Long rumored as the C721, Casio's pivoting EXILIM clamshell is now available to all comers on Verizon. Though the camera goes way up to 5.1 megapixels with autofocus, image stabilization, and a 3x optical zoom, the phone doesn't stray too far from its G'zOne roots -- it's mil-spec 810F compliant for dust, shock, temperature, and water resistance. It also features expandability up to 8GB (something you'll likely need if you're taking advantage of that cam) and compatibility with Verizon's VZ Navigator service. If you really need to be taking pictures in the shower, the pleasure's going to cost you: expect to pay $279.99 on contract after rebate.

Japanese carrier KDDI au has now followed Softbank and NTT DoCoMo in pulling the red velvet cover off its summer 2009 devices, and as always, there are some neat tricks in here. From Toshiba, the Biblio is billed as an e-book reader; granted, it's using an LCD instead of an E-Ink display, but it's a doozy at 3.5 inches at 960 x 480. It features 7GB of user-accessible storage on board for books, and also has a slide-out dynamic keyboard that can display a numeric pad in the portrait orientation or full QWERTY in landscape. Moving on, the Sharp Sportio Water Beat -- as its name suggests -- is a waterproof sports-oriented set with advanced calorie and distance tracking (a la Nike+), but you're still never too far from your true destiny as a couch potato thanks to the phone's one-seg reception. Next, the Hitachi Mobile Hi-Vision Cam Wooo is the latest in the multimedia-centric Wooo series, becoming KDDI's first phone capable of 720p video recording at 30fps -- and there's HDMI-out on board for when the time comes to enjoy your footage. Finally, the SH002 is the realization of Sharp's solar phone concept from earlier this year, delivering one minute of talk time for every 10 minutes of charge time. There are other announcements in the mix here -- eight new phones in total -- but those were the killers of the bunch, and as always, this post is about as close as most North Americans will ever get to them.

[Via Engadget Japanese]

Who said Nokia doesn't have a major commitment to North American carriers? We've landed news of a whole plethora of Espoo-sourced devices scheduled to hit AT&T over the coming months, and a few in particular caught our eye. Most notably, the Mako (pictured) is unlike anything we've ever seen Nokia make, mostly thanks to a side-sliding QWERTY keyboard that doesn't really resemble any existing hardware. It rides on the same S60 3.2-based platform as the 6650 and E71x, features dual-band HSDPA, a 2.4-inch QVGA display, AGPS, 2 megapixel camera, Video Share, and 128MB of internal storage with microSD expansion. Sadly -- this is going to be a dream killer for some folks, we think -- it's only got a 2.5mm headphone jack, which is a step back for multimedia support. This one was at one time targeted for June 5, but if we had to guess, it's been pushed back -- maybe we're crazy, but we feel like it hasn't leaked enough to meet that date at this point. Anyhow, looks like this one's a good foil for that QWERTY swivel allegedly due on Verizon.

Speaking of "this looks nothing like a Nokia," the Thresher is an ultra-glossy slider that doesn't quite resemble anything officially announced in other markets. It shares its Series 40 guts with Grouper, which was the codename assigned to the 6750 Mural flip we recently saw hit the FCC. Both devices do HSDPA and AGPS; the Grouper makes do with a 2 megapixel cam, though, while the Thresher steps up to 3.2 with an integrated flash. The Thresher's signed up for September and the Grouper for July, but as with all of these, it's anyone's guess whether those dates will hold.

Finally, the Snapper flip is a lower-end device that we could envision replacing the 6555, lacking the Grouper's style but still staying strong with triband HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.1, AGPS, and a 2 megapixel camera. This one's tentatively targeted for August.

Is it a phone? Is it a camera? Does it really matter anymore? If neither the mirumo 934SH nor the Solar Hybrid 936SH are quite to your liking, feast your eyes on this other wonder from Sharp that's hitting SoftBank Mobile in Japan this summer, the AQUOS SHOT 933SH. The headlining feature on this sucker would be the massive optics combined with a 10 megapixel low-noise CCD sensor, which is made infinitely easier to use as an actual camera thanks to a rotating touchscreen display -- just flip it around, snap it facing outwards, and voilà, your old point-and-shoot is on notice. Otherwise, you've got a 3.3-inch WVGA display (perfect for viewing one-seg television) and global roaming capability, so don't be surprised if we try to smuggle one of these stateside when it launches in late May, alright?

As you might expect, Japanese carrier SoftBank's summer 2009 lineup contains the usual science-fiction array of ridiculously well-equipped handsets -- plus 3G photo frames and a Lenovo IdeaPad S10 with embedded WWAN -- but the real news here might be a pair of lovelies from Sharp. The mirumo 934SH (pictured left) features a 3-inch external display that can display time, date, weather, news, and other information without consuming any power between changes; sounds like E-Ink, though Sharp describes it simply as a "memory LCD." You've also got an 8 megapixel camera, a waterproof shell, and a UV sensor that can help you determine just how quickly you need to slather on the SPF 30. Next up is the Solar Hybrid 936SH, a phone suspiciously similar in concept to the device Sharp is working on for SoftBank competitor KDDI au. Clearly the big draw here is the big solar array up front that'll give you one minute of call time or two hours of standby per 10 minutes of charging, but you've still got IPX7 water resistance, an 8 megapixel camera, and a full wide VGA display at your disposal. Look for the 934SH in June and the 936SH in August -- if you happen to be in Japan, anyhow.

