We're unfortunately light on details here, but The Unwired is reporting that HTC's Hero has been approved by the Global Certification Forum, listed here as "HERO100," with support for quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dualband UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA at 1800/2100 MHz. With the company's touted London event just around the corner -- this Wednesday, to be exact -- we wouldn't be surprised to see the phone and its oft-rumored "Rosie" Android UI take center stage, in possibly two variations. Other than frequency bands and the associative name, the GCF isn't giving us anything else to work with, so for now just sit back and hope this uncertainty is cleared up sooner rather than later.

While waiting for a Caribbean cruise liner to set sail from the Port of Miami last November, a Chicago native with an AT&T wireless card and Slingbox decided to catch the Bears vs. Lions football game on his laptop. The end result? A $28,067.31 bill from for international data charges, despite the ship never leaving the harbor. Apparently the card was picking up a signal it shouldn't have, and while the bill was eventually dropped to $290.65 after a considerable number of calls to customer service, let that be a warning to mobile users traveling on the fringe of international roaming areas -- and in case you were wondering, the Bears ended up winning 27 to 23.

[Via The Register]

[Via Slash Phone]

On Friday, ASUS announced its latest entry into the highly competitive and exciting world of tweaked Windows Mobile phones, with the introduction of the P552w. The full-touchscreen device boasts a speedy 624MHz CPU, a 240 x 320 QVGA display, HSDPA / UMTS radios, 802.11b/g WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 (with A2DP), 256MB of flash memory, 128MB of DDR, plus support for microSD / SDHC cards. What's really of note, however, is the inclusion of a skinned UI utilizing a technology called "Gester," which is controlled via slides of the finger, pinching, and flicks (think HTC's TouchFlo). The company is tacking on a few pieces of proprietary software as well, such as "EziPhoto" and "EziMusic," and claims that the device has "seamless Google integration." Clearly ASUS has backed away from that 3D interface we saw at Mobile World Congress this year, though we suspect the new UI -- dubbed "Glide" -- bears more than a passing resemblance to it. No word yet on release dates or prices, but you'll know when we do.

[Via Electronista]

That's right, kids, T-Mobile launched 3G data in Vegas this morning. The 1700MHz AWS 3G network went live for phones that can hit the UMTS 3G data stream, and if your phone is one of those, you may want to look for the pretty little icon and start doing some Intertron browsing. T-Mobile still expects to hit another 20 markets this year (along with some new handsets), so if you're not in Sin City, be patient -- 3G is coming.

Truth be told, Fixed Mobile Convergence still isn't talked about much (comparatively speaking) 'round these parts. Yeah, we've seen a few FMC routers scattered about, but Vodafone's taking a stand by rolling out its Station in Italy. The box, which was developed in cooperation with Huawei, is an integrated switch / router with ADSL2+, WiFi, UMTS / HSPA (via a removable USB key) and four Ethernet ports. Essentially, it's designed to combine voice with fixed and mobile broadband services, and it enables users to make calls on their handset through a fixed line connection when they're kicking back at home. We're also hearing that the device will eventually make its way to other Vodafone markets, but there's been no word yet on future rollout dates.

[Via GigaOM]

Yup, you read that right. We're not talking about just any Webkit-based browser, Samsung's long-rumored L870 slider features a full "Safari" browser (which we'll take to mean Webkit). The 13.5-mm thin phone pumps Symbian v9.3 and S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 at its core with a 3 megapixel camera, 2.4-inch QVGA display, FM radio, Stereo Bluetooth, and microSD expansion. Unfortunately, this pup is tri-band GSM with single-band UMTS/HSDPA 3.6Mbps support so it'll be heading to Europe around the August time frame.

Update: As per the full press release (posted after the break), Samsung claimed that they'd brought mobile Safari to this device. Technically feasible, we suppose, but far more unlikely than some clueless PR flack screwing up the release. We'll let you know if Samsung HQ has anything differently to say about the matter, but until then we're calling this Webkit, not Safari.

