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High Tech Computer's (HTC) Excalibur communicator is no longer the stuff of rumor. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved the smartphone for release in the U.S.

Excalibur is a new communicator built in the mold of the slim Samsung i320 and Motorola Q, except it supposed to be even thinner and lighter. In the picture below the smartphone is seen dwarfed by a BlackBerry.

It runs on the Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone platform, which means it won't have a touch display or be as powerful as, say, Palm's Treo 700w, a Pocket PC Phone.


image from Geek.com

The quad-band GSM Excalibur is also expected to be Wi-Fi enabled unlike the Q, i320 or Treo , which would be a real advantage in the marketplace. The likeliest carrier to launch Excalibur in the U.S. is T-Mobile. Because of the operator's huge Wi-Fi investment, but also indicated by a leaked shot of the communicator with a T-Mobile theme.

There are also rumors that Cingular may carry the device as well.

Another interesting feature is the addition of an innovative jog strip instead of the thumbwheel of the BlackBerry or jog dial found in the Q. Located on the side of the device near the display, users slide their fingers up and down the strip (like you would with a touchpad on a laptop). At the top and bottom of the strip are places that lead to the Start Menu and go back.

No additional details about the quad-band GSM/GPRS (EDGE, UTMS?) device is known at this time. We'll report more information as it comes to light.

HTC could release the device under its own name as well as through its traditional operator and hardware partners. That's because HTC, the company behind more Windows Mobile smartphones than any other - 85 percent of them - as an ODM has started to brand its own devices, starting with TyTN Pocket PC Phone and the MTeoR Windows Smartphone in Europe just last month.

The mobile-device builder said it would continue with its bread-and-butter business of building and supporting products for carrier and OEM partners, however. And yet, these companies and Microsoft can't be happy with HTC placing itself in direct competition with them.