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HTC's Whitestone for Verizon, high-power Leo rendered again?
HTC' Leo and Whitestone have been mentioned enough times in different contexts this year so that we have absolutely no doubt that they're real -- the questions at this point revolve around what they are, what they look like, and when they're coming. We still don't have most of those answers, but the situation might be getting a little clearer with the latest round of supposedly leaked renders. First up, the Leo (pictured left) basically sounds like HTC's go-for-broke, ultra high-end model with an 8 megapixel camera, 4.3-inch (yes, 4.3-inch) WVGA capacitive display, 1GHz Snapdragon, and all the trimmings; how it fits in with the Touch HD-replacing Firestone is unclear, so we'll have to keep a close eye on that one. Next, the Whitestone pictured here on the right looks a little less in-your-face than the last shot, though we don't know whether this is a newer or older render; either way, though, we feel good in saying that Verizon's lined up for one of the coolest Touch Diamond2 variants on the block. [Thanks, Brian and sleepymia] Read - Leo Read - Whitestone
Nokia E72 exhaustively reviewed ahead of launch
Say you've got a Nokia E71. Say, further, that you fully intend to upgrade to the E72 the moment it's available (we can't say we blame you). If you'd like to know more about the phone by the time it arrives on your doorstep than most people do in the lifetimes of their devices, we might recommend grabbing pork sandwich, a 64-ounce Coke, and your favorite blankie and curling up with mobile-review's epic "first look." Spec-wise, the new model is an outright slam dunk over the one it replaces, and it seems that mobile-review generally agrees -- sticking points were few and far between though he seems ambivalent on the optical d-pad, and it's also worth noting that the keyboard is now based on the E63's design rather than the E71's. Even if you don't want to read through the somewhat roughly-translated text, it's hard to argue with mobile-review's great photography -- and it's not like you're seeing an E72 in the flesh today, so you may as well have a look, eh? [Via Nokia Experts]
Bell signs HSPA roaming agreement with AT&T
Networks in the GSMA's technology path have an easier time roaming around the world (whether pricing is easy on the wallet is another story altogether) -- but naturally, you've got to have the roaming agreements in place to make the globetrotting a reality. Up in Canada, Bell's wasting now time getting those deals lined up so that customers are good to go the moment it flips the switch and lights up its brand-spanking-new HSPA network as it makes the transition from CDMA; specifically, it's announced during its second quarter earnings call that it has hooked up with AT&T for a symbiotic relationship that'll let Bell customers roam on AT&T's network and vice versa. Interestingly, the agreement allows Bell's phones to roam both on HSPA and legacy GSM in the States while AT&T customers will be strictly HSPA when they're on Bell, reinforcing two things: one, Bell's likely lined up to be North America's first commercial UMTS network without legacy compatibility, and two, Bell's phones -- at least some of them -- will rock GSM / EDGE for use abroad (we should certainly hope so). [Via MobileSyrup]
eMobile claims it has Japan's first commercial HSPA+ network
How many Japanese carriers would have guessed already have 100 percent HSPA+ coverage? 3? 5? 17? Believe it or not, the answer was a big, fat goose egg until up-and-comer eMobile stepped up to the plate and upgraded its back end in recent days. Customers with properly-equipped hardware are now cruising along at up to 21Mbps (well, theoretically, anyhow), which should be more than enough to take 'em into the LTE-based next phase of their plans for world domination. It's said that since garnering its spectrum license back in 2005, eMobile has already managed to capture some 15 percent of Japan's HSPA market -- an impressive stat, considering they've got to go head-to-head with giants NTT DoCoMo and SoftBank Mobile -- and HSPA+ certainly won't hurt their cause.
AT&T's HTC Touch Diamond2 "Warhawk" hits the FCC
You think the pleasant ladies and gentlemen in this FCC lab got to check out that nice skin AT&T and HTC put together for the carrier's branded version of the Touch Diamond2? Hard to say -- the documents aren't coughing up too much info here -- but we can say with very little doubt that we're looking at the filing for the so-called "Warhawk" on account of the presence of 850 and 1900MHz WCDMA. That doesn't mean it's being released any time soon, of course, but AT&T had wanted a terminal acceptance date of August 24, meaning that's when it'd wrap up lab testing -- so September seems at least plausible.
