Back in January, word got out of a new WinMo 6.1 touchscreen handset floating around the Hewlett Packard labs. Called the Oak and tentatively set for a September launch on Vodafone, it had a number pad on its face and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard packed away underneath. Unfortunately, all’s been mum on the matter since the initial leak. September came and went, and the Oak didn’t make an appearance.

Turns out it may have just required a bit more time on the drawing boards. The rumor mill is churning out talk of a new HP-made WinMo 6.1 device for launch sometime in the next two months. European launch? Check. Touchscreen and keypad? Check. While no one has outright stated it’s the Oak (and no one’s outright saying it has QWERTY, either), we’d hope so. The Oak would have been one of HP’s more sightly handsets, so it’d be a shame to see it kicked under the rug.