Verizon Holiday Handset Releases Already Leaked? -- Still Unconfirmed

According to the latest unconfirmed news, this leak just spilled all of Verizon's devices for this year's holiday season. Gizmodo has all of the facts below. Colour me excited - even though I don't live in the US. It'll be good to see the Droid / Tao / Sholes, the Storm 2, the HTC Imagio, the Omnia II, and the Hero / Desire before the holidays.

• RIM Curve 2, before Black Friday
• RIM Storm 2, before Black Friday
• HTC Imagio, on October 20
• Samsung Saga 2, early November
• Samsung Omnia 2, early November
• Pantech TXT8030 Razzle, early October
• Casio C731 Rock, mid-November
• Casio C741 Brigade, late October
• Motorola V860 Barrage, "soon" (it's already available online in Verizon)
• LG VX8575 Chocolate Touch, first or second week of November

On the Android front:
• HTC Desire, which will be available before Black Friday. Note: This may be the Verizon Android phone sighted today, though Boy Genius says that might be called the Hero.

• Motorola Tao or Droid (possibly the phone currently codenamed Sholes?) will also be available before Black Friday.

[Gizmodo]

Microsoft Announces Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm Beta Starting This Month on the Xbox 360

Microsoft has just mentioned that their integration of Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm will start later this month. The beta will be starting this month, but I don't think they've mentioned if it will be an open beta or not. Remember that when it gets officially released, silver members will have a free trial and gold members will have the integration for free.

[Kotaku]

GSM Palm Pre Headed For O2 Germany, Hands-On Photo

We just saw the GSM Palm Pixi this morning and now we're seeing the GSM Palm Pre for O2 Germany in the wild, which is pretty cool. There's nothing else to say here because you should know all about the Palm Pre by now. It should be hitting O2 in a couple of weeks.

[Engadget Mobile]

Sony TRIMASTER LED-Backlit HDTV Delivers Quad-HD, Murders Bank Account

In case you don't want to wait until December for Toshiba's CELL REGZA LCD HDTV, Sony has released something you may want - if you have the money. On November 1st, Sony will be releasing the TRIMASTER HDTV that will deliver 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, which somehow equates to quad-HD. This HDTV has a 56-inch LED-backlit display and will cost you a whopping $76,583 USD). You willing to sacrifice a year's salary?

[Engadget]

LG Rumor 2 Now Available on Virgin Mobile USA

It looks like Virgin Mobile USA has just released the LG Rumor 2. It's now available for $129.99 USD off-contract. If you're not familiar with this handset, it has: a 2-inch display, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth / GPS support, a microSD card slot, a 1.3MP camera, 3G connectivity, and Facebook / MySpace integration. Check it out on their official website here.

[Slash Gear]

Zotac Reveals Nettop With Dual-Core Atom CPU and Nvidia Ion, Part of MAG Lineup

Zotac has just unveiled a new nettop PC as a part of their MAG line-up. This nettop will feature: an Intel Single-Core Atom 230 / Intel Dual-Core Atom 330 CPU, Nvidia Ion graphics, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, and a 160GB HDD. I believe it's now available with Windows XP / Vista / Linux OS options. Like most of the nettops that are being released nowadays, you'll be able to clamp this on the back of your LCD desktop monitor.

[Tech Radar]

Lenovo IdeaPad U150 Notebook Spotted With Dual-Core ULV CPU

A new Lenovo Ideapad has just been spotted, the U150. This notebook has: an 11.6-inch display, an Intel Core 2 Duo ULV CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB HDD, and integrated Intel GMA X4500 graphics. According to the reports, this notebook is just 3 pounds light and is just 0.5-inches thin. It'll launch later this year, likely with Windows 7 on-board.

[Liliputing]

Verizon Launching Two Android Handsets With Google Voice; Eric Schmidt Holding an HTC Hero? Sholes Spotted Too?

This morning, Google and Verizon held a joint press conference in order to tell us that Verizon will be launching two "game-changing" Android handsets that will have Google Voice pre-installed. Now this picture above is sparking the rumours. The handset Eric Schmidt is holding on the left side appears to be a Verizon-branded HTC Hero - according to Engadget. The handset on the right, being held by the other guy appears to be the Motorola Droid / Tao / Sholes - but it's not confirmed at the time. Clearly, we can't see the front of the handset on the right, but they could both be the same handset.

