Latest News in mobile world

Today Expansys has revealed the specifications of the upcoming Android-based Sony Ericsson Rachael, which will apparently be launched under the Xperia brand as the Xperia X3. Nice! Here's the full list of specs:

Display:

• 4-inches, 800 x 400 pixels;
• Touch Sensitive;

Network:

• 2G 850/900/1800/1900 (Quad-Band);
• 3G: 900/2100 (Dual-Band);
• HSDPA (10Mbps);
• HSUPA (2Mbps)

Camera:

• 8.

Starting tomorrow Orange UK customers will be able to get the HTC's latest Android-based device. Yes, we're talking about the HTC Hero, which is already up on the carrier's website in a graphite hue at a price of £0.00 on a monthly plan.

T-Mobile has announced the release date for the upcoming BlackBerry Gemini, also known as the Curve 8520. The handset will be available August 5th, and will be the first handset in the Curve family to have a touch-sensitive trackpad instead of the usual trackball. Other than that, the specs aren’t very impressive: there's no flash on the camera, the screen resolution is the same as of the original Curve, plus of all data networks only EDGE is supported.

Bluetooth SIG has revealed an upcoming Samsung handset. It’s called Samsung S9110, which, judging by the model number is a high-end phone. We have no concrete details about it at the moment, but since it's in the S-series, we can expect features like a WVGA touchscreen, possibly an 8Mpix camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (obviously), GPS, and maybe even a QWERTY keyboard. Stay tuned for more details.

Rumor has it that HTC is working on a new high-end clamshell handset codenamed LEO. It's said to use TouchFLO 3D 2.5 “Manilla” ROM, and will feature a full-QWERTY keypad, external QVGA display, internal 16:9 WVGA display, OpenGL 2.0 support and a Snapdragon processor.

That's noce and all, however, there's a possibility that Leo could actually be the Omni — a Pocket PC, successor to the HTC Universal that made its retail debut in late 2005.

Just to let you know, T-Mobile has issued a minor OTA firmware update (Android 1.5 build CRC1) for its G1 handset. According to the official description it includes "permissions fixes and other bug fixes". That's all there is to it.

This is the new Motorola A45 Murano, the latest addition to the company's A-series. Basically, it is the same Motorola's QA1 Karma, stripped of its 3G support, and uglier. Verizon's Rival is also a part of the family, as the resemblance is clearly noticeable, in form factor design that is.

Other than that we can't really tell you anything else about it. Oh, just one thing - the initial release will take place in Brazil.

According to some sources, Nokia ia apparently planning to start two new series of mobile devices, C-series and X-series. Nothing is known about them currently, just mentions at puhelinvertailu.com and digitoday.fi, but stay tuned, as some new details are expected to surface pretty soon.

Here's a Verizon BlackBerry Tour unboxing video made by IntoMobile. Enjoy.

The Verizon BlackBerry Tour is available for $199.99 with new 2-year contract. Hit the source link for the unboxing gallery.

Here's a leaked list of some low- and mid-end handsets, which are supposedly coming to Verizon in the near future. Keep in mind that it's not official, though:

• LG Chocolate Touch VX8575 - Full touchscreen, might be similar to the BL40;
• BlackBerry Storm 2 9550 - October-November release;
• Nokia Shade 2705 - Replacement for Mirage 2605;
• Nokia Twist 7705 - This might be the swivel-style phone that has been rumored for months;
• Palm Treo 800W - “Even though this was released for Sprint last year, Verizon may not have it out until February 2010.