Update 2: Yup, it's Webkit all right.

derStandard, the same publication that announced that the iPhone would be sailing into Austria via T-Mobile is now reporting that the same carrier will be testing the 3G iPhone in the aforesaid country. During a press conference in Vienna, T-Mo Austria reportedly affirmed that a UMTS version of Apple's handset would "soon be available," and that Austria would be the "testing ground" for the new mobile -- not to mention "among the first countries in the world with the UMTS iPhone." Furthermore, bigwigs stated that "more flexible" offers would be made available, but details beyond that were scant.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Great news, T-Mobile USA fans -- the roller coaster ride is finally over. After we thought T-Mobile's 3G network was but moments away from launching, we soon found that data may be left out. Oddly enough, a few reports hailing from the Big Apple claimed that data actually was included. At long last, the carrier is coming clean and announcing its official 3G rollout in the States. Unfortunately, the UMTS / HSDPA network is initially launching in New York City alone, but the good news is that data will be included and the operator expects the high-speed data network to "be available in cities where a majority of its subscribers currently use data services" by the year's end. Yeah, it's safe to celebrate now, we promise it's not a(nother) false alarm. Full release posted after the jump.

T-Mobile's 3G network started going live today, and it looks like that early word from a company memo may not hold true for all users. Some markets may in fact have a silent soft-launch of faster data rates, we've heard from several tipsters who've said that they're already getting faster data service, and now the company itself getting the word out that it's launching data as well. But company peeps were indeed instructed to make sure customers don't count on that faster data being present; bottom line is you may have it, you may not (but if you take T-Mobile at its word, you should). NYC is the first market to light up, but others should come online soon -- anyone trying it out? How's it going? Hit us up in comments and let us know!

Well screw us -- T-Mobile's 3G network debut tomorrow? It's going to be voice only. That's right, you heard us, VOICE ONLY. So trepidatious is this company to actually get their 3G data rollout, um, rolled out, they're launching first with kneecapped voice-only service, keeping only EDGE for those demanding data. Here's the snippet from the memo we received:

"3G is the next generation of our wireless network, following our current GSM network. In this early phase of our network evolution, 3G is a new technology for carrying wireless voice calls and supporting existing data capabilities on our network. In future phases, this next generation network will power 'high-speed' (3G) products and services that connect customers in new and exciting ways. ... Inform customers who are interested in high-speed data that the first phase of our 3G roll out supports voice only." [Emphasis ours]

No word on when T-Mobile actually plans to turn on the faster data, but for everyone who hasn't already jumped ship -- hoping against hope -- the wait continues.

P.S. -Don't believe everything you hear about this kind of thing being status quo. Every single major US 3G network -- including Cingular, Verizon, and Sprint -- went live as either data card-only (with phones added later), or data and voice together.

If we ignore all the nonsensical parts of this Inquirer article, then we see that T-Mobile USA might be about to make an announcement regarding their US 3G offering. According to a rep, the company will be making an announcement on December 6th on the subject, which sounds to us like the Government might have finally shifted off of T-Mobile's turf. That's all the relevant details we have, so set your calendars if 3G networks news announcements are your kinda thang.

[Thanks, Frank P.]

Those scouting a sexy new VAIO may be lured a tad closer to the SZ6- and TZ20-series, as Sony has recently announced that select models in both lineups will boast integrated WWAN capability. Dubbed everywair, the specially equipped lappies will reportedly be able to cruise the HSDPA highway thanks to twin diversity antennas "concealed in the lid," which purportedly "boost signal quality in marginal areas." Additionally, the SIM card will be inserted "directly into the laptop itself," and the included VAIO Smart Network software should make managing your connections a lesson in simplicity. Oh, and for those wondering, current models should hum along at a maximum of 3.6Mbps, but a firmware upgrade will boost that figure to 7.2Mbps "when the service becomes available."

[Via JournaldGeek]

Well don't that look nice? Meet the supposed HTC Omni communicator... rendering. Unwired View is the source of these pictures and some more detailed specs. Notably, it'll be sporting VGA and TV-outputs along with that biggie 4-inch, 800 x 480 pixel WVGA display when launched in October. You know, if true. It'll also be packing a GPS/A-GPS nugget in a 130 x 81 x 16-mm slab making it a bit smaller than an Advantage but bigger than the phone-that-shall-not-be-named. Hey, that's what they're saying. Rounding things out are UMTS/HSDPA and WinMo 6 like we heard before. Though honestly, we never tire of hearing it.

Yeah, this trick most certainly has a thin layer of dust on it, but there's just something special about a portable pyramid that turns your average PCMCIA data card into WiFi. The 3G Phoebus MB6000 purportedly plays nice with "most cellular PCMCIA cards on the market today" sans drivers or complicated software installations, which enables plug 'n play access to your data network regardless of current location. Aside from turning your card into a wireless access point for multiple users to connect to, it also enables wired Ethernet connections and a security suite that will only allow authenticated users to view the network. Such a fine convenience, however, was bound to come at a rather steep price, so you should probably make sure you'll be spending an awful lot of time surfing on the go before shelling out $299.95.

[Via ChipChick]