Maybe one of these handsets will actually be the Android-based HTC Desire that we've been hearing about for a while now.

Update: According to Boy Genius, the HTC Hero on the right could get launched as early as next month (November).

Update: Phandroid got a better photo of the handsets, so I swapped the picture above for something, clearly, better. Below is a close-up of both phones. It looks like a modified HTC Hero and the Motorola Droid / Tao / Sholes to me.

Verizon-Bound Sholes and HTC Hero Spotted?: Engadget Mobile
Verizon Launching Two Android-Based Handsets With Google Voice: Engadget

HTC HD2 Now Official! Has WinMo 6.5, Sense UI and Digital Compass; Available For Pre-Orders In UK, Coming To USA In Q1 2010

HTC made the HD2 / Leo officially official today. To make things a bit better, Clove UK already have the handset up for quite expensive pre-orders. You can check out the listing on Clove UK here for £475 ($757 USD) and £546.25 pounds ($870 USD) including VAT. To make things a bit worse, this handset will not be coming to the USA, so it probably won't be headed to Canada either. Engadget Mobile already has their review up for this handset, so check it out here. To answer your questions, yes, this handset has a digital compass. Yes, this handset will be running on WinMo 6.5. Yes, this handset will have HTC's Sense UI - found on the HTC Hero. Enjoy the video below.

Update: So much for it not coming to the US. According to Engadget, they've just got the word that the HD2 will be coming to the US of A in Q1 2010. By then, the XPERIA X3 will be available and I'm hoping on that wagon. Sorry.

Update: In case you're interested, Expansys also has this available on pre-order for £478.25 ($762 USD) and £549.99 ($876 USD) including VAT. Check out the listing here.

Update on October 19th: It looks like Clove UK has just slashed the price of their HTC HD2 listing. It's now available on their website here for £504.85 ($827 USD).



HTC HD2 Not Coming to US: Gizmodo
Up For Pre-Orders On Clove UK: WMPowerUSer
HTC HD2 Review and Video: Engadget Mobile

HTC Canada Website Now Has Listing For the Hero, Launching On Telus Next Month Too?

Although there are no details on the official website, the Canadian HTC website (here) now has a listing for the Android-based HTC Hero. We know that this handset will likely be launching on Telus when they get their HSPA network up and running. Telus - and Bell - are looking like they are going to have some mighty fine devices when their new HSPA network launches.

Update on October 29th: We've already got confirmation that Telus will be launching the HTC Hero. The website has also been updated, so check out my latest post here.

[Mobile Syrup]

Box Photo Of 250GB PS3 Slim Tekken 6 Bundle Spotted

Next Gamer has just got the first photo of the Tekken 6 250GB PS3 Slim bundle box. There's not much to say here, except for the photo. The pricing details haven't been made official yet, but they're guessing a 349 Euros ($515 USD) price tag.

[vg247]

Samsung Intrepid Runs WinMo 6.5 With Full QWERTY and 2.5-Inch Touchscreen

With all of the news about WinMo 6.5 - and how most of the reviews are saying it's not much different than WinMo 6.1 - Samsung has just unveiled their latest smartphone, the Intrepid. Of course, it'll have WinMo 6.5 pre-installed and it actually has a 2.5-inch resistive touchscreen display with a 320 x 240 resolution. This means that they've beaten RIM to the punch, since they're rumoured to be planning a touchscreen Bold in the future.

Anyways, the Samsung Intrepid has: a 3.2MP camera, EV-DO Rev. A connectivity, WiFi / Bluetooth / GPS support, a microSD card slot, Facebook / Twitter / Flickr integration, and Flash Lite support on the browser which is Internet Explorer Mobile.

Sprint will be launching this smartphone on October 11th for $149.99 USD after rebates on a 2-year contract.

[Phone Arena, Slash Gear]

Old Toshiba TG01's Getting Free WinMo 6.5 Upgrades; New Ones Have It Pre-Installed

Toshiba has finally gone out and officially mentioned that their TG01 will have WinMo 6.5 pre-installed from now on. They've also mentioned that if you have a TG01 with WinMo 6.1 pre-installed then you'll be able to scoop up the free upgrade on their website here. However, the free upgrades - I believe - are not live right now. We should see it available very soon.

