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Is this LG's QWERTY-packin' Prada II?


Remember those rumored specifications for LG's so-called Prada II? Yeah, particularly the part about the slide-out keyboard? If the image above has any traces of legitimacy, you could be looking at the Prada II. Good thing an image is worth quite a few letters, 'cause that's all the details we've got to go on for now.

Palm Treo Pro unboxing and hands-on


Well we've gotten our hands all over Palm's new Treo - the Pro - and we've documented it all on film... er, disk. Here's what were liking so far - no more recessed screen (finally!), that HTC-licensed task manager, and the extremely slick packaging. Honestly, we think Palm might have one up on Apple with the presentation this time around. Also of note: the new modular power adapter (which Palm tragically forgot to throw into our box), earbuds you might not be ashamed to sport, and no install CD -- it loads when you hook the phone up to your PC. Check it all out in the gallery below (as well as a few size comparisons with the iPhone 3G), and we'll have pics of that power adapter just as soon as they courier it over. No, really.

Meizu M8 gets detailed in new words, pictures


As you may have noticed, Meizu CEO J. Wong just can't seem to stop talking about his pride and joy, the M8, and he's now let loose yet another pair of new pictures, as well as some further details on the phone. Somewhat surprisingly, J. Wong says that the device will only be available in white initially (which he apparently likes better anyway), and that it will officially be called simply the M8, and not the "M8 mini one" as it had been officially known before. He also reiterates that the company plans to finally release the phone in October, or November "at the latest." Head on past the break for the second pic, and hit up the link below for a few more tidbits.

[Via PMP Today]

AT&T adds LG Invision to Mobile TV lineup


Just as we'd envisioned, the Invision candybar (if a phone this stubby can, in fact, be called a candybar) from LG is now a reality for AT&T. The phone becomes just AT&T's third to support its MediaFLO-based Mobile TV service, taking a similar line to Samsung's Access by stuffing a landscape display, 1.3-megapixel camera, and HSDPA into a squarish case that's sure to make minimalists and traditionalists swoon; what's more, it also takes the honor of being AT&T's smallest Mobile TV-equipped handset to date. It's available today for $99.99 with a $50 rebate and two years' worth of commitment -- just be sure to factor the cost of the Mobile TV add-on into your budget.

Sprint prepping Motorola i365, Renegade, and a pair of Samsungs


Okay, Samsung, we get it: you're really good at pounding out the cheap clamshells. Point taken. Oh, what's that, you say? You still feel like you have something to prove? Oh, well then by all means, dump another couple $20 flips on Sprint! Please, we insist. As expected, it looks like we'll all have the fabulous opportunity to pick up our choice of the M220 or M320 for $19.99 come September 2, offering Bluetooth, speakerphone, and in the case of the M320, a VGA camera.

Out of the Moto camp, we get the i365 ruggedized brickphone for iDEN fanboys and fangirls -- you know who you are, so stop looking around -- which will run $90 and include Bluetooth despite its early-90s appeal. Finally, the most exciting of the foursome has to be the V950 Renegade, but excitement comes at a cost: $199.99, to be exact. In this case, your pair of Benjamins is going to net you QChat capability, Bluetooth, a 2 megapixel cam, microSD expansion, and external music controls, which makes it just about the coolest Direct Connect phone going. Line starts over here, folks.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Palm's Treo Pro gets official


Well you can't say you didn't see this one coming -- between the leaked shots, more leaked shots, and those -- yes -- leaked press materials, this was only a matter of time. That's right: Palm has gone and gotten all official with its latest and greatest smartphone, the now-familiar Treo Pro. The new Windows Mobile device is being sold unlocked (!), and features an HSDPA cell radio (tri-band UMTS, quad-band GSM), GPS, 802.11b/g, a 320 x 320 touchscreen display, 256MB ROM, 128MB RAM, a 2-megapixel camera, support for microSDHC cards up to 32GB... and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack! No word on price or actual street date, but we can't imagine that's too far off. Hit the read link and take a tour of the new device, or watch the totally radical -- and long, and detailed -- video after the break.

3 launches Skypephone S2


Hold up just a second, this is more than your average WiFi-powered Skype handset for yakking it up while you're wandering around the abode in your skivvies. In fact, it's none other than the follow-on to 3's Skypephone of last year -- the aptly-named Skypephone S2 -- offering HSDPA data, a 3.2 megapixel camera, 50MB of memory with a microSD slot for plenty more, and pretty much all the Skype support you can handle (hence the name, we suppose). Skype-to-Skype calls are completely free from the phone, and the Skype service can be kept active by adding £10 (about $19) monthly on a pay-as-you-go arrangement; otherwise, the phone can be had for as little as zilch if you sign up for a monthly plan. It'll work as a broadband dongle, too, which we think officially makes this thing oodles more useful than even the most capable of WiFi phones, skivvies or otherwise.

