Now all the Cavalier needs is a US carrier and we'll finally be able to get our eager hands on it. With the presence of GSM support, we wouldn't be surprised to see T-Mobile pick it up. Given AT&T's lackluster handling of the iPhone release, we're hoping their hands are too tightly tied to grab hold of the Cavalier. [FCC]

Now you know why.

Hit the jump for my sad list of rejected one-liners.

No military entity should be allowed to name their own weapons, ever.

Why Osama traded in his pink RAZR.

Developed by the guys who still make compasses.

Yeah, but can it show me the nearest Starbucks?

New from OnStar, the following is an actual conversation..."Ahhhhh!!!"

– Mark Wilson

XM982 Excalibur [via navigadget]

So what's been improved? Well, the touch-sensitive scroll keys on the right have gotten "return" and "mute" keys added, which makes this even more touchy than the Dash.

The camera is still a 1.3-megapixel affair, with slow image processing and slow saving, but improves on the Dash by offering 3 to 5 quick shots in "sport" mode.

On the whole, Lets Go Mobile liked the Excalibur as a smartphone, but there hasn't been enough of an increase in features or functionality that we can recommend this over the cheaper Dash. If you haven't already owned the Dash, then The Excalibur could be a nice jump into the Windows Mobile smartphone space. But at this point, with Windows Mobile 6 looming, we'd recommend waiting and getting a phone with the new OS built-in. – Jason Chen

HTC Excalibur S620 Review [Lets Go Mobile]

So how does this phone improve on the Dash?

How about 3G UMTS and HSDPA capability, a 400MHz Samsung processor (up from 200MHz OMAP), a 2-megapixel camera, and a 1,050mAh battery. HTC is planning on launching this sometime in January/February '07, which means Cingular and T-Mobile have plenty of time to hurry up and deploy their 3G networks in your area. – Jason Chen

Esclusiva - HTC Cavalier: le prime foto e le specifiche complete [Solopalmari via Reg Hardware]

Does this Q-killer really kill the Q? Does HTC's line of excellent Windows Mobile phones continue on with this one? Do we stop asking questions we already know the answer to? Jump on to find out.

To start, the major differences to the average user between this Windows Mobile Smartphone Edition and Windows Mobile Pocket PC Edition phones (T-Mobile MDA, HTC TyTN) are the lack of touchscreen, lack of Mobile Office apps, and less apps programmed for it. Think of this phone as the lovechild of a T-Mobile SDA and MDA.

For important stuff like call quality, this phone holds up just fine. It's got HTC's great noise filtering, but holding the phone up to your ear feels like holding a a large clam shell—an actual clam shell—because it's wide, thin and light. The good news is the phone didn't get very warm after talking, which was a nice from the MDA.

But voice is just one part of this package, since you want a smartphone for the data. Browsing is just fine even without the touch-screen we're used to. PocketIE works to get you on most web pages so you can check movie times or log onto Myspace. Emailing is great as well, since you just have to enter in your email address and password, and if it's one of the larger email services—like Gmail—T-Mobile's servers will figure out the ports and protocols to use automatically. If not, they're easy enough to enter.

Most importantly, the keyboard isn't too bad to use. The keys are a bit shrunken because they had to cram a QWERTY onto the face of the phone, but unless you've got Fat Albert's fingers, you can get used to it. It's not as convenient as the slide-out QWERTY keyboards, but that's to be expected.

Other features of note are the 1.3-megapixel camera, speakerphone, Bluetooth, and WiFi. The Dash is also myFaves enabled, which means there's five myFaves icons on your Today page. T-Mobile's targeting this towards regular consumers and families who want to balance work and life, and want a phone that can access email on the go but still give them good voice quality. You can tether this phone to use as a modem to get your laptop on T-Mobile's EDGE service, but it's not "officially sanctioned." They got kinda nervous when we asked about it on a conference call, actually. They'd prefer you to use one of their many T-Mobile WiFi hotspots instead.

