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Samsung adds CorbyTXT and CorbyPRO to Corby line
We'd figured the Corby (or Genio, if you prefer) was just a single model in Samsung's vast lineup that would soon be forgotten, but silly us -- it turns out the brand name's being spun into an entire range of products. Sammy's just added the CorbyTXT and CorbyPRO to the original model, bringing midrange portrait and landscape QWERTY options to complement the Corby's full touch configuration. Both feature a 3.5mm headphone jack for proper music enjoyment, but interestingly, only the CorbyPRO will have 7.2Mbps HSDPA; the CorbyTXT is left behind in the molasses-like world of EDGE. Look for the TXT to start showing up in stores this month with the PRO following on in November, and needless to say, you can expect both to be reasonably-priced. [Via GSMArena]
Vodafone nabbing Sony Ericsson X2 in November, Samsung Corby as 'Genio'
Vodafone UK never seems to have a shortage of exciting new models in the pipeline; right now they've got no fewer than eight biggies listed on their Coming Soon page, and while we wouldn't necessarily categorize every last one as "exciting," there are a couple doozies in there. Besides the HTC Tattoo that we mentioned earlier, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 is following on a month later in November holding down Windows Mobile 6.5 with its positively mind-bending customized home screen. Also notable is the Samsung "Genio," known globally as the recently-announced Corby -- Samsung intended it as an entry-level full-touch phone for the younger crowd, and to that end, Voda looks to be selling it on prepaid. It's gotta be a tough call deciding what to buy next for subscribers, but if you ask us, that's a positively awesome problem to have. [Via CoolSmartPhone]
HTC Tattoo earns FCC's love and respect
HTC's fourth Android phone (the Dream, Magic, and Hero all came before it, lest we forget) just got hooked up with some sweet RF emission approvals, meaning anyone carrying a Tattoo this side of the pond is now welcome -- nay, encouraged -- to fire off a few shots of Bluetooth, WiFi, and a little EDGE here and there. The documentation indicates a model name of "CLIC100," verifying the commonly-held belief that the phone was known as the "Click" internally prior to its introduction (not to be confused with CLIQ, of course), and the "100" code indicates that it's the first variant with quadband GSM / EDGE with HSDPA 900 / 2100. Whether there'll be another variant produced later with 850 / 1900 3G for North America remains to be seen -- but for now, at least you're welcome to plod along with 2.5G without fear of FCC reprisal.
Constellation F to be Vertu's first clamshell?
So far, Vertu's stuck to a tried-and-true candybar formula for hawking bejeweled, leather-bound handsets to the extraordinarily rich, but they may be shifting focus just a tad for their next release. mobil.cz seems to have scored a fuzzy little shot and a few specs of what's being billed as the "Constellation F" -- that's "F" as in "fold," which lines up with parent Nokia's off-kilter parlance -- with a 2.4-inch HVGA primary display, global GSM / EDGE and HSPA, 3 megapixel cam with dual LED flash, 8GB of storage, and in all likelihood, more ostrich skin finish options than any phone you've ever owned. The presence of HSPA 850 / 1900 combined with the clamshell form factor would seem to be a very material recognition on Vertu's part that it's selling a good percentage of its four- and five-figure handsets stateside -- flips are historically more popular there than in Europe -- and at $10,000 or more a pop, it shouldn't take too many to make the R&D expense worth their while.
LG BL40 Chocolate now shipping in the UK
LG's making good on its promise to ship the stunning BL40 in Europe this month, pairing up with Carphone Warehouse and its mobiles.co.uk division to offer the latest Chocolate through your choice of O2 or Orange. Pricing ranges from £19.99 all the way up to £129.99 ($33 to $211) depending on carrier and plan, but any way you roll, you're guaranteed to end with with one of the longest phones -- it's got a 21:9 display, after all -- that money can buy. [Via Cell Phone Reviews, thanks poison_ivy]
Samsung doesn't know when to stop, spits out Millionaire Pack II
We don't have a good sense for how many cultured old-money socialites have Omnia IIs in their Fendi handbags -- and we're not sure Samsung does either, but they're trying to move that number up a couple notches with a sequel to its original Omnia-themed Millionaire Pack of last year. Like the last one, the Millionaire Pack II is clearly designed to appeal either to wealthy tightwads or common folk who want to pretend like they've got some serious cash to throw around -- but either way, the €649 ($957) retail price is just a bit more than an unlocked Omnia II would run you straight up. For that price of entry, you get the phone, a leather case, a copy of some magazine for rich people, and that's about it -- so if you pop open the package expecting a solid gold phone covered in jewels, you're in for a nasty surprise.
