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.

Dear carriers: This is how you roll out a ROM update. You make a nice website for it. You clearly lay out the benefits of the update. And you throw in some freebies like ringtones so that the average Joe--who would ignore a “bugfix update” like he ignores his aunt Betty's ranting--will go and download it. Kudos all around.

If you have a Shadow, go on and get the update here. You'll get yourself “Audio postcards” (aka MMS with Audio), some music control enhancements, and the aforementioned bugfixes -- like improved typing on that suretype keyboard of yours. Oh, and that persistent multiple alarm issue will finally be fixed.

So David Pogue put up a review of the T-Mobile Shadow (Video First Look of the Shadow here) - I'm jealous because the Shadow is the device I'm itching to try out for real once the Smartphone Round Robin is over. He gives the hardware and the specs very high praise, but spends the bulk of his review railing against Windows Mobile.

Frankly, Windows Mobile 6 is a mess. Common features require an infinitude of taps and clicks, and the ones you need most are buried in menus. Apparently the Windows Mobile 6 team learned absolutely nothing from Windows Mobile 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Read: Looks Good, Feels Good, but Wait... - New York Times

I have a few thoughts on this (including a Zuney zany idea!)- read on after the break.

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We spent quite a bit of time during our Video First Look at the T-Mobile Shadow talking about the new “Home Screen” interface - it's called “Neo.” There are two interesting things about Neo. The first is that it was developed by Microsoft themselves for T-Mobile and HTC:

Normally when Windows Mobile creates a release, we release it out to OEMs who then do their own customizations.  With this release, however, Microsoft worked with the OEM to create an experience that catered to what T-Mobile wanted. The OEM, HTC, had their talented industrial design team working on the hardware form-factor and wheel. Microsoft wrote the homescreen and worked out an interface for the myFaves information to bubble up for the user to see.

What's even more interesting, to me anyway, is that it seems to be a sign of things to come for Windows Mobile - not just the “Carousely” interface (and the WM6.1 rumor), but also a new strategy from Microsoft to work more closely with manufacturers and carriers. One of the knocks against Windows Mobile devices is that it's too difficult to differentiate them - hence the “Yet Another Qwerty Keyboard Windows Mobile Smartphone” tag we sometimes use here. I like the idea of being able to differentiate devices based not just on hardware but also on how well these custom interfaces are made and implemented.

My fond hope is that we'll see more experimentation -- but experimentation that follows an overall strategy and has some usability consistency. Different devices may have different “carousels,” but if the concept of using one direction navigating through “broad tasks” and then the other direction for “drilling down” sticks across all of them, we could see a lot of cool innovation without a lot of un-cool user confusion.

Looks like T-Mobile is finally set to get some real Windows Mobile love, in the form of the HTC Shadow. The Boy Genius Report gives us the breakdown:

The device is "very glossy", and you can see the screen in direct sunlight no problem, as well. The button in the middle of the phone is actually a scroll wheel and it also performs the duties of a 4-way navigational pad.

Be sure to check out the gallery too. We saw this before as the Juno. Specs look decent 'nough:

• 201 MHz Processor (ok, that's not decent)
• 128 RAM, 256 ROM
• 2 megapixel camera
• Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi
• The Screen just might be true VGA, not the 320 x 240 we all know so well.

The "Scroll wheel" / Nav Pad is interesting, I'd use that.