HTC and T-Mobile are teaming up for their latest campaign to sell you phones, and this one is a dandy folks. Anybody who signs a new 2-year contract with T-Mobile between January 20th and March 23rd of this year and decides on getting either a HTC Touch Pro2, a T-Mobile Dash 3G, or a T-Mobile Shadow is eligible for up to $500 in rewards. But instead of the usual "blah-de-bleh", these rewards are worthwhile (for some at least).

As seen below, one reward is awarded each month. It begins in April of this year and continues on until March 2011. Some of the rewards include-

• April (2010): Buy one night, get one night free at participating IHG properties (including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza®, Holiday Inn®) in the US and Canada (up to $350 value)
• June (2010): 40% discount on phone accessories at HTC.com (up to $32 discount)—US customers only. Puerto Rico customers eligible to receive a $25 flight discount on any airline.
• January (2011): $10 off purchase of an EA SPORTS video game at www.eastore.com (up to $10 value)

Does this entice you enough to switch to T-Mobile? Or are you waiting for the HTC HD2 to come out before making the move? Either way, this is a creative way to get new customers.

If you are interested, go here for more details!

Full list of rewards after the jump!

PowerMat Home or Office Mat for HTC Touch Pro2 Review
January 21, 2010 by tsowen, PPCGeeks

Wirelessly charges up to 3 Powermat-enabled devices simultaneously (plus one USB power port). Works with all Powermat receivers. Universal Powercube with 8 tips is included to enable you to charge hundreds of different devices.

Product Features

The Powermat Home & Office Mat wirelessly charges up to 3 devices simultaneously by placing a device with a Powermat receiver onto the mat. There is an additional USB port to charge a fourth device via USB cable. The mat retails for $99.99. Cases and receivers are available at two price points: $29.99 and $39.99.

What's in the box?

• Home & Office Mat
• Universal, international power supply (Energy Star level 5, 100-240V) with built-in cord management
• Powercube Universal Receiver with 8 tips

Specifications

Charging Positions: 4 (3 wireless, 1 USB port)
Dimensions: .625" x 12.25" x 4.5625" (HxWxD)
Input Voltage: 100-240V AC, 50-60Hz Universal
Output Voltage: 18VDC
Output Current: 0.83A
Standby Current: 0.011A
Adapter Power: 15 Watts

The Good

The Powermat Mat is very easy to use. Simply take it out of the box, attach the wall charger to the powermat and plug it in. Find the correct tip and attach it to your device. Then place the receiver on the mat.

There are three charging spots located on the mat. A magnetic attraction between every Receiver and each access point on every Mat assures that alignment is precise and the most efficient charging will occur. This is one of the keys to the Powermat system’s ability to charge your devices as fast or faster than the original power adaptor. Once you have it in the correct spot a light turns on below the charging point, and a sound effect is played. You get three points of feedback to make sure your device is charging. The light and sound effect can be turned off.

The Powercube is a small plastic device with a default mini USB tip. Tips fit over the default mini USB cable. Place the Powercube on the mat and you can charge devices. The Tip Storage container
was a nice added touch which can store your extra tips for different devices all in one little nice container.

The Bad

The mat only has three different slots so if your a gadget person like myself you will find yourself running out of room. You will also have to pay extra if you want to charge more than one device by buying extra cases to fit your device.

The Bottom Line

The Powermat isn't entirely free of wires, but it succeeds at being different and at powering your phone. On the other hand, we don't see it fulfilling a need.

More Views

This product can be purchased in the PPCG Store for $97.95

HTC Touch Pro

HTC Touch Pro2

HTC Touch Diamond

This fix, as told by HTC, is for the following issue-

SMS TIMESTAMPS DISPLAY AN INCORRECT YEAR
This is a known issue. Please follow the instructions below to download and install a hotfix that will correct this issue. The hotfix will resolve the issue causing incoming SMS messages to display the incorrect year, and it will correct the incorrect year on SMS messages that were received prior to installing this hotfix.

Interestingly, HTC advises you to make sure your device is in Airplane mode while installing this patch. I installed it without being in airplane mode on my Touch Pro2 and everything is working fine.

Please note that-

• This hotfix will need to be reinstalled if the device is hard reset. Also, the hotfix cannot be installed again until the device is hard reset.
• If any software was installed to bypass the MCTS functionality of the device, the device may need to be hard reset prior to this hotfix being installed.

Post your results in the comments below!

As a baseline, presented is the stock (unlocked, GSM) HTC Touch Pro2 straight from HTC. This is how the device was originally drawn out by the designers at HTC.

FRONT- As you can see, there is a small 'HTC' logo centered on the top of the device for the front, along with the screen and the chrome sides.

BACK- On the back, there is silver text that says 'HTC Touch Pro2' on the brushed aluminum back and a white outer surrounding edge.

