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Corning says flexible Willow displays are three years out, simpler uses still expected this year
There's no question that Corning has had a big impact on mobile devices in recent years with its Gorilla Glass, and it's hoping for similar success in the years ahead with its new Willow Glass technology. It looks like there's still a bit of a wait in store before we'll see products that fully take advantage of the glass's bendy properties, though. Speaking with Bloomberg, Corning president James Clappin says that products with flexible displays are likely still three years out, adding that it's now busy making "a lot of effort" to teach what it describes as "very big name" companies how to fully use the product. Clappin did reiterate the company's earlier that we will see some products using Willow Glass as early as this year, although those will likely take the form of simpler products; he offered a flexible barrier for solar panels and a thin film behind touch panels as some examples.
HTC Snap snapped with larger battery, Sprint insignia, June 7th launch date?
Looks like HTC's giving Sprint its own version of the Snap, albeit with some slight modifications compared to the T-Mobile variant. According to the snapshots from PPCGeeks, all specs are pretty much identical except for a 1500mAH battery in place of the 800mAH, a revived Inner Circle, and a potentially nonexistent WiFi component. It also looks like the middle unit has been changed to a more traditional d-pad configuration. The forum poster who uploaded the pics claims it'll launch for a hair under $150 on June 7th, which would be rather odd should another high-profile release date rumor pan out. [Via WMPoweruser]
HTC Cedar portrait-style WinMo smartphone for CDMA hits FCC
Look out, Palm -- you've got what's apt to be a formidable opponent creeping right up on your next big thing. A frustratingly vague FCC filing has just appeared, which details (if you can even call it that) an elusive new HTC CEDA200 smartphone that's apparently portrait-styled, Windows Mobile-powered and ready to rock on a (gasp!) CDMA network. The filing clearly asks the dear ole FCC to hold photos until July 30th, which lines right up with that Q2 launch date we've heard about for a so-called HTC Cedar (or Willow). Obviously, it's too early to tell just yet if this is that very phone, but either way, you can count on something good from HTC crossing the CDMA airwaves in the not-too-terribly-distant future.
Sprint's 2009 roadmap comes to light, packed with goodies
There aren't terribly many surprises in the latest roadmap docs leaked out of Sprint, but there are a couple -- and we finally have some target launch windows around a few of the more anticipates devices we've been expecting this year. Perhaps least surprisingly, the Palm P100 -- that's the Pre for you lay folk -- is still on track for the second quarter of the year, which could mean anything between April and June. Staying in the landscape QWERTY smartphone realm, we'll see the HTC Cedar (or Willow, depending on which slide you're looking at) and a new Samsung Ace -- creatively named the Ace II -- in the second and third quarters, respectively. The landscape HTC Rhodium will likely replace the Touch Pro in the third quarter, and the hotly (and we do mean hotly) anticipated BlackBerry Niagara will be hitting in the same three-month period.Things are getting interesting down in the dumbphone realm, too, with both the Instinct Mini and a true Instinct successor -- the Dash with an HVGA display -- in the pipe. The Sanyo 2700, dual-slide Samsung Cello, and the Samsung Chianti (which looks suspiciously like a Propel) will all follow the Rumor 2 down the text-centric path, and a handful of new ultra-basic devices will fill in the bottom of the range. For data, Sprint will be launching Novatel's totally awesome MiFi portable hotspot, which warms our hearts. What doesn't warm our hearts is the utter void of Android devices here -- but we can hold out hope, and as always, all of this is subject to change. Stay tuned![Via Boy Genius Report]
Pussy versus willow, the latest PSP ad
I hope you didn't get the wrong idea. Sony's latest ad continues to promote the PSP's unique capabilities in strange ways. In the same vein as the love-it-or-hate-it dustball commercials, these plants solemnly contemplate battling over PSP's wi-fi connection. Because as you know, PSP: it's like a lilypad with wi-fi.[Via IGN]
