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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

There’s no telling what sort of crazy behind-the-scenes negotiations had to take place in order for our good friend Boy Genius to get his hands on the very first retail T-Mobile-branded BlackBerry 8220 we’ve seen in the wild — and let’s be honest, the whole unboxing takes on a sexier tone when there’s an element of intrigue to it, doesn’t it? Mr. Genius flatly pans the thing for having a pair of awful screens and a prototype feel (despite the fact that he’s got a final production unit), so odds are the Bold owners out there aren’t going to be throwing fits of jealousy any time soon. To top it off, the contents of the box are about as exciting as flannel underwear (we guess it’s cool that RIM saw fit to throw in a pair of headphones), so don’t expect too much. At least it’ll be available in a few colors, right?

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Source: Chris Ziegler

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Filed under: Cellphones

For those of you who firmly believe that Verizon plus Motorola plus touchscreen equals pure, unadulterated bliss, heads up: we have a bit of information that might be of interest to you. phoneArena has scored a screen shot of what appears to be some promotional material for Moto’s upcoming MING-esque doohickey, the Krave ZN4 — and it looks like we’ll be shelling out about $150 on a two-year contract for the honor of carrying one in our knockoff Louis Vuitton backpacks. Not a bad price for a phone clearly designed to rest toward the upper end of Verizon’s non-smartphone lineup, we suppose, and we’ll admit that it’s looking better in this dolled-up promo shot than it was last time we saw it. Separately, they’ve landed pricing for the Moto VU204, a basic flip that’s probably not going to turn as many heads as the Krave; that one is going to go out the door for $29, and you’ll get three free with the purchase of the first for the ultimate four-pack of mediocrity. We don’t have a solid line on when these are coming to market, but the Krave’s still a possibility for this month.

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Source: Chris Ziegler

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Filed under: Cellphones

Moving just a tad downmarket from the mighty morphin’ E8, Moto has rolled out three new members of its music-centric ROKR series today: the EM25 slider, EM28 flip, and EM30 candybar. The EM30 probably feels the most familiar, aping the E8’s design language but trashing the touch-sensitive wheel for a plain ol’ d-pad. It does, however, carry over the E8’s so-called ModeShift morphing keypad and features an FM radio with RDS, 3.5mm headphone jack, and Windows Media compatibility. The EM28 brings the same style to a clamshell, while the EM25 reps the slider form factor. We’re seeing some shots of a T-Mobile branded EM30 in here, too, so it looks like the carrier wants something to slot in right below the E8 in its Moto lineup — a wise move, considering the E8’s considerable expense. Look for the EM30 to launch first in Taiwan (sorry, T-Mob) followed by other markets later in the quarter, while the EM25 and EM28 should launch on a more global scale in the coming weeks.

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Source: Chris Ziegler

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Filed under: Cellphones

This is a phone we’ve seen in the wild on a couple occasions, but we had one detail dead wrong: the model number. It turns out that Sony Ericsson’s newest Z series flip is actually the Z770, not the Z660 we’d heard before. The company is billing the Z770 as a phone fit for people who need access to the internet (web and email, specifically) but aren’t necessarily interested in stepping up to a full-fledged smartphone, featuring “easy” email setup, zoom / pan features in the web browser along with an actual mouse pointer (anyone familiar with S60’s browser will get the idea here), and integrated support for Exchange ActiveSync. The GSM / EDGE 900 / 1800 / 1900, HSDPA 2100 handset will hit shelves in the second quarter in Vogue Red, Graphite Black, and Exquisite Gold.

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Source: Chris Ziegler

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Filed under: Cellphones, CES

Phone Scoop appears to have caught LG a little unprepared with a pair of handsets that haven’t been officially outed, and as far as we can tell, aren’t on the docket to be announced this week at CES. First up, the AX565 clamshell is allegedly Alltel-bound (and we’d tend to agree from the silkscreened label on the front and all) and features an unusual square touchpad for external music control, stereo Bluetooth, microSD expansion, and a 1.3 megapixel camera. Now, onto the moneymaker: the mighty Vu, a Prada-esque handset that should usher in AT&T’s MediaFLO age when it gets around to launching in the next few months. We’ll keep you posted if we get any more intel on either of these suckers.

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Source: Chris Ziegler

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Filed under: Cellphones, CES

Sony Ericsson appears to have taken a page clear out of Nokia’s book with the Z555, a fashionable flip (subject to personal opinions, of course) that looks like a hinged homage to Espoo’s Prism series. The innards aren’t much to talk about — the GSM comes in one of two triband flavors depending on your region, and there’s nary a hint of 3G to be found — but the draw here is something Sony Ericsson’s calling Gesutre Control, which allows you to control a handful of phone functions (ringtone mute and alarm snooze are specifically called out) by waving your hand in close proximity to the handset. You also get a hidden external OLED display, 1.3 megapixel cam, stereo Bluetooth, and pretty much all the colorful rectangles you can handle. Look for both regional versions of the phone to launch by the end of this quarter.

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Source: Chris Ziegler

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Filed under: Cellphones

Take a moment to welcome the new Nokia 6555. This 3G (WCDMA of unspecified band) clamshell goes quadband GSM with microSD expansion (30MB on-board) and 240 x 320 QVGA display touting 16 million colors. If thin is your thing and 3G Nokia your game then this is about as good as it gets. Available next month for about €200 pre-tax and pre-subsidy. Unfortunately, Nokia doesn’t say where, but its forward-facing profile certainly matches up nicely with Nokia’s FCC approved RM-276 handset operating in the 850 and 1900MHz bands (read: AT&T). Check Engadget Mobile for the full gallery.

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Source: Thomas Ricker

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Filed under: Cellphones

Helio today has announced the Fin, the first flip phone in the carrier’s lineup. For an MVNO making its name with unique powerhouses like the Ocean, the Fin seems downright ordinary — but that’s not quite the case. For one thing, the Fin bests its A717 and m610 lookalikes (all three of which are manufactured by Samsung, coincidentally) in the thickness game, coming in at a svelte 11.4 millimeters to take the crown as the thinnest flip launched in the US. The Fin also totes a rather potent 3 megapixel sensor in its cam, 100MB of internal storage with microSD expansion up to 4GB, and stereo Bluetooth support. As with all of Helio’s more recently launched devices, the Fin includes GPS on board; concurrently with the phone’s release, Helio is announcing Garmin Mobile navigation for the Fin and the Ocean — available for $2.99 per day — for those times when the integrated Google Maps-based nav just doesn’t cut it. Grab Fin starting today for $175.

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Source: Chris Ziegler

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