German consumer telecommunication magazine “connect” got a working prototype of the HTC Excalibur in their hands and has published some further information about it in its latest issue. Although its previously been seen with T-Mobile themes, connect indicates that it will be carried by O2 Germany, with XDA branding.

According to connect, the O2 Xda cosmo the Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone will be available during September or October of this year. Of course what this means is that European carriers can expect to see it in the next couple of months, while American carriers will probably take another month or two. The Excalibur is HTC’s answer to the Motorola Q. With a QWERTY keyboard (the German version will has most likely a QWERTZ keyboard), jog strip/pad, GSM/GPRS/EDGE quadband and Wi-Fi, about the only thing this phone is missing is 3G connectivity.

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One of San Francisco’s transit authorities AC transit is using 79 buses out of it’s fleet as test beds for their new Bus-Fi service.  Bus-Fi is a free WiFi service for riders (as well as cars following close) and it is due for a full release mid-fall.  The routes that are being tested are ones that goes through the 3 longest bridges (Dumbarton, San Metro and Bay).  Of course this is intentional as longer bus rides would increase actual usage.  Funding for Bus-Fi is set at $340,000 at this time.

Engadget.com
SFGate.com