One of the longest-running -- and certainly most fascinating -- soap operas in the entire wireless world, the seemingly endless patent drama between Nokia and Qualcomm, has finally drawn to an amicable (dare we say anti-climactic) close. After just a single day of arbitration, the two firms have basically agreed to a patent swap, allowing Nokia to use all of Qualcomm's patents and vice versa. Furthermore, Nokia is just stone-cold handing over a bunch of patents it holds related to GSM, WCDMA, and OFDMA, which presumably means companies that are currently licensing those patents can get ready to start writing those checks to Qualcomm. What's more, Espoo's dropping its anti-competition claims against Qualcomm in Europe -- but beyond that, specific terms (read: cash money) weren't disclosed beyond the typical PR pleasantries that both sides are happy with the outcome. If this means we finally have to retire our Nokia-Qualcomm starburst graphic, we're going to pout like little children, so we can only hope these two lovebirds find something else to squabble over in the not-too-distant future.

Holy cow, we're actually out of breath just thinking about how long it's been since Canada kicked this off. After running some two months and hauling in nearly three times as much cash as had been widely predicted -- $4.2 billion in Canadian currency, to be exact -- the Great White North's AWS auction has drawn to a close, and it looks like there's going to be some new competition in the mix whether Rogers, Bell, and Telus like it or not. The most prolific bidder has turned out to be Globalive, which runs the Yak brand and made off with licenses pretty much everywhere except Quebec at the cost of some $442 million CAD; several other new players came to bat for some licenses as well, and naturally, the big three incumbents took the opportunity to snap up some extra spectrum -- Rogers to the tune of nearly one billion dollars. It'll probably be a year or two before any of the rookies have service to offer, though they're helped out by new regulations that require existing networks to lease space on towers for new transceivers and offer roaming rates that aren't prohibitively high.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Verizon has gone ahead and jumped its own gun by a week, launching the rugged Adventure V750 today for a penny under $100 on contract after rebates. The phone becomes the very first on Verizon's network to support Rev. A-based push-to-talk, a quantum leap in robustness and functionality over the older 1xRTT fare; the G'zOne Boulder is expected in the next few weeks, bringing Big Red a pair of durable units that should appeal to the typical PTT crowd. Buyers of the V750 can expect a 2 megapixel camera, external music controls, microSD expansion, GPS, and of course EV-DO Rev. A data, so it's a pretty well-spec'd setup considering its lot in life.

[Via phoneArena]

Feeling a little left out after yesterday's Mac-based Pwnage Tool festivities, Windows users? Fret not, because the ever-vigilant, ever-studious hacking community has managed to come up with a series of steps to get you back on your feet again with a fully pwned first-gen handset. The whole shebang isn't necessarily for the most casual jailbreakers -- let's just say it isn't quite as straightforward as the Mac procedure yet -- but it'll allegedly get you going if you're starting with an iPhone running 1.1.4 (there are additional steps if you jumped the gun on 2.0, you impatient son of a gun, you -- think of it as penance). As always, exercise extreme caution, understand that this could cause your iPhone to spontaneously combust into a useless pile of metal, plastic, and ash, and let us know how it goes in comments.

[Thanks, Z-]

Sort of. Pwnage Tool 2.0 can't handle 3G iPhone SIM unlocks just yet, though jailbreaking should work just fine, and we're also faced with the teensy little problem of the Dev Team's server being totally destroyed by downloads already -- mirror please? -- but the friendly little jailbreak app has finally been unleashed upon the earth. We'd never suggest trying out software like this right out of the gate, but, um, let us know how it goes, yeah?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: We're seeing mixed results so far in the comments, but no bricked phones to speak of. Always a good thing. Oh, and plenty of mirrors to be found in the comments, thanks guys!

Update 2: Looks like 2.0.1 is already out with a few fixes!

We can't say this is a surprise... but it is sweet to see. The iPhone Dev Team has added a video to their blog showing off the latest version of their upcoming PwnageTool 2.0, along with a video of what they claim is the "world's first" jailbroken iPhone 3G. Check the video after the break, and hit the read link to see how their progress is coming on the new case-cracker.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

If you're a BlackBerry fan feeling the need for relief from the throngs of iPhone lovers, the cats at CrackBerry may have uncovered a solution to your problem. The RIM aficionados have gotten their hands on the first ever live pictures of the phone-maker's touchscreen device -- the Thunder -- and it's looking pretty darn sweet. Feast your eyes on the above photo (featuring the much-discussed "tactile" keyboard), and hit the read link for another look.

