Engadget Mobile Gallery

Verizon's Samsung U470 spotted in the wild

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 12th 2007 at 2:08AM

Didn't take too long, now did it? Just a couple days ago we were waxing philosophical over a totally fakeable shot of a supposed Samsung SCH-U470, a svelte swivelphone for Verizon's '08 lineup -- and now here we are with far more legit-looking assets. Naturally, someone with a steady Photoshop hand could fake these up just the same, but our confidence is growing that Big Red's actually planning on taking a stab at releasing this thing. New to these pics is some honest to goodness carrier branding atop the display and a slightly more Verizon-esque UI (for better or worse). Funny to think a phone looking this ready to be in our pocket is still a good four months -- minimum -- away from store shelves, isn't it?

Sprint's Q4 lineup: Rumor, Centro, Touch, and Pearl 8130

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 11th 2007 at 8:21AM

What started as a trickle of unofficially official shots from Sprint's Q4 pipeline has suddenly become a deluge. Check the LG Rumor, Touch (aka, Vogue), and Blackberry Pearl 8130 (above) all dressed up with Sprint logos and sales-goon positioning points for a Q4 launch. We already saw Palm's Centro, OQO Model 02, LG Rumor and Touch yucking it up in the wild this morning but this is the first time we've seen the 8130 in Sprint, not Verizon attire. The 8130 sports a GPS receiver but no WiFi like we saw in those RIM slides last month yet still packs all the rest of the EV-DO niceties you'd expect. The Touch is EV-DO revision A upgradeable like we heard while the LG Rumor does it's QWERTY thing for the non-Pro crowd. See for yourself in the gallery below.

Gallery: Sprint's Q4 lineup: Rumor, Centro, Touch, and Pearl 8130

[Thanks, Stephen]

More Palm Centro details leaked for Sprint

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 11th 2007 at 2:01AM

The cats at the Morning Paper claim to have a piece of marketing collateral which spills, or at least, reshuffles the beans on the Palm Centro for Sprint. EV-DO, check. Palm OS (Garnet), check. Touch-screen, check (obviously). Really, the only things we haven't seen before is the list of Sprint services it'll be packing: Sprint TV, On Demand, IM, Mobile Email, and Google maps in the slimmest ~~Treo~~, er Palm OS device yet. But Garnet on a Q4 2007 Palm release? Puh-lease.

Samsung U470: an X830 for Verizon?

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 9th 2007 at 6:23PM

We've gotta hand it to Verizon here; The Network's still got a bit of a reputation as a stodgy, old-school carrier that eschews style for reliability, but they've been working their rumps off the past couple years trying to shake that image with devices like the US-exclusive version of the Chocolate and the unusual VX9400. Still, though, we would've never expected a US carrier to pick up a variant of Samsung's wild X830, an ultra-narrow, swiveling music phone that isn't the easiest device in the world to use, but sure looks cool. phoneArena is reporting that the pictured device is the Samsung U470, a handset obviously in the X830's lineage, with a Verizon release planned for 2008. Features are said to include a camera, 220 x 128 display, A2DP, microSD slot, and if we had to guess, some rather healthy quantity of internal Flash. Mercifully, Samsung has opted for a traditional three-wide numeric keypad here instead of the tricky two-wide type used on the original, so we're pretty stoked that this one could be surprisingly usable despite its diminutive dimensions. Stay tuned!

Alltel antes up BlackBerry 8830 World Edition

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 9th 2007 at 11:52AM

They're a little late to the party, but it looks like Alltel has started slipping its own variant of RIM's BlackBerry 8830 World Edition into retail channels in the past few days. Thanks to a 900 / 1800MHz GSM radio packed in there beside the standard CDMA / EV-DO fare, the 8830 gives subscribers to CDMA carriers like Alltel a somewhat painless route to international roaming without juggling multiple handsets. The cameraless posterior means that the 8830's pretty much all business -- but with GPS in the mix, it's a darned good business to be in, we reckon. Check it for $250 on contract after rebates.

[Via PhoneMag]

Sprint scores silly marketing points, pairs BlackBerry 8830 with private island

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 7th 2007 at 3:58PM

Sprint must figure that if you need a phone whose name includes the phrase "World Edition," you're probably the jet-setting type. Like, the type that needs a private island, apparently. A tipster pointed us out to a pretty clever new ad campaign involving Sprint's BlackBerry 8830 World Edition that offers an enticing combo package: an 8830 for $200 (after contract and rebates, of course) and an "Exotic Island plus amenities" for a shade over ten mil. Total cost: $10.5 million. Of course, if you actually go through the process of trying to place an order, the site calls you out on it -- but here's where it gets interesting, they actually offer to take your information through an email and get you in touch with the appropriate brokers if you are, in fact, serious. Talk about customer service!

[Thanks, Jake]

Virgin Mobile intros Super Slice, its first Bluetooth phone

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 6th 2007 at 12:00PM

Would ya believe Virgin is just now getting down with that whole Bluetooth fad? No, seriously, it's true, and it has a name: Super Slice. As the moniker implies, the 10.2mm thick candybar is the successor to last year's Slice, a phone also sourced from UTStarcom. Features include a VGA cam, up to 270 minutes of talk time, speakerphone, a fresh user interface, and a refreshing price: $59.99 contract free (Virgin's prepaid, after all) when it rolls out to shelves in the middle of the month.

