There's no telling what sort of crazy behind-the-scenes negotiations had to take place in order for our good friend Boy Genius to get his hands on the very first retail T-Mobile-branded BlackBerry 8220 we've seen in the wild -- and let's be honest, the whole unboxing takes on a sexier tone when there's an element of intrigue to it, doesn't it? Mr. Genius flatly pans the thing for having a pair of awful screens and a prototype feel (despite the fact that he's got a final production unit), so odds are the Bold owners out there aren't going to be throwing fits of jealousy any time soon. To top it off, the contents of the box are about as exciting as flannel underwear (we guess it's cool that RIM saw fit to throw in a pair of headphones), so don't expect too much. At least it'll be available in a few colors, right?

Before we go any further, we'd like to inform this here Telson UMPC that if Pandora can finally get out of the starting blocks, so can you. Today, we're looking at new evidence that Digital Cube (the handheld's new parent) could be inching ever closer to bringing this shockingly thick gaming handheld to market. Out of seemingly nowhere, images have emerged of the portable posing beside a USB 3D camera dongle (saywha?); additionally, we're told that it will pack a 1.2GHz VIA C7M CPU and feature a 4.3-inch display, 512MB of RAM, 30GB hard drive and Windows XP. Oh, and we're also informed that it'll be "released in October" in at least one section of the world, so we've got T-minus 27 days to see if that claim is legit.

[Via Pocketables]

It's shocking to even hear ourselves admit that we're licking our chops for a particular MID, but it's true. BenQ seems to have nailed most everything on the long-awaited MID S6 by including an 800MHz Intel Atom CPU, 4.8-inch WVGA (800 x 480) display, 512MB DDR2 RAM, a 2GB SSD, Bluetooth 2.0 / WiFi, microSD slot, inbuilt G-sensor and support for a myriad of multimedia file formats. On top of all of that, the Italian superstar could be coming to other corners of the globe as evidenced by an elaborate press page on its Global website that details its features in plain English. Said said provides an exhaustive list of capabilities and specifications, not to mention a bevy of press shots. The real kicker? That little note telling us that the built-in 3G module supports UMTS / HSDPA on "Band: 2100" and GSM / GPRS / EDGE on "Band: 900 / 1800 / 1900). Sound familiar, Americans? Hype video posted after the break.

[Via Pocketables]

Yeah, the wait for October 22 (or after) is absolutely excruciating; trust us, we know. We'll take every scrap of information and imagery we can to hold us over until G1s start showing up on doorsteps in a few weeks, but T-Mobile's really gone above and beyond the call of duty here by setting up a surprisingly functional and feature-complete emulator to satisfy our urges to touch icons and click buttons. Obviously, you're not going to get a GPS lock, so don't get your hopes up that you're going to be playing around with Street View or anything wild like that -- in fact, most apps lead you to a "this screen is not fully functional" message -- but it's got more goodies than the Android SDK's emulator, and it's just enough to get you acquainted with the phone's personality by the time it's actually in your paws.

[Via Cell Phone Signal]

Look, we'll be honest -- Gemei's PMPs are among the few developed entirely in China that are actually worth a glance, and yes, we're digging the overall sleekness of the A320. But seriously, could we decide on something other than Sony's iconic button logos and a very blatant OS X-sourced wallpaper? Petty gripes aside, the handheld should handle a plethora of audio / video formats along with GBA games via an integrated emulator. No telling how much this thing will sell for, but if we had to guess, we'd put it somewhere between "dirt cheap" and "cheap enough."

[Via TheGadgetSite]

Now that Sony Ericsson's mighty X1 has earned the FCC's love and affection, you won't be an outlaw for using one in the States -- but unfortunately, you won't be a speed demon everywhere, either. The version that just nabbed approval here is the X1i, and anyone familiar with Sony Ericsson's naming scheme can tell you that an "i" means a phone's not really meant for North American consumption; in this case, we're lucky to squeak by with UMTS Band II support, which means we'll theoretically be able to pick up some of AT&T's 1900MHz signal. On 850, though, you'll be stuck with EDGE. Of course, a true global launch has been in the cards for the X1 from day one, and we're not worried that we won't see a more 3G-rife model getting torn down by the feds -- this just ain't it.

So much for Amazon's attempts to quell Kindle 2 rumors, eh? Talk of a replacement (or a pair of replacements) for Amazon's popular -- but very oddly-styled -- e-reader has been in the mix seemingly since the first model started shipping, and Boy Genius Report has scored shots of something that certainly looks like it could be in the legitimate pipeline. The revised device appears to address complaints over the original's look head-on, rounding the corners and ditching the oddball angles; the scroll wheel has been replaced with a joystick, the SD slot is gone (don't worry, there's at least a gig and a half on-board), and around back, we have grills that seem to suggest integrated stereo speakers. The display is basically the same size -- no color here yet, sorry -- so unless the sharp edges on your first-gen piece are driving you batty, it looks like this could be safely skipped by current owners while roping in new buyers who wouldn't have considered it before. Thing is, was ditching the scroll wheel and that trick mirrored bar in favor of a joystick really the right way to go?