Nokia N86 8MP finally available stateside
It's still showing as a preorder on Nokia USA's own site, but Amazon and the brick-and-mortar flagship stores in Chicago and New York are finally stocking the N86 8MP -- a little bit of a stretch for the "coming weeks" claim made at the North American version's launch announcement back in July. The beefy dual slider features a 2.6-inch QVGA OLED display, US 3G up to 3.6Mbps on the downlink, and WiFi -- but clearly the big draw is its 8 megapixel cam with Carl Zeiss optics around back accompanied by a dual LED flash. We would've liked this last month, but the good news is that it's launching for less than the $558 originally mentioned: Amazon's got it written up at $469, while the flagship stores are apparently hawking 'em for $30 more. [Via The Nokia Blog]
HTC Leo caught on video demonstrating its multitouch display
There's been plenty of rumor and speculation regarding the HTC Leo as of late, all serving to pique our interest. If talk of a Snapdragon CPU and an updated TouchFlow 3D UI are not, in fact, greatly exaggerated, it looks like we might have a killer phone on our hands here. And now, to fill in the picture a bit, the kids at PocketPT have helped us to a demonstration of the device's multitouch capabilities. Exciting, no? Make sure you check out the video below, which shows the Leo flipping through photo albums and zooming in / out of stills and video the with style and ease befitting a 1GHz processor. You'll be glad you did.[Via WMPoweruser.com]
India's 3G spectrum auction finally on for December, for real this time
After stone-cold blowing past its original planned start window in January, India has announced that its huge 3G spectrum auction will finally kick off on December 7 of this year. Interestingly, operators MTNL and BSNL have both already begun their respective 3G rollouts, but they're not getting out of paying fair market prices: when the auction concludes, they'll need to pay the equivalent of the high bidder's price to keep their own slices of the airwaves. After the WCDMA 3G auction wraps up, both EV-DO and WiMAX auctions kick off two days later, which means the world's second most populous country is about to get a whole heck of a lot more high-speed wireless data -- or the promise of it, anyhow. [Warning: PDF link]
Nokia Mural doesn't play nice with 3G, yanked from AT&T shelves
A North American Nokia with 3G that doesn't work on 3G, needs to be recalled and replaced... something about this story sounds familiar, doesn't it? Unlike the curious case of the 5800 XpressMusic, though, the Mural is a branded phone operated directly through AT&T -- so the fact that it was accidentally released without being able to connect to 3G is especially shady. It's a hardware problem which means a firmware update isn't going to magically make this particular quirk go away; replacement phones are expected next week, but if Mural owners prefer, they're welcome to come into an AT&T store and take a different device in its stead.
HTC Leo spotted in the wild, sports gargantuan 800 x 480 display
Those UI elements still a bit too small in Windows Mobile 6.5? It's no problem at all for the HTC Leo, which has been found at last in the wild. The monstrous handset houses what we've heard to be a 4.3-inch screen, and the hardware info screen shows it to be pumping an 800 x 480 resolution with a 1GHz Qualcomm 8250B Snapdragon processor -- excuse us while we allow a tingle to run leisurely up and down our spine. It dwarfs the Touch Pro2 (a largish handset in its own right) in head to head comparisons, and seems strikingly similar to earlier leaks -- even down to that dual LED flash and the Pro.Three moniker on the back. [Via WMPoweruser.com; thanks to everyone who sent this in] %Gallery-72745%
LG officially announces GW620, its first Android phone
Though it already broke cover at IFA out in Germany a few days ago, LG's just sealed the deal on its very first Android phone -- the GW620 landscape QWERTY slider. Interestingly, the "Etna" name seen at IFA is missing from the official press release, but otherwise, the 3-inch touchscreen mentioned lines up nicely with what we'd previously known. Camera specs aren't mentioned here, but as far as we know, it's going to clock in at 5 megapixels and the phone looks to be loaded with a very bone-stock Android build sans LG-specific enhancements like an S-Class port. Interestingly, the GW620 flies in the face of LG's super-cozy relationship with Microsoft and its commitment to concentrate on WinMo in its smartphone line, but you can tell that the company's wording in the release is very carefully-chosen: the phone is geared at "making the smartphone experience more accessible for typical users" and "young professionals who demand a full QWERTY keypad," which we guess makes WinMo a more business-savvy platform in LG's eyes. We think we're comfortable with that characterization -- for now, anyway. Look for the GW620 to start showing up in "select European markets" in the fourth quarter of the year.
