"When it rains it pours!! If you didn't see our Photos of the new BlackBerry Pearl 9100 (codenamed stratus/striker), be sure to check them out along with the photos spotted/posted by our buddy salomondrin. He also posted up the sweet video above (though it's not him in the video doing the talking per usual - but we're sure that'll happen soon and we'll post all the good stuff he brings). Be sure to watch the video. The new BlackBerry Pearl is going to be one SWEET device." More photos here:

"It looks like Symbian 5th Edition could be going the way of the dinosaurs on Nokia's N series devices. The Finnish manufacturer has apparently been rather chuffed with the reception that Maemo, the OS the N900 runs, has received. The Really Mobile Project is saying that Nokia plan to drop S60 from flagship N series devices, but don't expect a switch to be thrown and Maemo to appear overnight. With the maturity of S60 there are a lot of apps and services available for it, something Maemo just can't compete with ... for the moment. As time passes though expect to see Maemo maturing until Nokia looks to make the switchover sometime around 2012. It's a logical move for Nokia, S60 doesn;t fare so well in terms of user experience when compared with some other OS and Nokia will be watching their share of the smartphone market very closely as competition becomes ever more vicious." via mobile-review.com

"First released for Symbian devices, Opera Mobile 10 beta is now available for Windows Mobile platform. The Opera Mobile 10 beta for Windows Mobile looks and feels similar to the Opera 10 desktop browser and Opera Mini 5 beta. It can be downloaded from www.opera.com/mobile/ or m.opera.com/mobile/ (for phone download).Opera maintains its powerful arsenal of features in this beta, including Speed Dial, tabbed browsing, a password manager and its super, server-side compressor, Opera Turbo.“We are unifying our products, so that users get the same experience, no matter the device or which particular Opera browser they are using,” said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. “With Opera Mobile 10, we are raising the expectations of how a a mobile browser should perform. Today, users require a browser as powerful as the Web, one that can handle their daily tasks as well as their computers. That’s Opera." via slashphone.com

"The CLIQ is without a doubt geared towards the younger generation, and the design embodies that.  It is on the small side, which means a smaller screen and keyboard, but is still heavy.  It has a good weight to it, but we’re not crazy about the feel.  When closed the slider is loose and when held by the bottom half the top piece will wiggle, but thankfully this goes away when opened.  Still, the CLIQ isn’t exactly what we’d call solid, and the cheap plastic housing doesn’t do much to reassure us.The 3.1” capacitive HVGA display is quite nice.  The 262K colors offer more depth than screens we’ve seen from HTC and it is plenty responsive.   It’s a far cry from the DROID, but that is to be expected.  Below the display are physical Home, Menu and Search buttons.  On the left side is a vibrate toggle (something we’d love to see more of,) volume rocker and microUSB charging/data port.  The right side has the lock/power button and camera key.  The side keys are all very shallow and could use a bit more travel for reassurance.   The top simply features the 3.5mm headphone jack." Read more here:

Almost every OS has them - application stores that is - but now owners of Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 phones also get in on the action with Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Installing the client is a straightforward affair and so is downloading new apps.
The number of apps available in the Marketplace has grown significantly and you can browse them straight through your desktop browser, which is a great convenience. You can buy an application through your desktop computer and it will be downloaded the next time you start the Windows Marketplace client.
Or you could skip a step and buy from the device itself. The prices are still quite steep though but competition should drive them down.
In the Marketplace, there are even applications for older versions (e.g. Bejeweled which works on Windows Mobile 2003 and above). The Marketplace client is not officially available for such old versions though, but at least it's all in one place, even if you have to buy the app the old fashioned way.
If you live in the US, you can enter your phone number in the download page for Marketplace for Mobile and they'll send you a download link. For those who live outside the States, direct your mobile browser to mp.windowsphone.com.
Check out our Windows Mobile 6.5 review for our take on the Marketplace. There you'll also find out how much you're missing (or not)." via gsmarena.com

"The Pixi is aptly named, because this device is svelte and rather petite. It's tall and narrow, very thin, and amazingly light. When I first took it out of the box I started looking around for the battery, because I just couldn't believe it was already in the phone -- but it was.This device is made entirely of plastic, with a minimal design aesthetic. The exterior is all black, with clear hard-plastic keys on the keyboard located underneath the screen. The sides and back of the device are finished in matte black, with a soft texture that improves grip and combats fingerprints.The display really is nice. It's relatively small, but text and graphics are crisp and clean. Colors are vibrant, and photos look really great.The keyboard is very, very small, and the keys are very close together. I've only had the phone for a few hours now, and I have been reduced to using my fingernails for text entry at this point. Hopefully some more practice will allow me to become more familiar with the keyboard, and therefore faster/more accurate." Read more here:

"Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today officially announced its newest Android-powered smartphone, the ‘Galaxy Spica’ (I5700). Samsung Galaxy Spica is a powerful Android-powered smartphone that offers seamless connectivity, highlighted by smooth access to Google mobile services and easy connection to popular social network sites such as Facebook and MySpace. The Galaxy Spica shows faster and more powerful performance than ever before by providing 800 MHZ application processor, so users can enjoy a variety of applications that can be downloaded from Android Market." Read more inside..