So is it a Q-killer? Definitely. If you're looking for a smartphone in a thin package and are willing to give up Pocket PC features like touch-screen and Office Mobile, you won't go wrong with the Dash. It's going to be $199 with a two-year contract, $249 with a one-year contract, and $349 if you want to buy it without a contract.

The phone will be available in stores October 25, but if you want to "pre-register" you can hit up this site.– Jason Chen

The sales guide is kind of like a script for customer scenarios to talk them into buying a phone—some of which are quite funny. Some excerpts.

Single Professional Mother:

Sales Guy: How can I help you today?

Mother: Well, I'm looking to change to T-Mobile and I need a camera phone.

Sales Guy: What kind of work do you do?

Mother: I'm an insurance adjuster.

Wait, you're supposed to be an insurance adjuster! You went off script! Didn't you get the memo?

More after the jump.

Business Professional:

Sales Guy: First, what information do you keep in your planner now?

Business Pro: I have an assistant who plans out my appointments and updates my planner every day. She also calls me with updates throughout the day.

Sales Guy: Do you use your phone on the road?

Business Pro: I try not too [sic], too dangerous!

Are all customers supposed to make that joke?

Student in a Metropolitan Area:

Sales Guy:These are T-mobile hot-spots. With our Total Internet plan, you have access to over 7000 Wi-Fi locations nationwide. The T-Mobile Dash has Wi-Fi built in, so anytime you're near a hot-spot you can switch over to browse and download at broadband speeds.

Student: I don't know that I want to spend any more than I have too [sic], I need my Ramen money!

And so on. – Jason Chen

Dash Guide

Dash vs Q

FCC [via HTC Excalibur gets FCC approval]

Click for more coverage of the Excalibur. – Jason Chen

Excalibur Smartphone exposed and Q to launch on Sprint soon [geek.com - Thanks Matt!]

First up, HTC has changed their slogan to HTC Smart Mobility from their old HTC Engineering Mobility and HTC Innovation. They've also renamed their phones with letters instead of words, like the HTC TyTN and the HTC MTeoR.

So what's due in '06? The TyTN and the MTeoR, which have just been released in Europe. Then there's the HTC Artemis and the HTC Excalibur, the latter of which is a Motorola Q-like smartphone. There's also thee phones we haven't heard much about, the HTC Melody, the HTC Trinity and the HTC OxyGen.

Take a look at the specs for those three phone after the jump. – Jason Chen

BengalBoy Exposes the HTC "Road Map"... Photos of the UpComing HTC Devices with Specifications!! [BengalBoy via Slashphone]

Another interesting feature is the touch-strip control on the right that they chose to go with instead of a jog-dial—if this is indeed the Excalibur, and not the phone-in-the-stone. They were actually two different swords, a fact I was reminded of while playing Tomb Raider over the weekend. – Jason Chen

- Exclusive First Picture of HTC's New QWERTY Smartphone [Smartphone Thoughts via JkOnTheRun]

OK. Enough whining. If you have the dosh and the space, check out these bad boys. The DreamAuthentics Excalibur case, for example, is DreamAuthentics' latest design. It has a dual-player joystick set and includes all the hardware—including a 27" monitor— and software you need to get started immediately. The flash website is kind of excessive, but you can get yourself a fully-assembled gaming cabinet with PC delivered if you keep clicking. Then call us so we can come over with beer.

Product Page [DreamAuthentics]

VV here. As we wrapped up CES Saturday night, Kansas and I decided that we should go see the topless show Fantasy at the Luxor at 11pm [There's no accounting for taste - JB]. However it was only 8pm so we had time to kill. Walking through Excalibur, we noticed an Oxygen bar where you pay for the stuff that's already free. We looked over all the cute flavors and decided to go with it despite it being $10 for 10 minutes of bizzare flavored air. You hook up a tube to your nostrils, breathe deeply, and get cleansed. 10 minutes later we emerged feeling better, more energetic, and had absolutely no buzz from the beer we had earlier. Damn. Overall the experience was fun and unique, but not worth doing again as the woman at the counter kept telling us to buy all these vibrating toys. Want priceless pics? After the jump, son.