Latest News in mobile world

AT&T will be releasing a new low-end touchscreen phone for its customers on August 2nd. Formerly known as the Infinity, the new Samsung A887 Solstice will be available in stores nationwide this coming Sunday at $99.99 on a 2-year contract, $174.99 on a 1-year contract and $249.99 outright. All prices include a $50 mail-in rebate.

The Solstice wil

BGR has posted some specifications of the upcoming BlackBerry 9700. In case you're wondering, it doesn't have a codename yet. We expect to see some photos of the device shortly, but for now check out its specs, as reported:

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE;
• UMTS/HSDPA;
• 480×360 resolution display;
• Wi-Fi a,b,g;
• OS 5.0;
• QWERTY keyboard;
• 3.

Nokia has started releasing v30-level firmware updates for its 5800 XpressMusic handset around the world. Unfortunately, this new build is just a maintenance release focused on bugs and other minor issues -- the main feature of the update is the addition of email notifications on the home screen for Nokia Messaging. So it's not necessary for everyone.

A Sina Corporation reporter has gotten his hands on the new LG Chocolate BL40 and its 21:9 aspect ratio display. The are no additional details available about the handset besides the ones we already know, so just check out these new live photos.

According to the Street, tipped by an anonymous Motorola employee, the company is planning to release an Android powered handset on Verizon in the 4th quarter of 2009.

We suppose the said handset is the upcoming CDMA Motorola Calgary, which was unveiled back in April. It comes with a full QWERTY keyboard and runs Android OS, but that's basically all we know about it atm.

The source code for the Donut, an Android OS upgrade similar to Cupcake, has been made available to developers. It works on both the G1 and Magic, and includes the following features:

• Multi-touch support;
• Universal search;
• Text-to-speech;
• Automated backups;
• Redesigned camera app;
• New widgets;
• CDMA radio support

Visit XDA for more info.

The new iPhone OS 3.1 beta 3 is now available to developers, which means that the latest revision is is getting closer to the rumored September release. The software adds support for video APIs, making augmented reality apps a distinct possibility.

Go to http://developer.apple.com/ for more info.

A couple of new live shots as well as spec info of the upcoming Samsung T659 Scarlet have recently appeared on CellPhoneSignal. According to the source, the phone will feature:

• Quad-band GSM connectivity;
• Dual-band 3G (1700/2100 MHz);
• 2Mpix camera;
• Bluetooth;
• microSD slot;
• MP3 player

Reportedly, the launch date has been pushed back due to the Gravity 2’s release, but a new one has not been announced.

Here's a detailed high-quality rendering of the upcoming HTC Firestone. It looks the same as the one we saw in the leaked manufacturer’s lineup. The Firestone is known to be a multimedia-oriented device featuring a front-facing speaker in the lower right corner, and one on the back, capacitive screen, comfortably-placed microSD card slot, as well as an 8Mpix camera and the latest version of HTC’s TouchFLO 3D interface, codenamed Manilla.

The FCC has approved a version of the Samsung Omnia II (i8000L) with support for North American 3G bands - WCDMA bands II and V. The thing is that it's not coming to the U.S. Carriers in Latin America use these bands too, and the phone is destined to that market. However, nothing prevents you from bringing one of these in the U.S. or Canada and use it on either AT&T or Rogers.