Motorola CLIQ: first hands-on impressions
The wait's killing us for a proper hands-on with this thing, but we just had a chance to very briefly touch -- yes, touch -- the CLIQ as we wandered the show (and ran into tnkgrl in the process). Here's what we can tell you: Despite the MSM7201a core, the UI is definitely faster than any factory ROM we've used before on any Android device. A good test of this is to quickly swipe open the app drawer -- the action's smooth on the CLIQ, whereas most Magic ROMs would stutter. The screen is glass capacitive, and it feels that way. There's no "give" like you've got on a G1 or Magic, for example. Expanding on the glass screen, the device feels absolutely fantastic overall. Through Motorola's thick and thin, you've got to admit that the company has a reputation for building ridiculously rock-solid phones, and we're pleased to say that the trend is continuing with the CLIQ. Pictures don't do it justice -- the white model looks particularly cheap at a glance -- but in the hand, it feels like it's fashioned from a solid block of metal. The camera button has a focus detent, which makes it a heck of a lot easier to properly harness the power of your 5 megapixel autofocus optics. The jury's still out on photo quality, but it seems promising and focusing is relatively quick (though our disappointment in QVGA 24fps video still runs pretty deep). This probably blew Google's mind, but MOTOBLUR has five home screen panels along with a small indicator similar to the iPhone's to show you which one you're currently on. Who knew that someone might want more than three? [Yes, we know HTC's bringing additional panels to the table in Sense as well -- thing is, stock Android doesn't, which a majority of Android phones in circulation still run. It'd be nice to see Google take something like this into the trunk in Donut or Eclair. -Ed.] The keyboard feels great. Truly stellar, actually -- and we don't think there's much room for complaints about layout, unless you're really into the dedicated horizontal number row. We'll have more thoughts this evening once we've spent more quality time... you know, "clicking" with the CLIQ. Sorry. Update: More screenshots of CLIQ and MOTOBLUR UI, including the back panel designs and some comparison shots. Interesting to note that the keyboard aspect of the device is just slightly thinner than the iPhone 3GS. Update 2: Now with more video!
Video: Motorola CLIQ gets demoed in detail
CLIQs are pretty hard to come by in the wake of Motorola's big announcement today, but we flagged down an all-too-nice rep who showed off the phone's major talking points. Though it's got the same old Qualcomm MSM7201a beating in its chest that we've found in countless other Android and WinMo phones -- not anything thoroughly modern like Snapdragon -- we're feeling cautiously optimistic that MOTOBLUR is snappier in day-to-day use than HTC's competing Sense. The built-in widgets Motorola is supplying look top-notch with a ton of spit and polish (seemingly without sacrificing speed or usability), so all told, we think Moto's been really cranking this year baking this platform to a golden crisp. Follow the break for the epic demo, and pay special attention to the white model when the rep pulls it out -- the back was supposed to be stylized Morse code that reads "I love Friday nights," but apparently they ran out of space, so it's now just random dots on a cover. At least it still looks cool, though, and that's the important thing.
