Portuguese website PocketPT has posted some screens from Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 ahead of the official unveiling at Mobile World Congress 2008. Most notable of the new features are the introduction of a long-awaited threaded SMS application and an improved Pocket Internet Explorer that can now give a zoomed-out overview of web pages.

See the full set of images after the cut.

Windows Mobile users cursing the inability of Pocket Internet Explorer to render web pages properly have long had the option to switch to Opera Mobile, but there’ll soon be another option – Firefox.

The Mozilla Foundation was slow to realise the potential market for a mobile version of Firefox and only announced plans to start working on a handheld browser at the end of 2007. Still, work is progressing and the Firefox Wiki site now has some interface mock-ups on show.

The Xtreme 770 was our favourite desktop replacement laptop of 2007 and if you just looking at the pictures, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Rock has made very few changes to its flagship gaming laptop since. Looks can be deceiving though, as under the surface, Rock has been busy updating and upgrading almost all of the Xtreme 770’s components (including a new Penryn Core 2 Duo processor), adding a further £400 to its already considerable price.

Sony has just announced a Penryn refresh of its VAIO range of laptops, along with a few other upgrades for 2008. Intel’s new 45nm Core 2 Duo chips will soon be appearing in models in the AR60, FZ30, SZ70 and CR30 series of VAIO portables.

The AR60 Series gets the Core 2 Duo T8300 2.3GHz processor and a 4Gb RAM upgrade, and also comes with nVidia GeForce 8600GT graphics (with 512Mb of RAM) and Blu-ray. The VAIO FZ30 Series also gets a 4Gb RAM upgrade, along with a Core 2 Duo T8300 2.3GHz processor, while the SZ70 Series gets a nippier 2.5GHz T9300 chip inside its svelte 1.79kg carbon fibre frame. Finally, the CR30 Series gets a choice of the 2.1GHz T8100 or 2.4GHz T8300 chips.

The Penryn-based AR60/E is available now, with the rest of the AR60 Series and the other Penryn-based VAIO laptops to follow from 22 February.

[Sony Style Europe]

Proper access to the internet from a pocket-sized device – that’s what the tech world craves. And last year, when Apple launched the iPhone, we almost got it. Okay, so Apple’s handset costs a pretty penny to buy (and fair few more to run) but the beautiful design and everything-just-works operation has won plenty of fans – including us.

Which brings us on to the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. A year or two ago, a gadget like this would’ve got us pretty excited. Today, we feel charitable even describing it as a less-good iPhone without the phone facilities. So what’s the problem? Well, actually there are a few of them, but let’s be nice and look at the good stuff first. There is some, right?

Yes, they are still being made and Toshiba is the latest laptop manufacturer to launch a new range of tablet PCs. The two models in the new Portégé M700 series are Toshiba’s fourth take on the tablet concept and both are based on Intel Centrino vPro technology, with Core 2 Duo T7250 processors (based on the Merom platform, rather than the new 45nm Penryn).

The latest version of Apple’s 1.1.3 firmware for the iPhone has been hacked – and how. While previous versions of the ‘Jailbreak’ software required a Mac or PC and had owners jump through various hoops before they could install third-party applications on their iPhone, the latest release runs straight from the handset itself.

The catch is that you already need a jailbroken 1.1.1 or 1.1.2 iPhone before you can upgrade to 1.1.3 without losing access to third-party apps, so UK owners with a virgin handset will still need to go through the rigmarole of downgrading the firmware to 1.1.1 before they can run the Jailbreak application and finally upgrade to 1.1.3.

The ongoing battle over the lack of hardware-accelerated graphics drivers in various HTC handhelds has opened up a new front. Angry users, given the brush-off by HTC, have begun pledging money to a fund to have someone develop the necessary drivers on their behalf.

A plea for donations posted on the XDA-developers.com forum has so far seen $5,200 promised by desperate owners of HTC devices like the TyTN II and Touch Cruise, who believe their products to be “performing at a fraction of their actual capabilities”.

If you’re not happy with using the heavily customised version of Linux that Asus and Acer use on some of their Eee PC and Aspire One netbooks, there’s nothing to stop you installing Windows XP instead. Actually, that’s not strictly true – with just a 4Gb SSD drive, the low-end Asus Eee PCs and Acer Aspire One models won’t be much use once there’s all 3.8Gb of a fully patched Windows XP installation on it.

Unfortunately, even if you opt not to install any of Windows XP’s extraneous components, you won’t make much of a dent in its disk footprint – much of the bloat is installed whether you want it or not. The solution is to create a customised Windows XP installation CD that just installs the files you need. All you need is a free download, a Windows XP CD and a little know how…

If you’ve been yearning for a Palm Treo 500v but don’t want to switch to Vodafone, here’s some good news – an unlocked version is now available for pre-order from the Palm website.

The Treo 500 (the ‘v’ epithet of the earlier model was for Vodafone) runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard and is only available in ‘charcoal grey’. Or ‘grey’, in other words. It costs £269 and will be available from 28 January both from Palm and retail outlets.

[Palm]

[Related: Palm Treo 500v review]