"So the first impressions are based on opening a plain box and seeing the HD2 nestled inside in a plain plastic bag. The immediate impact on picking the package up was two fold: that it was relatively heavy and at the same time very thin. Those feelings increased as the HD2 slid out of the bag and into my palm and I'm sad to say the geek in me immediately thought of the monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey, that is of strength and power contained within a delightfully austere and plain shell. That thought was of course strengthened by the device being well manufactured and exhibiting a black screen on a black body with black buttons. HTC obviously believe that black is indeed still fashionable chic - and who am I to argue with them!" Read more here:

"The N97 mini has quite a task on its hands, constantly being compared to the moe high ranking Nokia N97 even though it comes later to the market. As usually happens in such cases, the price difference that would have been present if both handsets were launched simultaneously is reduced and the balance of powers has shifted.Still the reduced display (and mostly body size) is a welcome change for many users, who used to find the Nokia N97 intolerably bulky. We certainly hope it's got a few tricks up its sleeves so it can put up the original N97 a good fight and differentiate enough beyond size and pricing. Well, we're about to check that and much more in one of our trademark reviews, starting with the unboxing on the next page." Read more here:

"Coming days earlier than we were told to expect it is Palm webOS 1.3.1. Weighing in at 126 MB, webOS 1.3.1 brings a number of under-the-hood changes to the webOS, as well as a number of new features:

• Yahoo support in Synergy
• Improved notifications for emails
• A track scrubber in Music
• Text message forwarding
• Custom ringtones for text messages (see changelog for instructions)
• Google contact sync only now pulls from My Contacts all emails
• Google Apps and Yahoo Small Business work with Email
• PIN lock timer

Dozens of bug fixes have also been incorporated into webOS 1.3.1. Currently webOS 1.3.1 is only available for Pre owners on Sprint and Bell; GSM Pre owners can expect the update by the end of November. The full changelog is posted after the break.

A word of caution to all patchers and themers: before updating remove all patches and themes. We don't want you to accidentally screw up your Pre. We're doing it and so should you." via precentral.net

"Dell today confirmed plans to enter the smart phone business and announced partnerships with China Mobile and Claro. Its first smartphone is the Mini 3, which will be available by end of this month.“Our entry into the smart phone category is a logical extension of Dell’s consumer product evolution over the past two years,” said Ron Garriques, President, Dell Global Consumer Group. “We are developing smaller and smarter mobile products that enable our customers to take their internet experience out of the home and do the things they want to do whenever and wherever they want.“The initial Mini 3 smart phones are designed around the Android platform to best deliver power, flexibility and customization opportunities for both users and carriers." via slashphone.com

"Worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 308.9 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a 0.1 per cent increase from the third quarter of 2008, according to Gartner, Inc. Smartphone sales surpassed 41 million units, a 12.8 per cent increase from the same period last year.“The third quarter of 2009 saw the announcement of many new mobile devices, including several Android smartphones ready for the holiday season in the fourth quarter, but hardware commoditisation and the growth in open platforms will make it harder for them to stand out,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner. “Meanwhile, the channel slowed its inventory-reduction efforts so while some sales volumes increased, average selling prices (ASPs) stagnated. We expect pressure on ASP to continue into 2010.” “Many devices will reach the market in time for Christmas, and mobile carriers will run incentives for consumers during the holidays. We expect sales of mobile devices in the fourth quarter of 2009 to show year-over-year growth,” said Ms Milanesi. ”As many vendors and industry watchers call for a decrease in sales into the channel, our sell through data is showing that 2009 performance will be flat rather than down over 2008.” Read more inside..

"Good news for all Nokia 5730 XpressMusic owner. The music, gaming and messaging device has been updated from version 100.48.122 to V.101.48.128. Firmware version 101.48.128 is available through the Nokia Software Updater or over the air. In case you don’t know how to update the firmware you can read our useful tutorial. As the 5730 features UDP you don’t need to back up all your personal data. You can find the list with changes and improvements after the break.

• small bug fixes (internet radio works correctly, without exits as at v.100.48.122)
• LED notification for new e-mails has been added
• small speed improvement" via symbianworld.org
  

"The Galaxy Spica i5700 has pretty similar overall dimensions like the Galaxy. The newer model is not as thin, but the difference is not big really. The capacitive screen measures 3.2-inches once again, utilizes, features native resolution of 320x480 pixels and supports 16mln colors. Thanks to the AMOLED technology, the image quality is great, with truly saturated and beautiful colors. Unfortunately and just like the Galaxy, the Spica i5700 is a die-hard fan of fingerprints and its deep affection tends to create certain troubles when using the device in direct sunlight." Read more here: