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Alltel releases the HTC Touch Pro


Alright T-Mobile, seriously, how can you charge $299.99 for a Wing on contract with a straight face (do carriers have faces?) while every single one of your competitors is rocking a device that's essentially two generations fresher for the same price? Alltel becomes the latest to add HTC's quintessential WinMo QWERTY smartphone to its stable, charging $279.99 for the privilege of adding a Touch Pro to your account on contract after $100 rebate. From the looks of things, it's basically Sprint's version with a tweaked version of the TouchFLO 3D UI that's either prettier or uglier than the stock build, depending on your point of view. Let's be honest, though: doesn't everything look good in VGA resolution?

[Thanks, theups]

Nokia N96 Bruce Lee Edition: the only thing tougher than Chuck Norris


OMG OMG OMG... sorry, but our inner japanese school-girl was just unleashed with the arrival of the Nokia N96 Bruce Lee Edition. If Nokia had any sense, they'd expand the action-doll bundle to the world beyond Hong Kong. Even for 8,788 Chinese Yuan (about $1,286) we're seriously tempted. Watch Bruce clean up at ping pong in the Nokia video posted after the break -- no, really.

[Via Unwired View, Thanks Robin oL]

Mobispine's iPhone MMS application... for the entire universe?

We heard yesterday that Telia customers might be getting an MMS app for their iPhones, and that it was being developed by the carrier themselves, with plans to launch in the next two months. Well, today we've gotten word that Mobispine is likely the developer of said application, and that they have plans to offer it to carriers all over planet Earth. Mobispine says that the app will be branded to each particular operator, and distributed via Apple's App Store, but we don't know when all of this is going to go down. Now we'd just like to meet the caveman owner of the iPhone pictured above who needed to be told (on November 15th!) that "Obama will be our next president."

[Thanks, Mike]

BlackBerry Storm review on Engadget!


The most anticipated BlackBerry of the year (sorry, Bold) is just a day away from release on Verizon -- and naturally, we've got your full rundown ready to go. Head on over to Engadget to see our review of the Storm!

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic video review is probably longer than you think


We've seen a review of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, and several videos of the device in action. What we haven't seen, however, is a video review... until now. Over at MobileBurn they've posted a series of four review videos of the touchscreen handset, and though it starts out a bit shaky -- the stylus is "not very good" and the build doesn't feel very "solid" -- the reviewer changes his tune by the end of the opus, and his opinion seems like it's evolved to a resounding "not bad." Hit the read link, grab a bucket of popcorn and consider yourself in for the night if you want to watch the full review.

Nokia E71 finally coming to AT&T as E71x


We've been hearing for ages that there was a super-special version of the E71 with an AT&T ROM floating around somewhere in Nokia's skunkworks, but solid evidence of its existence has been scarce to say the least; some said it was canceled, some said it was just taking its sweet time going through the testing process, and some put a hand over our mouth and told us never to speak "AT&T" and "E71" in the same sentence again lest an agent overhear us. New in-the-wild shots give us -- and the North American S60-loving public -- newfound hope that the phone's gonna actually happen, but it'll emerge as the "E71x." That's a new suffix for Nokia, so we really have no idea what it might mean -- more internal memory would be cool, but we're not really counting on it. Word is that it'll be available for something in the $150 range when it finally hits, so if the 6650 isn't your cup o' tea, hang tight. (And by the way, guys, we're totally digging the black.)

LG's fashionable Prada II (and watch) gets shown to the camera


Well, that didn't take long. Merely hours after LG's Prada II was treated to a dedicated microsite, along comes the hands-on photographs we've been expecting. CNET's UK branch was able to wrangle one in, and as predicted, the mobile didn't hesitate to pose for a few nice snapshots. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that it certainly put on a little heft since the first go 'round, but the slight downturn in attractivity is more than compensated by the inclusion of a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Have a peek at the read link for more hands-on goodness, including a look at the matching Bluetooth wristwatch.

[Thanks, T.I.]

Keepin' it real fake, part CLXVIII: Motorola Aura clone is everything we ever wanted in a knockoff


If there was ever a phone worth cutting down to size with a completely shoddy but not actually completely unattractive fake edition, it's the Motorola Aura. What we have here is the Wingtech D20, which shares the swivel form factor of the Aura, mocks the round LCD with a perfectly boring square one in a round hole, and boasts a surprisingly weak complement of features, even for a "fake" phone. Oh how you suffer for fashion, Motorola.