We'd heard that the latest incarnation of the Chocolate series from LG on Verizon would be launching next Monday, but we've got some great news to close out the week, fans: you'll be able to plunk down your cash a full day early. It turns out that the Chocolate 3 will actually be launching this Sunday, July 13 for the expected $129.99 after rebate, featuring a 2 megapixel cam, GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack, and an in-your-face set of external music controls, all in your choice of black or light blue. Just add an 8GB microSD card and the Rhapsody tie-in, and you've got yourself a little musical powerhouse here.

Update: The New York Times reports that 1/3 of all first-wave applications will be games. We also corrected the Bajarin misquote above.

[Thanks, Matt and Chris Z.]

Those kind, gentle Canadians have been oh-so-politely demanding a few heads on sticks ever since Rogers' super-spendy iPhone 3G price plans were announced. Well, apparently their cries have been heard, and now Rogers is launching a promotional offer along with the iPhone of 6GB of data for $30 a month -- not quite unlimited data, but close enough -- which can be added on top of any regular voice plan. The promo will be available for iPhone buyers who activate with a three year contract before August 31. Also, perhaps in a bid to dispel some nasty rumors about a major iPhone shortage, Rogers will be hosting 8AM launch day events at six Rogers Plus stores in major Canadian cities, complete with a free breakfast. Mmm, breakfast.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continuing this day of iPhone 3G impropriety, the Boy Genius has somehow secured himself a brand-spanking-new iPhone 3G, and has unboxed it for all the world to see. First off, our condolences to the AT&T or Apple employee who will probably lose their job over this one, and then a tip of the hat to BGR for pulling off such a daring stunt. The pictures, however, should be less exciting (since we've been seeing a lot of these today) -- still, nice to know what you're about to get into! We've included a few more shots after the break.

You probably saw this one coming, but with that massive slew of countries and partners Apple has wrangled for the new iPhone launch, that July 11th street date was bound to be neglected. So here you have it, courtesy of the french blog Gadget O'Mac, an iPhone 3G on display in a shop in Switzerland. While the shots may be blurry, we at least get to see this thing in the hands of someone other than an Apple employee, and coupled with that Portuguese leak, this should thoroughly whet your appetite for Friday. Check out a few more shots after the break.

[Thanks, Florence]

If you're a prospective iPhone 3G buyer, get ready to make a mess of your keyboard, desk, and any nearby objects that may be hit by spittle flying out of your mouth. Some lucky, lucky Portuguese man or woman has already had the pleasure of cracking open the box and booting up their new device. Feast your eyes on the above pic and one more after the break, and keep reminding yourself that you've only got three more days to wait.

Update: We've added a picture of the mysterious SIM removal tool -- the shroud of secrecy is lifted after the break.

[Thanks, siniux]

So we heard from a very reliable source that mobile user interface guru Matias Duarte -- who you may know as the man behind the Sidekick and Helio UI / user experiences -- actually left Helio late last year to join up with Palm. Although no announcement was made, we hear he and his gang of designers jumped ship (well before Helio completely flooded) to take on the monumental task of designing the UI for Palm's next-gen mobile OS (aka "Palm OS 2.0 or II"). His resume online now lists him as "Senior Director, Human Interface and User Experience" doing "Something new..." since September 2007; we got in touch with Palm, who confirmed that he's now under the company's employ.

Of course, expectations should be pretty high -- Palm's only been promising this supposedly game-changing OS since around 2004, and the company's reputation and pedigree is (or at least it used to be) in groundbreaking mobile UI design. But this news also kind of makes us wonder: if they didn't have a killer UI and user experience team already in place and long-since working their asses off by late 2007, exactly how far along are they on this thing, anyway?

Though the Sprint version is the most well-scooped CDMA variant thus far, Telus is actually becoming the first carrier 'round these parts to announce the Touch Diamond imbued with a little EV-DO for your data-consumption pleasure. The phone will run $149.99 CAD (which is just about a wash in US dollars) on a three-year contract, accompanied by data plans ranging from $15 for email and instant messaging to $30 for email, IM, and web browsing. Sprint, Verizon, we anxiously await your press releases.