Europe pulls 900MHz out of its 2G funk
Take yourself back -- way back -- all the way to 1987, when cellphones were still in their infancy and the nations of Europe threw together the forward-thinking GSM Directive. GSM, of course, would go on to become the world's dominant digital cellular technology, but here's the thing: it's not 1987 anymore. Sadly, part of the original Directive are still in full effect, and the 900MHz band is stuck in a world of days gone by while the bulk of mainland Europe happily whizzes along on the 3G-blessed 2100MHz spectrum up above it. Not all is lost, though -- the Council of Ministers has finally approved a plan to allow 3G and 4G services on 900MHz, which it believes will end up saving operators around €1.6 billion ($2.28 billion), ostensibly because lower frequencies allow towers to be spaced further apart from one another. Normally we'd be opposed to adding yet another band into the worldwide hodgepodge of GSM bands, but in this case, we feel like we're welcoming an old friend back into the club, you know?[Via the::unwired]
Rogers Wireless begins 21Mbps HSPA+ rollout, a first in North America
It may not have beaten the likes of Australia's Telstra to the 21Mbps mark, but Rogers Wireless has still earned some pretty impressive bragging rights as the first carrier in North America to move on up to HSPA+, which (theoretically) more than doubles the maximum speeds of the current 7.2 Mbps network. According to Rogers, it'll begin to "progressively increase" download speeds starting in August, with the Greater Toronto Area expectedly first on deck to get a taste of all that bandwidth -- although Rogers does say that it'll "expand quickly over the coming months" in other cities across Canada and eventually cover the entire country. Those south of the border shouldn't feel too glum about the situation however, as last we had heard, AT&T was "likely" to bypass HSPA+ altogether and move straight from 7.2Mbps to LTE and the ludicrous speeds it promises.
Telus' CDMA-to-HSPA customer migration system caught doing its thing
What's that, dear Telus subscriber? That, friend, is the look of inevitability. The look of a relentless march in the direction of GSMA-loved, 3GPP-approved standards. The look of what Telus employees across Canada will be seeing over the coming months as they port customers to HSPA hardware. We still don't know exactly when the carrier is flipping the switch on its shiny new network, but subsidiary Koodo is already showing SIMs on its site, so it can't be long now. So, does CAD $25 sound reasonable for the pleasure of making the switch?[Via MobileSyrup]
Koodo leading Telus' charge into HSPA territory?
It's no secret that Telus is kicking off a transition from CDMA to UMTS / HSPA starting later this year, but who would've thought its Koodo Mobile value-oriented brand would be on the front lines? Howard Chui notes that Koodo's phone activation page now shows a SIM card on its diagram of where to find your ESN (or IMEI, in this case) -- a pretty strong indication that GSM-enabled Koodo phones are just around the corner. Of course, that leaves open the question of what hardware will be involved, but something tells us Koodo won't be getting that killer LG BL40 its corporate parent has long been rumored to have in the pipe.[Via Howard Chui]
Samsung's Omnia Pro B7610 previewed
At a glance, Samsung's recently-announced Omnia Pro B7610 seems like a sweet hunk of Windows Mobile love -- especially if you're cross-shopping it with the Touch Pro2 -- but is there more than meets the eye? GSMArena recently put a prerelease unit through its paces, and it's not a perfect situation by any stretch; first off, apparently not very pretty in the flesh, owing in part to its girth and in part to the weird red battery cover. The resistive touchscreen isn't great and the OLED display washes out in sunlight (as they typically do), but on the plus side, the QWERTY keyboard is said to be stellar and it seems that Sammy's done a great job of completely concealing WinMo 6.1's sad, sagging skin with TouchWiz. In the final analysis, the site concludes that the phone easily matches the high bar set by the Touch Pro2 -- strong words considering HTC's market dominance and the fact that we're still looking at a prototype Omnia Pro here, so this should get even more interesting.
Sony Ericsson brings MD400G USB data card to Rogers
It's not every day that you see a USB data card launch that can accept Memory Stick Micro M2 cards, so we wanted to call out this little puppy on Rogers. As you might imagine from the unusual memory card support, it comes to us from our good friends at Sony Ericsson -- and not to fret, because the MD400g takes plain ol' microSD cards, too, all the way up to 8GB. It's got integrated GPS, supports up to 7.2Mbps down, and can roam globally on 2G and 3G networks; add in that wild red and white paintjob, and you've got a winner on your hands -- especially when you consider that it's free on a three-year contract.[Via MobileSyrup]
Original Motorola RAZR refuses to die, spawns new LuK Hot Pink version in Korea
There aren't many products in the world that have been produce for so long that they bridged right from the "modern" to "ho-hum" to "retro chic" categories without ever pausing production (actually, the hula hoop is the only one that comes immediately to mind). A year ago, it was cool to hate on the debilitating age Motorola's original RAZR V3 and the fact that it was still being sold in countless shops and by countless carriers around the world; now, though, it's gone on so long that we've got to wonder whether there's some magical, hidden force at play here that will keep this phone on shelves and in hearts until the very end of time. Evidence of that certainly exists in the freshly-launched LuK Hot Pink edition, an apparent follow-on to the LuK launched back in February of this year with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, video call capability, Bluetooth, and that's about it. At a price under 500,000 won (about $400) on carrier SKT, it doesn't seem like a particularly good deal -- but then again, if you look at it as a perfect replica of a vintage collectible device, maybe it's a downright steal.