[Thanks, Chris]

Nokia says "yes" to TD-SCDMA, has S60 phone in the works

By all accounts, China will eventually end up with LTE along with the rest of the world -- thank goodness -- but in the meantime, there's a hodgepodge of 3G techs brewing in the Far East including a healthy dose of the country's homegrown TD-SCDMA "standard." Not to worry though, denizens of the world's most populous country; turns out you won't be stuck with domestic handsets and the occasional Samsung or Motorola to get your high-speed fill. Nokia has mentioned at Macau's Mobile Asia Congress this week that it has a strong commitment to TD-SCDMA (and with a market that big, it's pretty hard to ignore) -- but what's more, they're hard at work on an S60-based smartphone for TD-SCDMA that will see launch by the end of 2009. With that kind of talk, the Sprints, Verizons, Bells, and Teluses of the world have to be screaming bloody murder that they can't bother to do the same for good, old-fashioned, well-established CDMA -- but then again, the North American market is still a little bit of a mystery to Nokia, isn't it?

Cartier-adorned Motorola A1600 makes no apologies


By its very nature, the MING series has never been the most understated lineup of phones money could buy -- but if the trick transparent cover isn't enough to turn some heads your way on your next trip to Taiwan, can we recommend this instead? It seems Moto has teamed up with Cartier in some capacity here to trick out the A1600 with enough gold and fake (well, hopefully fake) croc skin to make all but the most unabashedly flashy buyers cringe. At $28,000 TWD (about $867), it's no Vertu -- so it's kinda ironic that they've somehow managed to outdo all but the most ridiculous Vertus on the tacky luxury meter, isn't it?

[Thanks, TheLostSwede]

Update: Seems the A1600 itself might simply be a Luxury Edition in the same vein as the V8 -- Cartier comes into play with the bundled business card holder. Thanks, ZTE!

Motorola VE240 officially coming to Cricket, MetroPCS


As we'd heard back in August, the scrappy little VE240 candybar from Moto is destined for a pair of regionals -- Cricket and MetroPCS. It's got stereo Bluetooth, MP3 support, expandable memory up to 4GB, and that's about it; nothing to get terribly excited about, but the light spec sheet should keep things affordable. It's available now in Cricket's Tulsa market with wider availability coming to both carriers in the next few weeks.

Verizon's Samsung Omnia (that's Esperanto for "blur") in the wild


What are you talking about? The picture's clear as a bell -- you really need to get your eyes checked, friend. Naw, we're just messin' with you -- we know this is some of the finest artwork Mr. Blurrycam has to offer -- but it's the first time we've seen the Verizon-branded Omnia in the wilds (notice the VZ Navigator and Visual Voice Mail icons on the screen) which makes it a notable find in our books. Our tipster tells us he's been told to expect the 5-megapixel, 8-gigabyte package in stores before the year's out, which makes that Incite look thoroughly less interesting, doesn't it?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

LG launches Prada II teaser site, matching Bluetooth watch


Not that it wasn't official already or anything, but nothing demonstrates dedication to a product like an exclusive home on the web. Yep, LG has just launched a standalone microsite for the altogether sexy Prada II, and while you already know about the specs -- HSDPA, WiFi, 5-megapixel camera, 3-inch 400 x 240 pixel capacitive multi-touch display and quad-band GSM connectivity -- you probably weren't aware of the matching Prada Link Bluetooth watch. As you'd expect, the timepiece syncs with your Prada II and shows your incoming calls / texts, and we'll go out on a limb and presume that it tells time, too. Sadly, the tidbits we're most interested in (a release date and pricing) aren't clearly available on the site, but we'll be refreshing like madmen hoping for that to change.

[Via UnwiredView]

MMS-capabilities coming soon to a Swedish iPhone?

The oft-bemoaned lack of certain, um... capabilities of the the iPhone is forcing individual companies to take desperate measures, it seems. It's not entirely clear, but MacWorld says it's confirmed with Telia that the Swedish-Finnish carrier's developing an MMS-enabling app for the iPhone. MacWorld says the app will hit the market in the next two months, which is great news for everyone in Sweden. If you live anywhere else in the world, however, you'll just have to continue on, rueing the day you ever encountered Apple's MMS-spurning, copy and paste-hating handset.

Update: Though the source is Swedish, it's entirely reasonable to believe that this'll spread across all of Telia's markets (and the world?). Thanks, commenters!

[Thanks, Martin]

Telus offers HTC Touch Pro for $299.99 on a 3-year contract

We knew it was coming, and the day Canadian WinMo users have been dying to see arrive has, well, arrived. Telus Mobility has at long last decided to offer HTC's Touch Pro for those with the requisite coin, and while it's just the same as every other CDMA Touch Pro in terms of features, you'll be locked in for a solid three years (or eternity, same difference) if you're lusting after the $299.99 price tag. For those unwilling to sign the dotted line on such an agreement, you can pay $549.99, $599.99 or $649.99 on a 2-, 1- and 0-year plan, respectively.

[Via MobileSyrup]




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