We're hearing that the Alias 2 is on track for a release in less than two weeks from now -- May 11, to be exact -- which would mean that we're just a few short days away from seeing the very first E Ink handset launch in the States. Yes, that's right, we said it -- after all the heated debate over the technology powering the Alias 2's configurable keypad, our tipster tells us that new information floating down from corporate confirms that the device is using E Ink, which would explain why it's able to maintain state even with the power off. We still think it's one awfully ugly phone, but this might be one of those all-too-frequent cases where cool tech ends up winning our hearts anyway. As for pricing, the tipster thinks it may come in at $79, which seems improbable even with deep contract discounting and a big mail-in rebate -- but if by some miracle it does end up being accurate, they're going to be selling tons of these to text-heavy geeks like ourselves.

[Image via PhoneArena, thanks ehjun]

In continuation of a recent trend of major manufacturers announcing a new-found interest in making a buck off developing nations solar-powered cellphones, AU (KDDI) and Sharp have announced the June launch of this unnamed solar handset. Besides being the world's first waterproof solar handset, it charges to a minute of talk or 2-hours of standby after just 10 minutes in the sun. No other specs were announced though we seriously doubt it'll be a power-sucking feature- or smart-phone. Naturally, it'll still be a boon to people where electricity is scarce but what about the industrious guy who owns the village car battery?

[Via Akihabara News]

Wanted our attention, Casio? Well, good, because you've definitely got it. This isn't necessarily full disclosure of the phone's existence, but for all practical purposes, this... uh, "promotional video" finally fesses up that the Exilim C721 is coming to Verizon (you can catch a glimpse of the carrier's logo if you look closely -- no, not that closely, you sicko). As you might have gathered, our ladyfriend here is using the phone's 5 megapixel cam to snap some naughty shots for her sweetheart, all from the comfort of a warm shower -- thanks in no small part to the phone's water-resistant characteristics. Still no word on pricing, availability, or a full rundown of specs, so in the meantime we're going to be... you know, looping this looking for details. Catch the video after the break.

[Via Gearlog]

Don't get us wrong, the concept of a truly dynamic keypad on a phone is awesome, and we're sure that the concept is going to be going places in the next few years -- we just don't think that a handset that looks like this is going to be the one to light the fire. Pictures of the Alias2 from Samsung have filtered in after yesterday's user manual leak, giving us a better idea of what the phone looks like; we still can't put our finger on what technology the keypad is using, but given that we've heard that it'll retain its layout with the battery out, we're starting to think that it might be segmented E Ink. Active matrix E Ink would've been ten times cooler, but we imagine it's not quite at the price point yet where it makes sense for a product in this range. Keep on keepin' on with the innovative stuff, though, guys -- just make sure it spends a little more time in the design department next time.

We've stumbled across a... ahem, major national retailer's stock sheet for the next few weeks, and things are looking up -- particularly on AT&T, where we'll have a couple of long-awaited releases. Let's start with the unknown, though: there's a "Jackfrost" due at the end of the month, and without even a manufacturer listed, it's impossible to know what this thing could possibly be. More importantly, though, the long-rumored LG Zenon (which spikes the less-trademarkable "Xenon" spelling we'd seen before) is slated for mid-April, and the even longer-rumored E71x -- which may simply be known as the E71 by the time it launches -- should drop by at the beginning of next month. Moving over to Big Red, that Nokia 7205 Intrigue that's been kicking around in spy shots since the early part of '08 might finally launch in just a few days' time. All told, we have a lot of emotional closure around the corner with these launches, don't we?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

In the unlikely event that you needed a few final shreds of evidence to be convinced that the CDMA version of the BlackBerry Pearl flip -- the 8230 -- is real, feast your eyes on this heavy reading. Just-approved FCC documents show a device outline that can only be described as that of a clamshell, and sure enough, the SAR report indicates CDMA and EV-DO on the 850 and 1900MHz bands, so yeah, if this isn't the 8230, we can't imagine what it'd be. The timing on this development really couldn't be any better since we're expecting it to hit both Verizon and Telus in the near term, so quick show of hands: who's buying?

We've been hearing some idle chatter that RIM intends to redo its Pearl 8220 flip in a CDMA flavor any minute now -- and RIM's one of the best manufacturers in the game at spreading its wealth equally between the GSM and CDMA sides of the fence, so an 8230 model seemed like a foregone conclusion from the moment the 8220 was announced. Sure enough, we now have a shot of a Verizon-branded 8230 doing its thing -- not really what Bold hopefuls on Verizon were hoping for, we'd imagine, but a solid consumer-grade offering nonetheless. The fella who posted the shot over on CrackBerry's forums doesn't know what colors will be available at launch, but mentions that he expects it'll be "coming soon." CTIA in April, perhaps?

[Via Boy Genius Report]