Sprint HTC Mogul PPC-6800 First Impressions

The Mogul brings with it a number of changes, not the least being that for the first time, HTC is acknowledged in the branding. Previously, all of HTC's units sold in the U.S. were either under carrier brands or that of another company, like UTStarcom. The Mogul, though, proudly acknowledges its maker HTC right on the box. Not to worry, though, it also bears a Sprint moniker, as the PPC-6800. The Mogul is also thinner than its sliding cousins, both the older Sprint model, the PPC-6700 (or in HTC naming, the "Apache") and the GSM-based Wizard and Hermes models.

Sprint recently began offering the HTC Mogul, also called the PPC-6800. This Windows Mobile device offers a number of high-end features, like a built-in keyboard, Wi-Fi, and support for 3G cellular-wireless networking. It is the successor to the Sprint PPC-6700.

The device's new look also much closer resembles the HTC Hermes, sold as the Cingular 8525, than it does its direct predecessor.

With the Mogul, HTC has replaced the friction-based slider mechanism used on their older devices with a spring-loaded one. The upside of this is that the device is now easier to open; the downside is, it's also easier to open accidently.

It also ditched the miniSD slot in favor of a microSD one, unfortunately.

The space hasn't been taken out of the battery, though, which has a capacity of 1500 mAh, higher than that of the Apache.

Unfortunately, my review unit seems to have the annoying habit of repeatedly turning itself on, to the point where I ended up having to yank the battery out of the thing to keep it turned off. Hopefully, this is an isolated issue with my unit.

My initial impression of the Mogul is that it's not an Earth-shattering upgrade over the PPC-6700 -- the nicer form-factor and spec improvements are nice, but probably won't entice many users of the older model to shell out the added cash. For new users, though, there's not much more you could ask for in a Pocket PC phone than good specs and Sprint's famously cheap wireless broadband.

Stay with us, as this is just the beginning. We'll have a full review with specs, testing, usage breakdowns, and full discussion, coming to you in a couple of weeks.