Verizon launches simple "Wireless Coupe" flip

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 4th 2007 at 4:29PM

When's the last time you heard of a carrier trumpeting that one of its handsets scored the coveted Good Housekeeping Seal? Yeah, we can't remember either -- but it speaks volumes about the kinds of character's Verizon's "Wireless Coupe" clamshell is geared toward, we reckon. Three big, red buttons directly below the display together spell "ICE" -- In Case of Emergency -- giving easy one-touch access to 911 plus a couple folks that might like to know if you're in trouble, while extra-large menu fonts should make navigation dead simple. No Bluetooth or camera here, but you do get an external display, phone book for 500 contacts, and a speakerphone. To quote Verizon, "smooth and simple" is the name of the game here, though we have no idea where "Wireless Coupe" is coming from. Straight outta left field, we tell ya. Anyway, grab 'er now for $20 on contract.

More details on Samsung's U700, U900 for Verizon

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 4th 2007 at 10:56AM

phoneArena's scored some more details on the U700 and U900 flips from Samsung that had previously been mentioned as contributors to Verizon's rumored lineup for the remainder of the year, and at least one of the two looks from the outset like a high-end winner. First up, the U700 Gleam offers pretty much everything you'd expect from a midrange Samsung circa 2007: 2 megapixel camera, QVGA display, microSD expansion, yada yada -- plus an updated Flash-based UI. We can allegedly expect this puppy in the next month or two. Later on in the year comes the U900, heir apparent to the A990, likely making it Verizon's new king of the Samsung hill. This one rocks out with a 3 megapixel autofocus cam, stereo speakers, touch sensitive external controls, and a rotating display (it seems to us like the twist top makes this puppy perfect for VCAST TV, but there's no indication that it'll be available here) in your choice of red or black.

Verizon gets official with green enV, exclusive to Circuit City

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 4th 2007 at 3:52AM

Yep, it's real! In case orange or the original gray scheme weren't to your liking, the LG enV on Verizon can now be had in a "hot new green color" (their words, not ours) -- but only at your friendly local Circuit City location. It seems this particular version has been designated as a Circuit City exclusive for the time being, fetching $149.99 after a $50 rebate on contract. The spec sheet remains the same, so unless something about this color really speaks to you, we wouldn't worry about it.

[Via PhoneMag]

Update: Verizon's now revised the price down to $79.99 after rebate. Sounds a lot better than the original price, yeah?

Bell reels in HTC 5800

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 1st 2007 at 2:37PM

Canada and the US regionals are now officially pwning Sprint and Verizon on this one. Bell becomes the latest carrier to offer the Windows Mobile 2006-based QWERTY slider -- Libra -- as the HTC 5800, offering EV-DO, a 2 megapixel cam, stereo Bluetooth, tethering capability, and microSD expansion. Come on Verizon, we're getting impatient! Grab it now north of the border for a nice, round $149.95 CAD (about $141) on a three-year agreement.

[Via cell phones etc.]

LG's VX8350 for Verizon comes into view

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 28th 2007 at 2:06PM

The heir apparent to the VX8300 is coming into full focus now, thanks in no small part to an interactive manual popping up over on Verizon's Testman site. The aptly named VX8350 dispenses of its predecessor's unsightly aerial antenna, replaces the external OLED with a traditional color LCD, and ups the max expansion to a full 4GB via microSD; the external music controls, stereo Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel cam, and 220 x 176 (blech!) primary display all carry over. phoneArena reports that this one will start to phase in as VX8300 stock depletes, running $79 on a two year contract after $50 rebate.

[Via phoneArena]

LG enV gets tough in olive drab

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 27th 2007 at 5:20PM

So much for any color approaching normalcy, apparently! Following the original pedestrian scheme of silver and black and its wacky, wild bright orange cousin, Verizon and LG are apparently prepping a dark green VX9900 enV that looks fit to take on a textual sortie or two. No word on a release date yet, but frankly, we're not too worked up about it.

Alltel launches HTC PPC6800

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 25th 2007 at 12:27PM

Gee, Verizon, go ahead and take your time there, will ya? Alltel follows up Sprint to become the second network in the US to launch HTC's next-gen CDMA Windows Mobile 6 Professional handset (Alltel's site claims it's Windows Mobile 5, but we're not believing that -- check the screen shots), offering WiFi, stereo Bluetooth, 2 megapixel cam, and just about all the EV-DO you can handle as the HTC PPC6800. Grab it for $549 off contract, or $249 after two-year agreement and a $100 snail mail rebate.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Telus launches Palm Treo 755p

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 23rd 2007 at 6:16PM

You've got company, Sprint! It may not be available with Verizon just yet, but Palm has found another carrier to launch its newest and shiniest Garnet-based Treo, the 755p. This time around, Canada's Telus plays host, offering the device for $229.99 Canadian (about $217) on a whopping three-year contract (yes, we know three-year contracts are the norm in Canada, but our jaw still drops a little every time we hear it). Meanwhile, folks looking to rock out contract-free may do so for $549.99 Canadian, a shade over $519. The device is a Canadian exclusive for Telus, so don't bother looking elsewhere if you're north of the border and Garnet is your poison of choice.

[Via Slashphone]