We all know the growing markets like the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – are where the money is. While not many people living in the mentioned countries have enough money to spend on a high-end handset, it’s all about the volume for the major handset makers there. It’s easy to imagine a single phone being used by more than 50 million people in country like India. And now, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) decided to address the developing markets with 6 new models – W213, W206, W180, W175, W160, and W156. There’s nothing special about these device — we just thought it’s an important development for Motorola which is currently struggling to sell its phones in non-U.S. markets. Good luck with that MOTO!

[Via: Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]

While none of the following information has been confirmed, we trust the always highly informed Boy Genius‘ sources. Apparently, AT&T (NYSE: T) is set to release a bunch of cool devices in the coming months — no the iPhone 2 is not among them.

First, the carrier will release the new GPS and WiFi enabled BlackBerry 8820 on August 13th or 14th. Following that, AT&T introduces two MOTO devices, Q9 smartphone and ultra-thin RAZR 2 V9 on August 24th. Finally, the T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) Dash-like device with full QWERTY keyboard we’ve already seen on FCC’s filing, AT&T SMT5700 will be released on August 24th or 28th.

As you can see, we don’t even have the exact dates for some devices, although we are certain the interesting few months are ahead of all AT&T subscribers…

Verizon keeps adding additional content to its V CAST offering. Just yesterday, they’ve announced that the content from NBC Universal’s nine channels are now official available to V CAST users – including NBC News, Sports, Entertainment and Comedy, “Access Hollywood,” Telemundo, mun2, Bravo, and iVillage. Or to put it in other words, you’ll be able to enjoy such shows as “The Office,” “30 Rock,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” while on the go. In addition, the NBCU will give V CAST users access to Bravo’s Emmy-nominated culinary hit “Top Chef” and the upcoming Emmy-nominated “Project Runway.”

Hmm, Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s V CAST offering seems more compelling with the time. Hopefully, they’ll keep adding new stuff…

It seems unlikely Palm (NSDQ: PALM) will succeed to persuade us that we need a “mobile companion.” The simple fact that it can’t fit my pockets will make me think do I actually need to carry it that day. And while the instant on functionality is something I’m craving for, the additional five hundred bucks somehow make me think twice.

In order to enhance its offering, Palm keeps adding additional features to Foleo. Lately, we’ve spotted that Treo maker will exhibit along with NormSoft at the upcoming LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco. Apparently, the two companies will demonstrate the popular media playback software – Pocket Tunes on Foleo. Yeah, we could use something like that, but also what about tabbed browsing? C’mon Palm, talk with Opera Software — we want that as well!

[Via: gadgetsonthego.net]

I’ve always liked the Curve’s look more than the one of the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) 8800. It’s smaller, more compact and fits the palm (NSDQ: PALM) much better. Although, the BlackBerry Curve 8310 lacks the integrated WiFi from its bigger brother – 8820, it also brings some location awareness to the table, thanks to the built-in GPS module. And just like all other BlackBerrys it lacks UMTS or HSDPA radio — but then again, you don’t actually need it that much for syncing your email with a corporate server.

Anyway, the Big Red carrier is releasing the latest RIM’s baby in Germany. Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) also bundled its Vodafone Navigator software to the device to show you just how cool it is have a navigation on your mobile phone. All this is available for 99.90 EUR paired with a Vodafone Business Kombipaket Zuhause 240 plan, a mere bargain for pushing your push-email habit to the next, location aware level.

Well it happened — the first iPhone update is available! It’s not exactly the major update we’ve been hoping for, rather Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) decided to release the quick Safari fix to make us browse the web more safely. According to their changelog, Safari is now updated to prevent cross-site scripting and arbitrary code execution, WebCore is fixed to deny cross-site requests, and WebKit has improved domain name validity check, as well as unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution bug fixed.

There you have it – web surfing on your iPhone is now more secure than ever. Not that the mentioned bugs actually bothered many of the iPhone users…

[Via: Engadget]

We already posted about Japanese iPhone killer device called Nani phone. Now, we have more details and a short video preview of the upcoming device. First the new details – at least initially the Nani phone will be selling only in Japan (after all not many other countries support W-SIM cards and OneSEG mobile TV standard). Next, it will run on top of Windows CE 5.0 Professional Plus and will be able to play all kinds of video clips, DivX included. Finally, Nani’s screen can display resolution of up to 720×480 — not 800×400, we previously wrote.

And now the video… As you’re about to see, this device works more like the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N800 or some small UMPC, than the iPhone. I’ve no doubt about it — this baby needs some additional usability tuning. Then again, it’s always better to have more choices… Enjoy the video even if you don’t understand a word – it’s on Japanese or Korean.

[Via: Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]

Everyone goes red these days, so why would the Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) be an exception. Just today, we got the information Carphone Warehouse is selling the red K810i Cybershot phone. However, once we visited the popular handset retailer’s website, we couldn’t find the mentioned device in their online catalog. Still, the image on the right seems real and somehow we don’t doubt it’s true. The problem with the story is why would Sony Ericsson suddenly enhance its aging model, when its successor (K850i) is hitting the markets within a month or so? My guess is they want to clear out the stock. I remember Nokia (NYSE: NOK) launched the N93 Mission Impossible 3 phone just before the N93i was announced. So folks, wait some time and get yourself the real deal — and I’m not talking only about the better 5 MP camera Sony Ericsson K850i has, there are also other features such as HSDPA support, new Walkman player, auto-rotate feature, and more.

[Via: JAMPBLOG] Thanks Teemu!

If you’re thinking of picking up that recently released Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) Bluetooth Headset to give your iPhone some company while it charges, you might want to do your research to see if the wireless headset is right for you – because, at $129, it ain’t cheap. The guys over at iLounge have posted a review of the Apple Bluetooth Headset, and it’s everything we expected from the iPhone accessory.

The Bluetooth headset doesn’t score any “wow” points on the audio quality or battery life, but it’s definitely “average.” It seems that the biggest thing the Apple Bluetooth Headset has going for it is it’s integration with the iPhone and the included dual-charging iPhone/Headset dock. Seriously though, having a visual indicator of the headset’s battery charge-level right on the iPhone’s display is so cool it hurts. But, is that worth $129? We think not.

Still, we’re sure there are plenty of people out there willing to shell out the dough for the super-slick Apple-made headset. So, check out the iLounge review, it might just help you pull the trigger, or fight the temptation – either way, it’s a good thing.

[Via: iLounge]