So the good news is that T-Mobile has decided to keep right on taking pre-orders for the G1 through October 21, just one day before the handset's official launch. The bad news, though, is that it doesn't mean you'll be getting your Android on come October 22. Turns out that the initial allotment of G1s set aside for pre-orders is now sold out completely, and any names taken between now and launch will be allotted phones being shipped "at a later date." It's not clear if a "later date" means a week, a month, or a decade after the 22nd, but for the sake of everyone involved, we hope its the former.

Update: T-Mobile's site says that pre-orders taken from here on out will be delivered "as early as November 10," so it looks like you early birds are going to have a nice little period of exclusivity. Thanks, everyone!

DataWind's PocketSurfer2 hasn't exactly made a huge impact here in the US, where it was unceremoniously re-dubbed the PC Edge prior to being released to the back cabinets of electronics retailers next to piles of unwanted Shifts. It's seen more success in Europe, where surfers on the go can now buy a nicely upgraded model, the PocketSurfer2R. It shares the prior device's basic layout and 640 x 240 screen, but contains a GPS receiver inside and a small touchpad to the upper-right of the keypad. More notable, though, is the new "Immortality Plan," which won't guarantee that you'll still be rocking out when your grandkids retire, but, for a one-time fee of £60 (a little over $100), offers unlimited surfing over the lifetime of the device. Given we're stuck paying $25/month here, we'd call that a bargain. This new model won't be coming stateside, at least not yet, but the older one has received a $100 price drop to $199.

Sony's plan to launch an updated Reader today wasn't exactly a secret, but there are still some surprises to the new PRS-700 -- particularly the new six-inch touchscreen E-Ink display. Page turning is now accomplished by a swipe motion with faster refreshes, and there's a stylus and on-screen keyboard for searching and note-taking -- plus an LED reading light (not a backlight) for reading in the dark. Apart from that, it's basically the same deal as the PRS-505 -- internal storage for about 350 ebooks with SD and MS-Duo expansion and a 7500 page-turn battery life round out the package, as well as an updated online store. Of course, there's no Kindle-killing integrated wireless for the $400 price tag, but it'll be interesting to see how they stack up when the PRS-700 hits shelves next month.

Every so often, Nokia will pop out a brick-like beast of a clamshell smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard -- a black sheep in Espoo's lineup in every sense of the word. These so-called Communicators even had their own custom Symbian-based operating system, Series 80, until the E90 came around and brought 'em in line with the rest of the S60 crowd. Of course, S60 just took a big leap to the world of touch today, and that means the E90's starting to fall a bit behind -- so what's next? Nokia dropped a little teaser during its webcast today in the form of a stylized touch-based concept bearing strong family ties to the E90 and its ancestors, suggesting S60 5th Edition won't spell doom for the form factor. If it materializes, history suggests it won't be a mainstream device -- but if the real thing can look as good as this render, who knows?

In what can only be described as the fastest and most exhilarating one minute, twenty-two seconds of our lives, RIM and Vodafone have thrown together a promotional video for the upcoming Storm that touches on most of the handset's high points: mobile music, GPS, desktop-grade browsing, streaming video, expandable memory, and -- get this -- voice and data ("it can do two things at once," we're triumphantly told). Now, bear in mind this is a Vodafone video, not Verizon, so that "two things at once" claim probably isn't going to hold water when you're hooked up to Big Red's EV-DO Rev. A -- but the remainder of the factoids in the flashy, seizure-inducing commercial should apply. Follow the break for the covertly-shot material, if your sensitive eyes can take the kind of sensory punishment that only this much primary color and enterprise compatibility can deliver.

[Via CrackBerry]

We heard last night that we wouldn't be seeing the DSi in the States until next year, and now Reggie has confirmed the damage: no DSi until "well into calendar year 2009," which sounds disturbingly like the holidays to us, but hopefully he's just implying a few months in. We would hope Nintendo would be following the pattern of the DS Lite, which hit Japan in March of 2006, and made it Stateside in June, but Reggie says DS Lite sales are still strong in the US -- which means it's basically our fault that we don't get a shiny new toy for Christmas.

She's arrived at last, the 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia's tardy entry into the (modern) touchscreen phone space, and we've gotten some quality face time with the device. Appropriately nicknamed the Tube, the device has a number of Nokia peculiarities that could appeal to certain sensibilities, but probably won't be taking a big bite out of existing touchphone market share -- at least in the S60-phobic United States. Let's dig in, shall we?