Orange has come out this morning, in advance of the official UK unveiling of the phone, to confirm it will be the exclusive UK carrier of the TG01. We can confirm availability from July 10 (i.e. tomorrow), and the phone can be had for free on a 2-year contract costing £39.15 per month. To figure out if that sort of investment is worth it, we'll have an intrepid reporter stationed at this afternoon's event, who'll be bringing you up-to-the-minute details and imagery of the first Snapdragon handset to hit British shores. You'll find the full PR at the read link, or continue reading for an unshaven Orange rep walking you through the phone's specs.

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

Well, well, there it is. The world's first and only Snapdragon phone available for retail, Toshiba's TG01, is up and dancing on Orange's UK site with a "coming soon" badge. Soon meaning the July 9th London press event, presumably, where this 9.9-mm slate running WinMo on a 4.1-inch 800x480 pixel display should get a shove out the retail door. Yes, Windows Mobile 6.1, why do you ask?

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

It's already out in Japan and a few select countries in Europe, now Toshiba's skinny TG01 is hitting London on Thursday, July 9th. Presumably the invite will be met with an official UK launch of Tosh's deftly skinned Snapdragon handset with a Windows Mobile 6.1 core. Then again, it could be a lot of tech reporters eating mini triangular sandwiches slathered with pickle spread discussing the HTC Hero for four hours. We'll let you know next week.

So much for Nokia and Intel keeping quiet on actual product announcements, huh? Just yesterday, the two mega-corps joined hands in what they called a technical collaboration, and while they wouldn't go into detail about what products would sprout from the partnership, it seems that Commercial Times has done the honors. Reportedly, Nokia has already ordered up a few machines from Compal and Quanta, two OEMs that are largely responsible for most every netbook on the market today. Not surprisingly, we're told that the Nokiabook will rely on one of Intel's Atom processors, and considering that the new wave of Atom chips aren't slated to land until 2010, you can pretty much put money on a N270 or N280 configuration. In related news, we're told that Compal will engineer a Qualcomm Snapdragon-based Nokia smartbook, though there's no word on what kind of OS (Symbian, perhaps?) will be included.

The case for running Android -- an OS developed for smartphones -- on cheap, ultra-portable laptops has yet to be made. However, that hasn't stopped manufacturers from tinkering with the idea as demonstrated by the broad range of Android "smartbooks" running on ARM-based (be it Snapdragon, Tegra, or Freescale) architectures at Computex. Now Gartner, the guiding force for many corporate CIOs, has issued a research note that puts Atom-based netbooks running Windows 7 on notice while giving credence to the emerging smartbook category of ultra-portables. Analysts Christian Heidarson and Ben Lee said the following in Gartner's Semiconductor DQ Monday Report:

When Android did work, we found that the user interface was very snappy on relatively low-performance ARM processors, more so than Windows 7 on Atom.

Of course, Windows 7 scales much better than Vista and as a full-blown desktop OS gives users a lot of flexibility as long as the netbook's chipset is up to the task. Then again, if you're looking for a purpose-built, fanless 10-inch ultra-portable with integrated WWAN data and FireFox browser that costs less than $200 and plays 25 days of music or 10-hours of 1080p video off a single charge, well then a smartbook might be the device for you. We'll see which carrier is brave enough to sell 'em come October.

We've already seen dormant F1s resting comfortably from the confines of display stands at MWC earlier this year, but Acer's now ready to flip the power switch and show off its WinMo 6.5 superphone's capabilities in the flesh at Computex this week. Our own Engadget Chinese spent some quality time shooting the Snapdragon-powered beast, running what could very well be the gold shipping build of 6.5 considering that it's now been released to manufacturers in final form for inclusion in their devices. As you might expect for the Tegra-fighting Snapdragon silicon, animations and transitions seems to be totally dead-on smooth and movement between applications is faster than anything this side of a Toshiba TG01, so we're excited to see this one find its way into retail later this year; in the meantime, though, follow the link for some glorious footage.

Now we're talking Computex. We, along with Tweaktown and JKK Mobile just spotted an ASUS Eee PC netbook smartbook prototype running Android on a 1GHz Snapdragon chipset. Now get this: the design is fanless due to Snapdragon's low power consumption. The result should be a device with oodles of battery life and $0 Microsoft licensing tax if this thing ever goes production. The prototype runs the 1GHz version of the Snapdragon chipset and is thus capable of 720p HD Video and everything else already spotted in Toshiba's TG01 smartphone. But as we saw this morning, beefier Snapdragon chipsets running at 1.3GHz with enhanced graphics and 1.5GHz with dual-CPUs are on the way. Check the video after the break.

[Via Jkk Mobile and Tweaktown]

Remember that Wistron PurseBook we peeked back in early April? Yeah, that's not just some one-off creation to wow folks on a show floor. We just sat down with Qualcomm to hear all about the newest small form factor machine that it has a hand in, and while we're still unsure if the market can handle it, smartbooks are coming. The machines are currently in development by a handful of Qualcomm partners, and while exact specifications have yet to be disclosed, here's what we do know. These devices will be marketed as companions to smartphones and bona fide laptops, and honestly, they kind of look like a stripped down version of Sony's VAIO P. Within the Snapdragon-based rigs, you'll find a 1GHz CPU, a battery good for eight to ten hours of use, WWAN, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, built-in GPS, HD video encoding capabilities and screen resolutions as high as WXGA (1,280 x 768). As with NVIDIA's Tegra, this chip also promises pretty awesome 3D graphics considering the low power draw. Click on for more.