Samsung Omnia II gets banded for US 3G, but it's not for the US
Remember how Verizon is getting the Omnia II? Yeah, well, don't get too excited, because this isn't it. A version of Samsung's latest full-touch WinMo superphone just garnered FCC approval, and more excitingly, it packs WCDMA bands II and V -- exactly the bands we use in North America -- but you might notice that there's a surprising dearth of English on the product's certification label. Well, see, it turns out that South America uses those bands, too -- and the "L" in this version's model number of i8000L probably stands for Latin America, if we had to guess. That's not to say savvy North Americans couldn't import this and get some juicy 3G on AT&T or Rogers, but at least in AT&T's case, we still don't have any particular reason to believe that this'll land over there. Certainly wouldn't hurt their case, though, would it? [Via Cell Phone Signal]
ZTE shows off recent smartphones at Wireless Japan
China's ZTE is still sticking to the low end in North America, but in its home country, the manufacturer is a huge player. Evidence of that lies strewn about ZTE's booth at Wireless Japan this week, where it's showing a pair of WinMo devices plus a Linux-based model that look ripe to compete with some of the best in the world. First up, the RAISE and XIANG do WinMo and HSPA for China Unicom's Wo network, rocking 5 and 3.2 megapixel cameras, respectively. The D820 reps the open-source world (though we're not sure what kind of Linux distro is running on it -- it's not Android, if we had to guess) and runs CDMA with WiFi, GPS, and a 2 megapixel camera. We're not sure if ZTE is using phones like these as warmups for more global launches, but given what we're seeing here -- and the low price points they're likely looking to hit -- we're all for it.[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]
Sony Ericsson's Android-powered XPERIA X3 sorta confirmed by way of retailer
We don't take the word of just any retailer at face value, but when a big player like eXpansys decides that it's time to list a new phone in its inventory, that usually means something's afoot. The company's British outpost has now listed full details for a phone it's identifying simply as "Xperia" in its headline, but if you read further in, you'll see that the product code is "SEMXP3_BLK_UK", suggesting X3 is the likely moniker for Rachael. For your hard-earned (but yet-to-be-determined) money, you'll get pretty much everything you could possibly want, spec-wise: 10Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA, 8 megapixel cam with image stabilization and LED flash, 3.5mm headphone jack, a 4-inch 800 x 400 display (a first at this resolution for a production Android device), AGPS, and microSDHC expansion. Sadly, it's listed as 900 / 2100 only for the 3G radio, so we'll need to rely on the telecommunication gods (and Sony Ericsson, we suppose) to deliver a North American version as well.[Via Slashgear and the::unwired]
Nokia E72 passes FCC in North American flavor
Speak of the devil -- we were just chatting about Nokia's new strategy for getting the best devices to the US (even if it means going unlocked if necessary), and what do you know? That's right, the E72 (or E72-2, if you want to get technical about it) has just won its FCC badge, offering full HSPA on the 850 and 1900MHz bands in addition to quadband EDGE and HSPA 2100 for those times when you find yourself out of the Western Hemisphere. The fact that this phone is unbranded is both a blessing and a curse -- a blessing because... well, it's not carrier branded, but a curse because that means we're probably going to be subject to the usual Nokia preorder rigmarole / flagship store drama to get it. You know we'll still end up doing it, though, and so will you.
Nokia E55 hits the FCC if the E52 isn't your style
So you're like, "man, I love the E52 -- I just wish it had more... keys!" Yeah? Well, there's a phone for that, and it just passed the FCC. The "dash 1" variant of the E55 just garnered approval from the American powers that be, but sadly, this particular unit is a special kind of useless in the States because it's doing HSPA on 900 and 2100MHz alone. That's not to say you couldn't use it on EDGE in the Western Hemisphere, but what's the fun in that?
New Cradlepoint firmware turns MiFi into -- wait for it -- a 3G WiFi router
You might imagine that Cradlepoint's feeling a bit of heat since Novatel released its fantastic MiFi series, since the whole idea behind Cradlepoint's gear is to turn 3G modems into WiFi access points. It's cool, though, Cradlepoint managed to find a tricky angle: you can't charge the MiFi, use it as a USB modem, and have WiFi enabled at the same time! We still think we'd stare, point, and laugh if we were walking through an airport and saw some dude with these two cute little boxes tethered to one another, but we've got to admit that this is a pretty big Achilles' heel that Cradlepoint's managed to solve here; all it takes is a firmware update for your Cradlepoint, and voilà, you've now got MiFi compatibility.
T-Mobile's Touch Pro2 gets unboxed
Most of us have a few weeks to wait yet before this thrilling moment arrives, but someone out there doesn't. Rather than sit here, turn bright green with envy and throw a fit, though, we're just going to do our best to enjoy a few shots of T-Mobile's version of the Touch Pro2 being unboxed on a lovely granite countertop. The shots aren't of the best quality, but they're almost certainly real -- everything checks out visually -- so at least it's of some comfort to know that these puppies are boxed up and ready to drop the moment corporate gives the word.
Video: Toshiba TG01 gets UK launch, we handle it again
It may have already been teased, poked and prodded, but the TG01 from Toshiba still insisted on making a big splash on its arrival to the UK and we were only too happy to oblige and join in on its launch event in London. As you should know by now, this is Toshiba's most significant attempt to date at penetrating the consumer smartphone market, and it's coming equipped with a battering ram named Snapdragon. Keep reading for the juicy details on the UI, construction and general feel, as well as a neat stash of images and videos of the phone in action.
