Well, well, well. Look who came crawlin’ back.

Well, not really crawling; it’s awesome having Stefan back. This week we’ve managed to wrestle time zone issues down and got the prodigal son, Stefan Constantinescu, to get on the weekly podcast. Considering his time at Nokia (NYSE: NOK), we go over the N97 a fair bit in preparation for our head-to-head review with the Touch Pro 2. The Android-powered Hero gets sufficiently gushed over, as well as the introduction of HTC’s Sense user interface.

We’ve got a fresh giveaway this week - you might have seen Ben writing about Vuzix here, there and everywhere, and now we’ve got a pair to give away! These glasses work with iPhones, computers with S-Video and any mobile phone with video out to provide an immersive multimedia experience.  This particular model, the AV310, usually retails for $249.95, so it’s well worth your while to drop a comment for a chance to win ‘em.

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Vodka veteran Absolut has just released a free iPhone app that suggests drinks depending on a wide variety of criteria, like time of day, mood, type of liquor, occasion, and lots of others. After picking one, it even includes instructions on how to mix one up. As a reference alone, that’s a pretty sweet app, but you can even tweet and update your Facebook status about what you’re drinking. (Hey, some people even blog about their drinks.) GPS integration also lets you see what’s being drunk in your area and around the world. Fine timing on the launch, considering Independence Day is tomorrow… Interested? You can nab Drinkspiration from the iTunes App Store here.

Ad agency T.A.G (a unit of McCann) has apparently been chosen to work with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) on what they openly referred to as the Pink project. It does exist! The rumours of Pink have floated around like vapourware for a long time now, but this certainly helps to cement its reality. The last we heard about Microsoft’s Pink was a list of preliminary specifications of the device, but it was still unclear if that encompassed the whole scope of the project. How it incorporates the Zune brand, if at all, and Windows Mobile 6.5 (or even 7) remains something of a mystery, but it would be no surprise to see all of these things come together somehow with Pink.

[via All About Microsoft]

Two minutes of blurtastic video have bubbled up which give a basic tour of Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard running on a Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Q9h. One would easily expect that the newer Windows Mobile handsets are built with 6.5 in mind, but it’s great to see even older hardware can handle the new OS, too. There’s not much that especially catches the eye - in fact, the whole thing looks pretty samey, but we all know 6.5 is more of a facelift than anything else. The SDK for the “new” Windows Mobile has already been released, so you can expect the software soon - maybe late summer/early fall if the hardware rumours pan out.

[via WMPowerUser]

The software development kit for iPhone software 3.1 has been released, hinting at a few helpful updates, the two big ones being Bluetooth support for Voice Control and the option to Save As… after editing a video so you don’t automatically overwrite the original. Smaller changes, like a vibration when you move icons, OpenGL and Qwartz improvements, APIs giving access to video editing have also been discovered. We’ll likely hear about more little tidbits to be found in the next iPhone OS update as developers do their poking around. Speaking of which, if you are a developer, head over to the Dev Center to get started with the new SDK.

[via The iPhone Blog]

Okay, scratch that July 20th. stuff - the officially official launch date for Sprint (NYSE: S)’s BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Tour is July 12th., and will cost you $199 on contract and after rebates. We had heard similar pricing and date for Verizon (and presumably Alltel), if Sprint doesn’t really do it for you. Of course, Bell and Telus are also hosting the BlackBerry 9630 if you happen to be north of the border. If you still think you’ll need a reminder when the Tour’s ready roll, be sure to sign up for e-mail updates from Sprint.

[RT @sprint]

So long as we’re cruising by the FCC, Samsung has filed papers for a little something called the Gravity 2 (T469). The original Gravity just hit Rogers in March and T-Mobile in November, and already the sequel’s coming down the line. Little is known spec-wise, other than 3G support, but it’s probably safe to say the Samsung T469 will be a nice mid-to-low-range handset for heavy texters. You can expect the Gravity 2 to land on T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) in mid-July.

[via PhoneArena]

While most eyes are on the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Tour 9630 prepping for a launch next month, it seems like the 8520 Curve (code-named Gemini) is getting ready to blast out of the gates as well. T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) is rumoured to pick up the EDGE-only 8520 around August 5th., but given we’re seeing FCC filings now, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the new Curve dropping this month. While the ho-hum specs might deter some (320 x 240 screen, Wi-Fi, 2 megapixel camera with no flash), the 8520’s style will likely be the key selling point: new media keys on the top, rubberized buttons, and, of course, a new touchpad to replace the trackball. Hopefully those specs will keep the price point down, but we haven’t heard any specifics as of yet. You can take a look at the full FCC filing here, if you’re into that kind of thing.

[Cellphone Signal via CB]

Last week, the Android Native Development Kit was released, allowing developers to code their apps in C or C++, rather than using the Java virtual machine apps had been running on to date. This new tool has tickled Mozilla’s fancy, and they’re now considering bringing their in-development mobile browser, Fennec, to Android as a result. Before this, Mozilla had ruled out both Android and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) explicitly because of this roadblock, but having greater access to native code libraries could blow that complaint square out of the water. Mozilla’s VP of mobile, Jay Sullivan, had this to say:

“Developers are taking a look at the NDK to see if it provides the capabilities we need to bring Fennec to Android. If it’s possible, I think our community would be interested in doing it, because Android will be appearing on more smartphones with the capabilities to provide a good browsing experience.”

Windows Mobile has been seen dipping its toes in the Fennec beta pool, and hopefully it won’t take long for Android to get up to speed. Mozilla and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) are pretty cozy with one another (heck, they’re neighbours), to the point where Fennec has already built in Google Location Services that allow the browsing experience to be tailored to your GPS coordinates. Android’s default “Chrome Lite” browser is pretty smooth, but Fennec has lots of goodies to bring to the table, like the legendary Awesome Bar, plug-in and Flash support.

Fennec aside, programming at the C-level is great news for developers and really shows Google’s dedication to making Android the platform of choice for the people making the apps.

[via CNet]

Lately there’s been a lot of talk about whether or not the Sense UI unveiled for the HTC Hero will be available on other handsets, either Android and Windows Mobile. Well, some clever chaps have managed to cram Rosie onto the HTC G1/Dream and demoed it on video for the world to gawk at. Everything seems to run pretty smoothly through the eight minutes of navigation, but feel free to watch the whole thing for a nice tour of what will likely end up on the Hero. There are full instructions on how to get the HTC Hero’s user interface on your own G1 in broken, Google (NSDQ: GOOG)-translated English, but just keep in mind the ROM is still half-baked and prone to a few bugs. In the long run, Sense won’t officially make it onto Android phones “with Google” due to licensing issues - the UI is HTC’s baby, not Google’s, after all.

[HDBlog.it via Android Guys]