KEYBOARD- For the slide-out keyboard, there are silver keys on a brushed aluminum backing. Standard QWERTY keyboard.

T-Mobile Touch Pro2

FRONT- For the front of the device, T-Mobile has the now ubiquitous Carrier branding on the left upper side and the HTC logo on the right. For the sides, T-Mobile has opted to use a graphite-like pastel.

KEYBOARD- T-Mobile has moved away from the silver and white mixture that HTC used and has black keys on a dark gray backing, with silver sides.

BACK- For the back of the device, T-Mobile has had their own battery cover designed. There is a dark silver speaker grate with a bright silver design around the Camera Lens and Speaker phone button, with text stating '3.2 Mega Pixel'. On the upper half, there is a black box. At the bottom there is a Fav 5 image.

AT&T TILT 2 (Touch Pro2)

FRONT- From what can be gleaned from the above image, the AT&T model has a chrome outer housing with the standard screen. If you look closely, you will be able to see a AT&T branding logo on the upper right of the device and the HTC logo on the upper left.

*Interesting tidbit- Based on the image above, it is sporting WM 6.5, unlike any other carrier device, which have all been seen running WM 6.1. It appears to be the lock screen for WM 6.5.

KEYBOARD- AT&T has gone with white keys set against a black backplate, but unlike the other 3 U.S. carriers, has gone without a dedicated number pad, instead opting for a numeric keypad and blue Fn keys.

BACK- Without any images surfacing of the back battery cover for the AT&T Tilt 2, we can only guess at what it will look like. This post will be updated as soon as more information becomes available.

Verizon Touch Pro2

FRONT- Verizon has placed their well-known logo front and center at the top, and towards the bottom, below the Zoom Bar, sits the HTC logo. Everything is swathed in a black fashion.

KEYBOARD- Standard black keys on a light gray back plate and black sides. Completely opposite of the unlocked HTC device.

BACK- The outer half of the device is a matte silver and the inner half of the battery cover lies a speaker grate with lots of little holes running from the camera lens to almost the bottom. Right below the Speaker phone button, there is '3.2' text in silver and mid way lies another, smaller, HTC logo. On the bottom half of the black speaker grate there lies a Map of the World (alluding to the fact that this device is a world phone).

SPRINT TOUCH PRO2

FRONT- Upper left there is a Sprint logo and across from it there is a HTC logo. The sides are crafted in a gray shade.

KEYBOARD- For the keyboard, Sprint has opted for black keys on a dark gray backing, with black sides.

BACK- By far the most far reaching redesign, Sprint has opted for a brownish covering. Center and towards the bottom, there is a HTC logo, midway and towards away from the volume rockers is '3.2 Mega Pixel'. What I can only describe as a reverse block cut out design envelops the upper half of the battery cover. It goes around the Camera Lens/ Speaker Button, and tapers down to the bottom of the cover.

Hardware differences-

Hardware wise, there are 3 major differences (besides exterior components) to be found.

Cellular Technology supported-

The Sprint and Verizon models are CDMA and the T-Mobile/AT&T are GSM. Verizon/Sprint both offer EVDO Rev A support while T-Mobile and AT&T have support for their HSPA 3G services. Also, Sprint/Verizon have decided to offer their phones with Quadband GSM support, meaning that these devices can be used worldwide using a SIM card.

3.5 MM Headphone Jack-

Second major difference is that both Sprint and Verizon have included a 3.5 MM headphone jack while T-Mobile has omitted this feature. This allows any user to plug in their favorite pair of headphones while any T-Mobile user has to use the included USB dongle to use a 3.5 MM set of headphones. The AT&T device is currently unknown if in possession of a 3.5 MM Headphone jack.

CPU/Other-

Any user of a Touch Pro or Diamond will feel right at home when it comes to hardware muscle. All carrier branded phones have made no major chipset-wise upgrades. The GSM models (T-Mobile/AT&T) have the well-known Qualcomm® MSM7200A™ CPU, clocked at 528 MHz. The CDMA models (Sprint/Verizon) have upgraded to the Qualcomm® MSM7600™ chipset. Other than the inclusion of Quadband GSM support, this appears to be the same basic CPU used in the CDMA Touch Pro and Diamond, as the clock speed of 528 MHz is the same.

Other than the above mentioned differences, the following specs are the same for all 3 devices.

Overall-

In relation to the original design laid out by HTC, all three carrier's have made their own unique contributions for their own network. For T-Mobile, removal of the 3.5 MM headphone jack is the biggest loss for any customer, while Sprint users will work with a back battery cover that is unlike anything else out there. AT&T (new name not withstanding) has removed the user-friendly dedicated numeric key row and has reverted back to using a numeric keypad accessed by first pressing the Fn button. Customers of Verizon have the device that has stayed mostly true to the aspirations of HTC when they first went out to design this cellular device.