Josh Topolsky and Paul Miller walk into a bar, but the bar is a recording studio.

The bartender, who is the recording engineer, asks, "Why the long faces?"

"Sigh," Paul says, and looks down at his feet. "Nothing but a buncha crummy phone rumors and probably fake slim PS3 pictures this week."

"It's hard to podcast when there's no exciting news to podcast about," says Josh, staring off into the distance.

The door slams open: it's Nilay Patel. "I know what'll cheer you guys up!" he says as he slams three stiff drinks down on the table. "Trashing AT&T about the Slingplayer app!"

Smiles creep over Josh and Paul's faces. They nod, the engineer hits the record button, and history is made: The Engadget Podcast, volume 146.

Update: We added a video feed of your charming hosts from the recording studio after the break. It's definitely an experiment at this stage, so let us know what you think!

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: Around the World

00:01:42 - Wild and slim PS3 redesign caught on camera?
00:17:20 - AT&T issues official statement on SlingPlayer's 3G blackout for iPhone
00:28:49 - Microsoft's latest ad: iTunes and the iPod are crazy expensive
00:37:26 - Microsoft "Pink" specs leak out: Tegra, Snapdragon, OMAP 3, oh my?
00:50:57 - Fuzzy math: Palm Pre to run about $470 full retail?
01:01:29 - Hold the phone: T-Mobile G1 v2 to really be the Samsung Bigfoot?
01:06:13 - Motorola's first Android phone to be the T-Mobile G1 v2?

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Ready for some more delicious Zune / Windows Mobile rumors after today's June Zune letdown? Well buckle up -- the always-sharp Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet says she's got specs for Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1, the heart of that rumored "Pink" smartphone, and they're pretty wild. According to the list, Chassis 1 phones will all have 3.5-inch or larger multitouch displays with ARM v6+ processors and OpenGL ES 2.0-compatible graphics hardware, 256MB or more of RAM and 1GB or more of storage, as well as at least a 3 megapixel camera, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, a compass, and accelerometer. Oh, and glory be -- a 3.5mm headphone jack is required. Here's the kicker, though: NVIDIA's Tegra platform is specifically listed as meeting the core CPU requirements, as well as TI's OMAP 3 platform and "Qualcomm 8k," which sounds to us like Snapdragon's QSD8xxx-series chips. If you've been following along, you know that all three of these (Tegra in particular) have been bandied about as potential Microsoft phone platforms, so it makes perfect sense to us that Microsoft's giving its hardware partners a choice of currently-available high-powered platforms for Chassis 1 -- especially since we've been hearing lots of whispers of hardware based on these chips in the works.

Here's the thing, though: we've also always been told that "Pink" is the codename for Zune software and services on Windows Mobile, so something tells us that Chassis 1 phones running Windows Mobile 7 will feature a strong dose of Zune flavoring -- a plan Steve Ballmer's repeatedly confirmed in the past year. So how do we think this all fits together? Well, we'll slightly revise our previous totally crazy, off-the-wall prediction: we think "Pink" is the codename for a new consumer-focused version of Windows Mobile that integrates Zune services, running not only on a touchscreen Zune HD, but on several third-party phones. Are we crazy? Yes, absolutely -- but you've got to admit the pieces are coming together.

NVIDIA is showing that wacky Mini 1000 / Tegra mashup at CTIA, but Qualcomm's not far behind with its own creative ways to repurpose smartphone silicon into MID and netbook-class devices. Making an appearance at Qualcomm's booth was a prototype PurseBook from Taiwan's Wistron, which stuffs a Snapdragon chipset into a device looking (and weighing) a little bit like a VAIO P. That's where the similarities to the Sony box ends, though, because Qualcomm sees the PurseBook (and devices like it) hitting in the $299 to $499 range -- we'd like to see them even cheaper, truth be told -- and you won't be running Vista here. Instead, you've got a pretty slick Linux distro from ThunderSoft that'll edit Office docs, give you a desktop-class web experience, and connect with social networks, which are the three things most of us spend 90 percent of our PC face time doing anyhow. It's not going to replace your laptop by any stretch, but with a claimed 8 hours of battery life, we could totally see packing this thing as an ultra-lightweight alternative for day trips. Qualcomm expects the PurseBook and devices like it to ship in 2009 -- as does NVIDIA, so we're definitely lining up for a sweet battle royale here. Follow the break for video.

Is one of Acer's mysterious smartphones packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon? According to the folks at All About Phones who reportedly attended an Acer event recently, the F1 will be running the 800MHz ARM chip, which is a tad slower than the 1000MHz equivalent in the TG01. The device will be Windows Mobile 6.5-based, but that's supposedly gonna be shrouded by a Flash-based Acer Suite 2.0 shell. The report also mentions a September release, which jibes with what we saw on that makeshift roadmap at Mobile World Congress, and a 560 Euro ($760) price tag. Nothing's confirmed, but between Acer, HTC, Samsung, and LG, surely someone's gearing up to join Toshiba in the Snapdragon bandwagon.

[Via Unwired View]