Last night, I've had the pleasure of trying out the HTC Cavalier, a yet-to-be-released Windows Mobile smartphone from the Taiwanese manufacturer. And since I'm free to write about what I've observed (thanks a bunch you mystery source you), here they are:

Size: The Cavalier felt slightly thicker than the Nokia E61, but it's definitely narrower. Placing it in a breast pocket won't boost your bust.

Responsiveness: You know how important this is for me, and the Cavalier delivers. Guess that 400Mhz Samsung processor really packs the power, because every press is rewarded by instant feedback. Yet another windows mobile device that keeps up with my impatiently fast fingers.

Display: A landscape QVGA. Bright and beautiful. Easily seen even under direct sunlight.

Ergonomics: It's no Treo, but the Cavalier proved easy to use with one hand, with its manageable width and decent buttons. Unfortunately, the side-mounted touch scroll strip hasn't abated my doubts about touch-sensitive controls.

Audio: It's got an external speaker, which means it's speakerphone-capable. Too bad it proves no match for noisy places.

Connectivity: Yep, HSDPA capable. And of course, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi aren't left out. For the first time, I saw A2DP and AVRCP in action.

Release Date: Even if the Boy Genius reports on HTC's indefinite postponement of the Cavalier's release, I'm confident this gadget will hit the street one way or another. It would be extremely foolish for HTC to scrap the release of such an impressive gadget, especially when the reason for the delay will become clear once the release pushes through. All I can say unfortunately.

Miscellaneous: Jawbreaker fans will not be disappointed. Just ask Sasha, who was able to clear all the bubbles in her game. The Cavalier also proved impressive enough to actually tempt the president of a Palm OS user group to go Windows Mobile!