Motorola CLIQ runs Android, headed to T-Mobile
digg_url ='http://digg.com/gadgets/Motorola_Click_runs_Android_headed_to_T_Mobile'; Motorola just announced its first Android handset, the CLIQ, which is headed to T-Mobile by the fourth quarter, or in time for the holidays. As you'd expect, it runs the new MOTOBLUR Android skin, and Moto's calling it "the first phone with social skills" to highlight the social networking integration. It'll come in two colors, Winter White and Titanium, and have a 3.1-inch 320 x 480 screen, 3G, WiFi, and a five megapixel camera that'll also shoots 24fps video. Internationally, the CLIQ will be known as the DEXT, and it'll be on Orange, Telefonica, and America Movil. It will also be far less ugly than we all expected from those Morisson leaks. %Gallery-72460%
Samsung announces 3G-capable t659 for T-Mobile
It wasn't long ago that a 3G phone announcement on T-Mobile USA was a groundbreaking event, but we're happy to see that it's slowly fading into normalcy -- that takes some of the adrenaline-fueled excitement out of the launches, of course, but if that means we're getting blanketed with AWS HSPA, that's a tradeoff we'll gladly take. The t659 is a fairly typical (for Samsung, anyway) slider with a 2 megapixel cam, Bluetooth, microSD support up to 16GB, AGPS, an integrated RSS reader, and that aforementioned HSDPA -- realistically more speed than the average t659 user will ever need, assuming they're within the bounds of T-Mobile's limited 3G footprint. Grab it now for a shade under $70 on contract after rebate and discount.
Nokia 5230 gets FCC approval, US 3G doesn't
The Nokia 5230's as good a reason as any to dip your toe in the S60 5th Edition waters without breaking the bank (and without sacrificing 3G altogether like you'd have to with the 5530), so if you're planning on picking one up, you may as well start learning everything you need to know before it hits your doorstep -- and the fastest way to do that right now is going to be to pay a quick visit to the FCC's vast data warehouse where the full documentation has just gone live. This particular version of the phone rocks 900 / 2100 only as far as WCDMA goes, meaning North Americans are going to be completely 3G-free -- but at any rate, the manual's a good read. The photography isn't the glossiest we've ever seen, but then again, we've never seen an FCC lab put a lot of effort into it -- just not their bag, we guess.
Samsung's gilded W910 'VVIP' has everything but the Armani logo
Phones like the W910 serve as a stark reminder that design house Giorgio Armani really isn't doing much (if any) actual work in its ongoing partnership with Sammy; just compare it to the W820, for example. Both phones have golden shells, push the boundaries of understated tastefulness, and have little in the way of unique industrial design -- yet only the W820 bears the Armani name. The W910 instead goes by the "VVIP" moniker for release on Korean carrier SKT, featuring a 2.6-inch WQVGA AMOLED primary display, HSDPA, and an FM radio for something in the range of 500,000 won (about $406). Hey Armani, if you're listening: trust us, checker patterns are the next big thing, so you might want to get in on this.
HTC Tattoo (aka, Click) brings Android, Sense UI to all
This one sure took awhile but the oft leaked HTC Click has been renamed and kicked out the door as the Tattoo. While HTC is light on specs with the press release, we know it has a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera, 3.5-mm headset jack, and microSD expansion. And besides being small and compact, the Tattoo can be personalized with owner-designed covers -- hence the name. The HTC Tattoo lands in Europe early October before hitting select global markets in the months to follow. Update: And... out pop the specs: 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7225 processor, 512MB/256MB ROM/RAM, 106 x 55.2 x 14-mm / 113 grams, 2.8-inch touchscreen LCD pushing 240x320 QVGA pixels, 900/2100MHz HSPA/UMTS and quad-band GSM/EDGE, internal GPS, 802.11b/g WiFi, digital compass, accelerometer, and Bluetooth 2.0. Not bad for a mass-market device.%Gallery-72133%
Nokia's RD-3 modem boldly boasts LTE, and no, you can't have one
Nokia makes out its just-announced RD-3 data modem to be the dream of every road warrior: global GSM / EDGE, global HSPA, global LTE -- a twenty-plus year heritage of technologies in the GSM family tree compressed into a single device, powerful enough to get you service from a dusty GPRS cell site in some of the world's harshest landscapes or Verizon's LTE trials in Boston and Seattle just the same. The only problem is that you can't have it. The RD-3 is instead being reserved for carriers and infrastructure firms building out LTE networks around the globe as they march toward commercial availability in 2010, at which point Nokia (and others) will presumably have newer, better modems available for us lay folk to enjoy. In the meanwhile, though, it's alright: go ahead and drool.
