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Best Buy preps unlocked Touch Diamond for retail


So the good news here is that Best Buy's getting ready to open its arms to yet another HTC product that's impossible to find by wandering into the brick-and-mortar store of the US wireless carrier of your choice; the bad news, though, is that it doesn't seem to be the version we wanted. The Touch Diamond now has a Coming Soon page all its own on Best Buy's site, which is just fantastic considering that neither AT&T nor T-Mobile have yet bothered to pick it up -- but the problem is that the specifications make no mention of US 3G despite the fact that we know there's just such a version floating around. Our hope is that we've just caught the big box with its pants down (wouldn't be the first time) and they'll look into carrying the real deal by the time "coming soon" switches to "in stock," especially since they've given the Touch Dual the same courtesy.

[Thanks, Mark]

AT&T page confirms HTC Touch Pro as "Fuze"


Before a single AT&T-subscribing soul dreams of jumping ship for Sprint just to pick up the Touch Pro in a few weeks, hold up: we can pretty much confirm that it's coming to your neck of the woods, too. We've already seen some totally legit-looking shots of HTC's hottest QWERTY WinMo piece in AT&T trim, but now we have some more damning evidence in the form of a Google cached page detailing the so-called Fuze on the carrier's own site. As expected, we've got tri-band HSDPA, GPS, WiFi, and BlackBerry Connect waiting for us when AT&T finally decides to pull the plug on the Tilt and make this thing happen. Follow the break for AT&T's poetic Fuze verbiage -- and take your time, since there's no indication that we'll have this in stores in the next few days.

[Thanks, Fred]

Sony Ericsson TM506, T-Mobile's first HSDPA handset, goes live


The well-scooped TM506 from Sony Ericsson is now on sale, marking the first time that T-Mobile has openly and proudly admitted that a handset in its lineup can actually support 3G -- despite the fact that they've had such gear for over a year now. Why the big secret? Until now, T-Mobile's 3G network has been undergoing pretty much the softest soft launch in mobile history, and only now are enough markets starting to come on board to make the whole thing worthwhile. For what it's worth, every previous 3G handset on the carrier has merely rocked UMTS, so the TM506 becomes its first HSDPA-equipped piece while also offering up a 2-megapixel cam, TeleNav navigation, and stereo Bluetooth. As of this writing it's still showing "Coming Soon" on the site, but we're hearing that it'll be available today for $79.99 after rebate on contract.

LG PRADA II to include WiFi, even more pretension?


Looks like LG wants some bite to back up the PRADA II's bark -- assuming both the device and its specs are real, of course, since we've been basing everything we know about Lucky Goldstar's rumored fashion monster on rumors thus far. The latest word on the street has the phone packing a what's-what of good things, ranging from a 5-megapixel autofocus cam, wide QVGA display (with capacitive touch, we can only imagine), HSDPA 850 / 2100, motion sensing, an FM radio, and a WiFi radio for those poor US souls who find themselves surrounded by more 1900MHz 3G than 850. It certainly all sounds real enough -- not as revolutionary as the first PRADA may have been, but a solid upgrade. While we're waiting for LG to sort this business out in a slightly more official capacity, we'll be working on the Armani, we s'pose.

Sprint's HTC Touch Diamond: September 14 for $249.99. Honest.

Now that Uncle Walt has gone and opened the floodgates, details are starting to pour in on Sprint's imminent release of the Touch Diamond, a device that should actually manage to get the carrier damn close to the top of the Windows Mobile pile (for a short while, anyway). PC Magazine is now reporting that it'll be available on September 14 for $249.99 on a two-year contract after $100 rebate, a sum that would put it squarely in the "average" category for on-contract smartphone pricing in these parts. Of course, with the Touch Pro allegedly just around the corner, it remains to be seen just how much love this thing is going to get; nothing like a good, old-fashioned QWERTY-versus-touchscreen fight, is there?

Motorola's MOTOJEWEL has a surprising number of vowels


Anyone who's been jonesing for a U9 with a little more style look no further than the MOTOJEWEL, a new clamshell Motorola's bringing to the UK this fall that's being billed as "a phone so sassy that users will wish they could wear it." What then, pray tell, makes it so sassy? Well, that's an open subject of debate -- but we're guessing it's mostly the "3D crystal-cut design" that rings the mirrored Midnight Quartz shell to give it that jeweled look and the "dazzling" purple keypad that you won't find on your garden variety U9. Otherwise, though, the specs are sounding mighty familiar: 2-megapixel cam, external touch-sensitive music controls, stereo Bluetooth, Motorola's CrystalTalk noise reduction -- you know the drill -- and unless Moto pulled a fast one on us and slipped in some 3G, it's likely packing quadband EDGE. Look for this little gem (see what we did there?) as a Carphone Warehouse limited edition exclusive starting in November.

[Via MobileBurn]

Sonim LM801 isn't a Sonim at all, XP1 still in the mix


It's still a rugged little bastard -- and yes, it still has a laser pointer -- but there's one thing the LM801 cellphone is not: a Sonim. The CEO of Sonim, maker of the purposefully overbuilt XP1, wrote in on our LM801 piece to let us know that they don't actually have any association with Condurro, the company advertising it. If anything, the LM801 is actually a direct competitor for Sonim's wares -- and at £149.99 (about $270) at retail, it's bringing the heat. Assuming it actually lives up to its tough look, anyway.