[Via Tech Digest]

Video: HTC's Touch Diamond / Pro are multi-touch gods, just not how you'd think


While multi-touch input might be all the rage in handhelds and laptop trackpads at the moment, alas, it's not on the feature list for HTC's latest Touch Diamond and Touch Pro. However, the capability is indeed present and exploited on video by HTC's own debug application. Even more interesting is the way that the handsets' entire front, capacitive surface (not just the 2.8-inch, 640 x 480 pixel display) can be used for multi-finger input. So like Dell's Latitude XT Tablet which launched multi-touch ready, expect to see future, multi-touch capabilities come to HTC's latest... someday. Click through for the vid.

Swany's g.cell snowboard glove secretly doubles as Bluetooth handset


Bluetooth technology has been finding its way into ski gear for years now, but Swany has taken things to a whole 'nother level -- one that's only reachable via the heated quad-lift. Unless this description is positively inaccurate, there's actually a Bluetooth module, speaker and microphone tucked within one of the g.cell gloves. When it detects an incoming call, it gives your wrist a shake (read: there's a vibrate function) and enables you to quite literally talk to the hand. Swany asserts that it'll last for 12 hours on standby (4 hours of talk time), though your phone may crap out a few hours earlier in extreme temperatures. Now that we think about it, wrestling that mobile out of our deep coat pockets with frostbitten hands is pretty annoying -- maybe that $495 price tag isn't so staggering after all.

[Via bookofjoe, thanks llya]

Japan to push its whiz-bang handsets overseas

With Japanese handset sales declining pretty much across the board (thanks, lower subsidies!), it follows logic that the government and Japanese-based handset makers would look internationally to pick up the slack. In a rather vague report, we're told that the nation is hoping to push its technologically advanced mobiles in other countries, though it'll have a tough time marketing mobile TV without sufficient infrastructure. One of the token handsets chosen to lead the parade is a Sony-made "wallet phone," which is only described as having cashless technology built in. Color us (very) mildly enthused.

iPhone 3G starting at $700 in India, lines to be nonexistent

Though we can't definitively say this will end up being the priciest iPhone 3G this side of eBay, there's a good chance it will be. Word has it that Vodafone will be offering up Apple's latest 8GB handset for a mind-boggling Rs 31,000 ($712), or Rs 36,100 ($830) for the 16 gigger. Why so serious high? Because neither Vodafone nor Airtel will subsidize the phone, and to add insult to injury, there's not even a 3G highway up and running in India. Grey market operators to capitalize in T-minus 3, 2, 1...

[Via Cellpassion]

Nokia N85, 8800 Carbon Arte slated for October release?


The N85 at retail in October? Yeah, sounds totally believable, especially considering that an October release would give the populace enough time to wrangle one for the holidays, the fact that Nokia's known to be revealing two hotties this month, and that the date comes from none other than Mobile-review's scoop-tastic Eldar Murtazin. A graphic scored by Murtazin has the N85 and the just-announced Carbon Arte variant of the 8800 series both slated for grand entrances in the tenth month of the year. One, we stand a fighting chance of affording; the other, just like the Artes of old, probably not.

[Via Mobile Phone Helpdesk]

HTC Touch Diamond launching on Sprint in September for $299.99?


It won't be the first launch in North America -- those honors go to Telus at this point -- but Sprint won't be far behind. A pretty believable new slide deck suggests that big ol' Number Three will take delivery of its Touch Diamonds in September and start hawking them for the princely sum of $299.99 on contract after rebates, netting customers a 3.2 megapixel cam, 4GB of internal storage, and EV-DO Rev. A, among all the other spoils that only Windows Mobile 6.1 can offer. Is the back end of it red? Can't really tell from this angle, but if the goal is to offer up a high-end business tool, we've gotta believe black will be available either way.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

BlackBerry Bold hits Rogers on August 21st, so get your thumbs worked-out


Well, it looks like that long, painful wait is finally over. According to all kinds of tipsters, the BlackBerry Bold touches down for the first time in North America (in its home country of Canada, obviously) come August 21st (that's this Thursday, in case you don't own a calendar, computer, or have any friends). That's right -- the Bold will land on Rogers (where else?) with a price tag set somewhere between the dark valley of $300 and $400, according to Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie. Reports say the phone will be available from other carriers by the end of the week, though we don't have any definitive rumblings that confirm such heavenly ideas. You'll know more when we do, of course.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

KDDI's au design project creates cellphones that double as instruments


KDDI's au design project has churned out plenty of interesting cellphone concepts over the years, and it looks like its latest batch is no exception, with it enlisting the help of Yamaha to develop some cellphones that double as musical instruments. That includes the self-explanatory "Strings for fingers" and "Sticks in the air" concepts pictured above, as well as the "Box to play" synth / scratch pad combo, the "Key to touch" foldable keyboard, the "Trio in your hand" scratch pad / sampler, and the "Band in my pocket" device, which accommodates a number of accessories to create instruments ranging from a harmonica to a trumpet. What's more, unlike some concept devices, KDDI actually had some working prototypes to show off, which you can check out in action in the video after the break (be sure to dig into the links below for some more pics and videos as well).

[Via textually.org, Trends in Japan]




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