Latest News in mobile world

Samsung came up with a new basic clamshell called the SCH-W830 (or SPH-W8300 / SPH-W8350 for other carriers). It comes with a circular ultra-low res display, 2Mpix camera and a set of colorful lights embedded in the phone's case.

It's available now on South Korea's LGT, SKT, and KTF.

FCC has recently approved the new HTC Whitestone, a presumed Diamond2 variant for Verizon with a 3.6" WVGA display, 5Mpix camera, and support for CDMA / EV-DO networks. It looks like GSM / EDGE are also supported, but apparently these are non-US bands.

The new Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20 was recently released in Taiwan on a local carrier Chunghwa.

The phone features HSDPA, a VGA display, 3Mpix camera, and comprehensive navigation capabilities, which is nice, but seeing that the carrier will also be launching the iPhone 3GS and Hero this week, the competition will be mighty tough for M20 to get profitable.

Nokia has recently isued a new firmware update for its N97 smartphone. The latest version 12.0.024 is said to be a bug fix and performance update, nothing special, but we recommend it anyway. Check NSU to see it it's available in your region.

Telus is rumored to launch the LG Versa in Canada in the near future. The model number is expected to be CX9600, as Telus uses the CX prefix for all LG devices. Expect it to be available at a price ranging between $150 - $200. The LG VX9600 is currently selling on Verizon for $179.99 on contract.

Alltel has recently announced the availability of the BlackBerry Tour to its customers. The phone is available immediately in Alltel stores and online for $199 on a 1-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate along with a Smart Choice plan, from $69.99 upwards.

At this point, I bet many of you are more interested in Storm 2, aren't you?

According to Orange UK, the much anticipated LG GD910 Watchphone will go on sale this week, August 27th to mbe exact, at a price of GBP 500 (US$823).

The device was first spotted at CES 2009 back in January, and features a touchscreen display, high-speed HSDPA data connectivity, speech-to-text and text-to-speech translation, music player, as wel as support for Bluetooth headsets and stereo headphones.

Here is a video tour of the new LG Glance made by PhoneScoop:

Some new screenshots of the Facebook 3.0 for iPhone have surfaced recently, revealing some of the new features added in the latest version. First of all, it's the ability to upload photos/videos from your iPhone on the fly. Also users will be able to manage their accounts directly on the handset, so now there's no need for a PC. Nice!

All that's left is to wait for the app's official launch, when we'll get its exact list of changes/improvements.