Latest News in mobile world

Vodafone has recently released the Sony Ericsson Satio, HTC Tattoo, and LG GM750 for its customers in the UK. All three are available for free on contract:

• HTC Tattoo: Android, resistive QVGA display and a 3.2Mpix camera - free on a £25 monthly plan.
• GM750: WinMo 6.5, 5Mpix camera - free on a £25 plan.

U.S. Cellular is now offering the Samsung r520 Trill and r850 Caliber mid-range handsets.

The Caliber comes with a full touchscreen, slate form factor, and integrates a 3Mpix camera with video recording, stereo Bluetooth support, and the whole set of Samsung’s TouchWiz UI based widgets. The price is $85.95 after rebate.

The Trill is a slider with a 1.

Japanese carrier KDDI has unvelied its winter lineup, featuring 13 impressive phone models for their customers' choice. Here's the breakdown:

• Casio Exilim Keitei CA003: 12 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom, autofocus, image stablizer, and 20 images/second rapid shot;
• Sharp Aquos Shot SH003: WVGA screen, 12 megapixel camera, FM transmitter, transfer and view Blu-Ray movies;
• Sharp Aquos Shot SH006:  WVGA screen, 12 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, transfer and view Blu-Ray movies;
• Casio Exilim Keitei CA004: WVGA screen, 8 megapixel camera with face detection, autofocus, and VGA video recording;
• Sharp SH004: 8 megapixel camera with noise reduction and low-light filter; low-power mode and call noise-cancellation;
• Sony Ericsson Bravia U1: 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and image stabilization; transfer and view Blu-Ray movies; waterproof;
• Kyocera SA001: 3.

The new Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 has been approved by the FCC some days ago. Don't get too excited though, as that is the European / Asian version. Why? We can't really tell what customers they are targeting with this handset in the U.S., but hopefully the X2 with AT&T / T-Mobile supported 3G bands is on it's way.

Those who live in Sweden will be able to get the new Blue Earth, a solar powered phone from Samsung before the end of this month, with France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, and "other European and Asian countries" following on shortly. Pricing hasn't been announced yet.

The U.S. is out of the question, as the phone features HSDPA 900 / 2100MHz bands that don't work Stateside.

Acer has recently unveiled its first Android handset, the Acer Liquid (basically the same A1). The phone runs the Android 1.6 'donut' build and features a 800 x 480 WVGA capacitive touchscreen, and a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, which makes it the fastesr Androin device to date. Other highlights include improved power management, a new UI, geo-tagging, a "Spinlets" application for access to streaming video and music, and full address book integration with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and other social media houses.

Verizon has confirmed via it's official Twitter account that the popular Palm Pre will be available to VZW customers "early next year". Yay!

AT&T is now offering the white version of the BlackBerry Bold. Nothing has changed except the color. It's priced the same as the original black version - $199.99 after rebate, with a 2 year contract.

In case you didn't know, the first GSM Palm Pre is now available to O2 customers in Germany. The handset is avilable for €481 without contract, with the O2 My Handy option letting you finance it via 24 monthly payments of €20. The available calling plans and other relevant info you will find at the company's German site.

Opera CEO Jon Von Tetzchner has recently confirmed the development of the Opera Mobile browser for the Android platform in an interview given to PC Magazine - “Yes, we are working on an Android version”. Of course, it's not the official announcement, but it's likely to occur in the near future. Just to let you know they're working on it.