[Slash Gear]

It's Official: Bell and Telus Announce HSPA Network and iPhone 3G / 3GS For Canada This November

Well, we've already got the official word from Bell themselves. They have just announced that they are launching their HSPA network next month (November) and they'll be launching the iPhone 3G and 3GS to accomodate the launch. The pricing details are below, but exactly when they will be launching their network is up to them. Check out what Bell had to say here.

Update: Telus has also announced and confirmed that they will be launching the iPhone 3G and 3GS as well. Check out what Telus had to say here. I believe they'll be launching it for the same price, but it's not confirmed right now.

iPhone 3GS 16 GB: $199.00 on a 3-year contract
iPhone 3GS 32 GB: $299.00 on a 3-year contract
iPhone 3G 8 GB: $99.00 on a 3-year contract
iPhone 3G 16GB: $149.00 on a 3-year contract

[Mobile Syrup]

Engadget and Gizmodo Review Windows Mobile 6.5

So, WinMo 6.5 is now officially available and Engadget and Gizmodo already have their reviews of the semi-new OS from Microsoft. They mentioned that there were improvements, but it's basically the same old WinMo 6.1 with some make-up. I'm sure Internet Explorer Mobile still needs work, so check out Engadget's review here and Gizmodo's here. On a side note, look at the picture above which clearly shows a PlayStation controller in the "Games" section, instead on an Xbox one - even Microsoft's a fan of the PS3.

[Engadget, Gizmodo]

Sony Shows Off Flexible OLED Notebook, An E-Book Reader and a Walkman Bracelet

Sony has unveiled this concept before, but just looking at it is simply amazing and could be a look into the future. Using a 0.2mm thin flexible OLED display they created what you see above. The good news was that some of their prototypes were actually displaying images behind glass, of course. Sony also showed off a e-book reader that was more of an MID and a Walkman bracelet, which Engadget thought was pretty neat.

[Engadget]

Kohjinsha Reveal Dual-Screen Netbook Prototype With Video

Looks like gScreen will have some competition from Kohjinsha if their latest prototype is any sign. What you see above is their prototype of what you can't really call a netbook. This notebook will feature: dual 10.1-inch displays, an AMD Athlon New MV-40 1.6GHz CPU, up to 4GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, a TV tuner, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR support, a fingerprint scanner, and Windows 7 Home Premium. We haven't got any word if they plan to launch this product, so you're just going to have to fantasize by looking at the picture above.

[Netbooked, Engadget]

GSM Palm Pixi Spotted With Only 4GB of Internal Storage and No MicroSD Slot

It looks like the GSM model of the Palm Pixi has just been spotted in Vietnam. Surprisingly enough, this GSM model only has 4GB of internal storage, unlike the CDMA model that has 8GB of internal storage. To make matters worse, it looks like the GSM model doesn't have a microSD card slot on-board, which doesn't really make sense. We're hearing that this handset could be a prototype, so maybe it'll have 8GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot when it becomes a finalized product because it doesn't make sense. It's still not official if this handset will be released - but the CDMA will hit us before the holidays.

[Slash Gear]

HTC Imagio Now Listed On Verizon's Website For $199 On Contract

It looks Verizon has already put up their listing for the HTC Imagio with WinMo 6.5 pre-installed. This handset will clearly be available for $199.99 on 2-year contract, but we already knew that. Check out the listing here.

[Engadget Mobile]

AT&T HTC Tilt 2 Launching On October 8th?

According to the latest news that Boy Genius has scooped up, AT&T will be releasing the HTC Tilt 2 aka Touch Pro 2 on October 8 (with WinMo 6.5 pre-installed, hence the "Windows Phone"), which is just two days away. I don't know where they got this information from, but they said they scooped it up on an internal document dated October 2nd - see above. I'll update this post later today if more news about it pops up. Who's excited for the WinMo 6.5 launch today? I know I am, I just wish Microsoft would upgrade their software to support more than 65K colours.

[Boy Genius]