We technology writers receive many lackluster products to review. Sometimes devices and accessories collect like pennies in my drawers because they are just important enough to keep around but not valuable enough to use.

So my expectations were low when HTC handed me an Advantage 7510 at Mobius recently. I knew from photos that had appeared online that the smartphone is about two times the size of an iPhone (or three, counting an included carrying case and attachable qwerty keyboard). I knew it had impressive specifications, such as front and rear facing 3 megapixel cameras, GPS, 3.5G / HSDPA, Wifi, Haptic, Bluetooth 2.0, 5-inch VGA touch display, 16 gigs of internal flash memory, finger gesture recognition, high capacity removable battery and a memory expansion slot. But I viewed the device as an identity crisis between smartphone and laptop — not small enough to be one or powerful enough to be the other. I figured it would become a paper weight on my desk.

What I discovered, however, almost right away, is that the Advantage is no identity crisis whatsoever. It's the ultimate sport utility vehicle of smartphones. The Advantage is massively capable and a pleasure to use relative to candy bar phones. It’s far more compelling than its smaller equivalents.

The Advantage became my primary device... a lucky friend received my used HTC TyTN II, and I now anticipate with substantially less enthusiasm upcoming smartphone launches, such as for the HTC Diamond and Palm Treo 800w.

What makes Mobius special?

Last week I represented msmobiles.com at my first Mobius event. It wasn't what I expected.

Funded by Microsoft, and attended by thirty smartphone blog and print writers including some of the most widely read in the world, the conference could have been a typical public relations "dog and pony show" like countless others. I imagined lectures by Microsoft and hardware manufacturer executives about existing product line-ups, formal Q&A sessions, and writers taking notes and reporting like good robots. My preconceived notions couldn't have been farther from the truth.

What was/is it actually? Mobius is a nebulous intersection of public relations and secret society that will some day be the subject of a Harvard Business School case study. It's a shining example of how big businesses should embrace the new editorial world. It's modern marketing at its very best. Organizers and participants are to be congratulated.