grabs the low-down: the T-Mobile Shadow II (which we've been seeing crop up quite a bit of late) should be available on October 15th for $149.99 after rebate. It'll be a solid update to the original Shadow but nothing earth-shattering: Windows Mobile 6.1 will be there, but as of right now it doesn't look like it will support T-Mobile's still-young 3G network.

On the bright side, the included WiFi will support T-Mobile's @home capabilities, meaning you'll finally be able to get carrier-sanctioned VOIP calls on a Windows Mobile device.

Also, new to us for some reason, the HTC codename for the Shadow II is “Cleopatra.” We probably should have been able to tell you that sooner.

The only real question now is whether we're going to get 6.1's sliding panels or if we'll get an update to the original Shadow's “Neo” interface. We know that Sliding Panels can support for MyFaves, so we could see this one going either way. Or both.

Folks waiting for the T-Mobile Shadow II can now block out the last three months of 2008: that's when it's expected to drop. The Shadow II looks to be a relatively minor upgrade -- similar form factor, different looks (we prefer the original, but glossy black is the new, erm, black), and most importantly: UMA. UMA stands for “Unlicensed Mobile Access” and what it means is that it will work well with T-Mobile's @Home service, which lets you use a WiFi network for voice calls. The Shadow II will be the first Windows Mobile device to support UMA (BlackBerrys have had it for quite awhile).

If you're jonesing now, though, you could pick up this new T-Mobile router for $50 bucks, which for $10 per month lets you use T-Mobile's @Home service with a standard, 20th-century home phone. It goes on sale July 2nd.

Like the original Shadow, the Shadow II will be manufactured by HTC.

DigiTimes [via]

Dieter and Mal chat up a ton of rumored devices, worry about the coming Verizon-ATT monopolies, and respond to a big old pile of listener emails. Come on in, the water is fine!

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Update: You know those bits below that talk about how this is finally a bit of good news for T-Mobile customers? Yeah, strike that. Turns out that the 3G is only for voice communication, not data. So not while we've been waiting for 3G-enabled phones on T-Mo, now we find that even as they arrive they might not be all they're cracked up to be at first. Bummer, T-Mo.

Take the set of T-Mobile users, join it with the set of Windows Mobile lovers, and you get a pretty unhappy lot. With the exception of the excellent Shadow (and the upcoming Shadow II), there's not a lot of good news for this group of people who love powerful phones and customer service that doesn't make you want to stab your eye out with a stylus. So we offer unto this group two potential pieces of good news:

The Boy Genius Report claims that T-Mo might finally be ready to start rolling out 3G, starting with New York City (and presumably elsewhere). For what it's worth, we heard this ourselves from a T-Mobile retention specialist (let us not look too long at the irony of canceling a T-Mobile account mere days before they turn on 3G), but if we reported on everything CS reps told us we'd be promising everybody ponies.

The slightly less exciting news for US customers is that the European T-Mobile is expected to start offering Windows Mobile 6.1 devices and possibly upgrades as well. That should bode well for US T-Mobile fans, but the European T-Mo customers tend to get better Windows Mobile love than we get here. Let's take a guess at what will happen with regard to US T-Mobile handsets and Windows Mobile 6.1, shall we?

• Wing: Highly doubtful.
• Shadow: Possible, but unlikely since we're going to see the...
• Shadow II: When it comes, it will have WM6.1. And Voice over WiFi. Should be exciting.