Sonim's rugged LM801 phone will probably outlast you


Sonim has chosen IFA this week to show off its latest hardcore G'zOne killer, the in-your-face, take-no-prisoners LM801 candybar. Highlights of the rugged set include an integrated flashlight, laser pointer (for those times when you're stranded in the Rockies and you need to blind you some bears, we figure), magnetic compass, barometer / altimeter, FM radio, and thermometer, all bundled neatly into a yellow shell that repels all the water and dust you can toss at it. Most carriers aren't terribly talented at offering a rugged lineup, so we can think of a few who'd be well-served to investigate adding something like this into the mix -- and seriously, what's with no other phone having a laser pointer?

BlackBerry Bold hitting AT&T on October 2?


With hope of a summer release fading with the passing of each and every day, Boy Genius Report cites a "pretty solid bit of info" that the BlackBerry Bold is now pegged for launch on AT&T on Thursday, October 2. So if you see a throng of three-piece suits starting to gather around your local store around September 28 or 29, yeah, that's probably why.

Android Developer Challenge winners announced


Google has wrapped up judging on its very first Android Developer Challenge, and some twenty dev shops (or in some cases, individual developers) are finding themselves considerably richer as a result. Of the fifty apps to make it through to the final round, ten have been awarded $275,000 each and another ten have made off with a cool hundred grand -- good coin for some really good ideas. As you might expect of anything being backed by Google and the Android platform, a good number of the finalists made location-based services an integral theme; take grand prize winner Locale, for example, which automatically switches device settings based on your current location (if that's not a "why didn't we think of that?" kind of product, we don't know what is). The more we scan it, the more we realize that the list of winners reads like a who's-who catalog of apps we know we want installed on our Dreams out of the gate -- and more importantly, it looks like Google has a great way here to encourage best-of-breed Android development over the long run.

Apple acknowledges iPhone passcode flaw, promises fix next month

Apple's taking a pretty lackadaisical attitude toward one of the most easily avoided security flaws in recent memory, calling the iPhone's passcode lock bypass a "minor iPhone security issue" and saying that a fix will be rolled out in September. Thanks, Apple; we suppose it'd be a little too much trouble to ask for a fix sooner, even though you already fixed it once in 1.1.4. For what it's worth, a company spokeswoman is quick to point out that the flaw can easily be hidden by changing the home button double-click functionality to take you to the home screen, but most users don't know that, now do they? Way to show some hustle, guys -- cookies and gold stars all around.

Brando unites external iPhone battery with speaker at long last


Nothing says "I'm mad as hell about my iPhone 3G's battery life and I'm not going to take it anymore" better than blasting it out of a loudspeaker. Bonus points for that loudspeaker being integrated with a battery pack, which in turn connects to your -- you guess it -- iPhone 3G (or original iPhone, if that's how you roll). Well, $44 to the folks at Brando will buy you that very opportunity, it turns out. Who knew?

BlackBerry Storm 9530 for Verizon gets boxed


So we might not have a physical device here, but these packaging renderings are pretty solid evidence of exactly what BlackBerry fans on Verizon -- particularly those jealous of the Bold -- can expect in a few weeks' time. It looks like RIM's first foray into the scary world of touchscreens will be officially branded the 9530 Storm, will be global (it includes a SIM card, after all), and will feature an 8GB SanDisk microSD card preinstalled. Wondering what happened to the Thunder name? Turns out that'll apparently be reserved for the version of the phone launching on Rogers up in Canada and on Vodafone across the pond. Those Storm users on the screen there sure look happy, don't they?

Nokia 6650 flip coming to AT&T to redeem the N75


Well, here's one we didn't see coming: it seems that AT&T has wised up to the fact that Americans like their Symbian (well, at least a few of 'em do, anyway) and wants to keep S60-equipped options on the table. Yes, granted, AT&T is a founding member of the Symbian Foundation, but the proof is in the pudding, and the last Nokia smartphone to land there was the N75 in May of last year -- an eternity by mobile standards. More recently, the N75 grew up, got sexy, picked up some brushed metal, and emerged in Europe earlier this year; now, it's surprisingly and unexpectedly been retooled with North American 3G spectrum. It's got a 2.2-inch QVGA primary display, 160 x 128 secondary, 2-megapixel cam, AT&T Navigator (which means GPS), push-to-talk support, and HSDPA 850 / 1900 to compliment quadband EDGE. We don't know exactly when it's coming, but for S60 fans who cringe at the thought of having to blow several hundred on an unlocked set every time they want some fresh hardware, this should be welcome news.

[Thanks, Al and Oscar M.]

Freak Peek sneak peek leaks, piques curiosity


For many of us, the mere thought of toting yet another device in our pocket, purse, or belt holster is truly disgusting, particularly when said device resembles a primitive BlackBerry hewn from solid stone and does literally nothing but send and receive email for twenty bucks a month. For others, though, the Peek might be just what the doctor ordered. Laptop Magazine took a quick look at the $100 email-only brick, declaring it "dead simple" to use -- a good thing, considering its target demo -- and finding its expansive soft-touch keyboard easy on the fingers. As ugly as it might be, it'll be easy enough to hide; Laptop says users will have no issues tucking it into a pocket, owing in no small part to the fact that it's a full 30 percent thinner than the iPhone 3G. Still, we're going to like 'em ten times better when they're hacked to run Android, Doom, Maemo, or pretty much anything else that ends in "ux."

Update: Gadling's got a hands-on with the Peek as well and expects to post a full review in the next few days. Have a... peek, why don't you?



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