This Labor Day weekend, RadioShack is offering Sprint’s Samsung Instinct for $99.99. The offer will last for 4 days (it has started today) and also requires customers to sign-up for Sprint’s Simply Everything Plan.

And that’s about it. We’ve already covered the Instinct in the past and I won’t waste your time here by repeating the specs once again. If you ever considered getting yourself the all-touchscreen device, now may be the time to jump on board. Simply visit any of the RadioShack’s 4,400 convenient neighborhood stores and take it from there.

Full release is available on PRNewswire.

Who says luxury and features sit at the opposite sides of the table? When it comes to mobile phones that was usually the case. But that’s about to change…

We don’t have anything official from Nokia at this point, but apparently the Finnish giant’s luxury arm will be releasing the first 3G-enabled Vertu phone in the near future. In addition, the Signature 3G may also come with WiFi and an OLED QVGA screen. I doubt rich folks need WiFi for VoIP, but then again who knows — guess some secret exists to their fortunes. Cutting costs everywhere is a certain way to get rich, isn’t it?

Again, we’re not sure when will the Signature 3G actually hit the market nor how much it will costs once it does. One thing is certain, once it’s released - only the super rich and fools will grab it.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

Acer’s acquisition of smartphone maker E-Ten Information Systems is set to be complete in the next few days, and Acer’s founder, Stan Shih, used the opportunity to comment on the company’s future prospects. Mr. Shih is very optimistic about Acer’s entrance into the smartphone market. He believes they [Acer] will be able to compete evenly with High Tech Computer (HTC), thanks to their worldwide network of localized channels, as well as their worldwide logistics base which the company has built up over 30 years.

Hmmm, I’ve no doubts Acer knows what they’re doing, but so far we haven’t seen a single company which could dethrone HTC. The Taiwan-based smartphone maker rules the Windows Mobile smartphone market and as far as I can tell, I don’t see any other company approaching any near their position in the next six months. Afterwards, who knows - it’s a fast pace world out there…

[Via: DigiTimes]

Adobe has announced that its Photoshop.com online service is going mobile this September. A dedicated Photoshop.com Mobile Beta client will be available as a free download and will initially support only selected Windows Mobile devices — including Motorola Q, Samsung BlackJack I, BlackJack II and the Palm Treo 700w/750.

The idea is obvious - to allow users (who may not like ShoZu, we might add) to share a photo the minute they take it through Adobe’s online photo sharing/editing service.

In case you aren’t familiar, a free Photoshop.com account gives you 5 GB of storage, while the Photoshop.com Plus account adds 15GB of storage on top of that.

[Via: the::unwired]

Nokia has released two promo videos for two newly announced smartphones - Nokia N79 and N85. As you’re about to see, both devices are quite capable and it’s hard to pick the favorite one. At the end, it’s a matter of personal preferences. Which form factor do you prefer - dual slider or a candybar?

Here’s the Nokia N79 promo video:

And the Nokia N85 promo video follows after the jump.

Read the full article

AT&T will be adding a new rugged handset to its offering. According to always highly informed Boy Genius, the Samsung a837 will be joining AT&T’s team in an effort to compete with Verizon’s Casio G’zOne phones.

We don’t have the full specs, but we do know the military-spec grade device will sport push-to-talk support, Bluetooth, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE along with dual-band UMTS/HSDPA, 1.3 megapixel camera, built-in GPS. As for the services supported, Video Share and AT&T Navigator will be included in the mix.

The Samsung a837 will hit AT&T’s offering around September 15th, though pre-orders might be starting on the first of the month. Expected priced is in the $99-$150 range.

[Via: Boy Genius Report]

Back in May, we wrote about Google’s apparent plans to introduce an Apple-like AppStore for its Android platform. Well that’s confirmed now, with the official Android Developers Blog posting an article on the subject.

First of all - it’s not a store, it’s a market, because they feel developers should have “an open and unobstructed environment to make their content available” (unlike Apple’s AppStore?). Second, being an open platform means there will be tons of apps available for the users. To help future Android-powered handset owners make decisions, Android Market will have a feedback and rating system similar to YouTube, enabling community to filter things out for the rest of us.

As for the developer, they will be able to quickly put their apps available for the grab — the process is explained as easy as publishing a video on YouTube, consisting of three steps: registration, upload and description of the newly uploaded app. Additionally, Google will provide developers with a “useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings.”

Initially, the first beta version of Android Market will support free apps, only. Paid applications will be added later, and so will be other features like versioning, multiple device profile support, analytics, etc.

[Via: MobileBurn]

Call me a sceptic if you want but I don’t see that many people rushing to get themselves the HTC Touch Cruise, now that the Diamond is out. That being said, I’m not quite sure why it took so long for HTC to push its previous-gen device through FCC’s approval process. Don’t get me wrong, the Touch Cruise is a neat device sporting basically all the nuts and bolts the Diamond has sans VGA screen and tons of memory. Plus, the Cruise also has the first-gen TouchFLO UI which nowadays looks everything but cool. HTC has spoiled us with the 3D version featured on the Diamond and Touch Pro.

Anyway, I guess AT&T whose 3G network can sing along the newly approved HTC smartphone will be introducing the device in the near future. Why wait, after all…

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

Pantech’s new phone wears two names. The first one is more techy and it’s “SKY IM-S730.” The other one, though, is let’s say more casual and seems “invented” to make the device more appealing to younger generations. It’s “Blue Wink” and no, we don’t have a slightest clue what that means nor how that name is perceived in South Korea, where Pantech released the new slider.

Specs wise, the SKY IM-S730 Blue Wink (guess we could make a single name out of it) sports a 2.6-inch QVGA screen, HSDPA support, GPS, FM radio, 1.3 megapixel camera, and a microSD slot. In addition, I think it’s kinda safe to bet there’s some media player app on board and it would be also fair to argue this phone will be available for free with a wink and with a contract.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

It’s a Windows Mobile update week folks. First we saw the AT&T Tilt getting the update, and soon afterwards the Verizon XV6800 was also blessed with the Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade treatment.

Now another device is jumping on board - Samsung BlackJack II. Unfortunately, the update is almost or not yet ready - the server crashed as many people rushed to get their favorite QWERTY smartphone’s firmware up to date. Still the update pages are there and if you run either Windows XP or Vista, keep your eyes on these two links to grab the update as soon as it’s back online.

• Windows XP download
• Windows Vista download

Hopefully, you’ll be able to update the BlackJack II in no time…

[Via: WMExperts]