A fresh addition to the Android family is on the way: the Samsung InstinctQ (which stands for “quixotic”. Those Android people with their foolishly idealistic open source philosophies… Or maybe “QWERTY”. That works too). The name crossed our paths in some Wi-Fi certification documents early last month, leaving little more than the expectation of an arrival on Sprint (NYSE: S) considering the Instinct brand’s history on the network. Enjoy the eye candy, because we aren’t getting any more information on specs for the time being. There’s the potential for an October 11th. release date alongside the HTC Hero, so it might be safe to expect the InstinctQ will throw its punches at a slightly lower weight category to avoid cannibalizing Android interest on Sprint.

[via PhanDroid]

The Samsung Gravity 2 announced last month is now ready for shoppers at T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) U.S. As a dirt-cheap and dirt-simple texting phone, this will have a wide appeal for the younger crowd. There’s a modest 2 megapixel camera on there, Stereo Bluetooth support, a microSD slot for memory cards up to 16 GB, aGPS and 3G connectivity. Not a bad little number, for the price. Pick it up now in either “metallic pumpkin” or “berry mauve” (yes, really) for $29.99 on a two-year plan at the store, or free if you look elsewhere.

Here’s a very creative (with a dash of awesome) mobile concept from Seunghan Song. The concept behind ‘The Window Phone’ is clear to see (ugh). The device itself would be a clear piece of some sort of plastic, which remains clear on a sunny day, drips condensation on a humid/rainy day, and frosts over on a cold and snowy day. Users can send text messages and emails by blowing on the device and using a finger to write out the message. Interesting idea. I could see myself getting tired and out of breath on those really long messages though

I’ve posted a few more images after the break, so be sure to check ‘em out!

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I’ve waited with this article for quite some time now, trying to find good arguments to suggest our readers to go on and grab the N97, but honestly I couldn’t. Again, this is not to say the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N97 is a bad device – it’s just too expensive for what it offers.

Sure there’s 32GB of built-in storage, but I’m sure people would appreciate more the 4GB version for 200 bucks/euros/pounds less. Unfortunately, that kind of N97 doesn’t exist.

Plus and again unfortunately, that’s not the only bad thing about the N97, as I pointed in my previous article. That keyboard, slow CPU/insufficient RAM, plus the user interface are the main points for NOT buying the device. Keyboard especially, since we all know Nokia knows how to make decent keyboards from their other models such as the E75, E90, E71, and so on. On the same note, from the leaked photos of the so called N97 mini, we see it will come with similar keys which is a bad thing. Waiting for the first Maemo phone is all that high-end Nokia handset users can do at this stage, or at least that’s my take.

Anyway, the summary is – don’t buy the N97! It has all the bells and whistles of the high-end device (GPS, WiFi, compass, 5 megapixel camera, etc), but all that could be made to work in a much better way. Replacing a CPU is one thing that could make a huge difference and make the device respond much faster — but that would kill the margins. This way, Nokia kills its fans, which is a sad thing. Hopefully, the upcoming N900 Rover will be a completely different story — can’t wait to give it a try.

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) unveiled the first official Android-powered Philips phone – V900. Actually, it’s China Mobile’s own flavor of Android called Open Mobile System (OMS), which is also known as OPhone.

We don’t know the release date nor pricing, but we do know the specs. There’s WiFi on board (actually some Chinese version called WAPI), 3.2 megapixel camera, standard 3.5mm headset jack, and a 1450 mAh battery. Moreover, we have tons of photos, compliments to 163.com. Enjoy!

Finally, we do wonder whether Philips will bring this baby outside of China. We would certainly love it!

[Via: phandroid, unwired]

I can understand that the iPhone can the best-selling device in Japan, but I never envisioned it as the best camera phone. Quite the contrary, there are a number of handsets made by the likes of Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE), LG and Samsung that not only come with 5, 8 and 12 megapixel cameras, but also have better optics. The problem, it seems, is in the not-that-convenient process of uploading photos to Flickr, or maybe not that many Flickr users rely on their non-iPhone handsets for taking photos. Whatever the case is, this is a good news for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) fanboys worldwide.

It’s also worth point out that there’s only one Apple iPhone listed, which I guess, means all three iPhones (the original, 3G and 3GS) are combined for the statistics. On that note, maybe it would be fair to combine the two Canon Rebels on the list as well, and get the real picture…

[Via: Gizmodo]

Now here’s a useful and inspiring concept design. Designer Seonkeun Park has put together a Braille Concept Phone for those with visual impairments. The phone of course has a Braille keypad, but more importantly than that is the top ’screen’. This area of the phone would provide information that we’d normally see on our devices’ screens, but in Braille. ‘Electric Active Plastic’ would be used in the ’screen’ area to allow for messages and more to pop up in Braille code. I’m not sure what ‘Electric Active Plastic’ is, but hey, I’m digging this design. Besides its obvious uses for those with visual impairments, the phone looks mighty good as well. More images after the break.

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If there was any doubt of an impending BlackBerry Bold 9700 or BlackBerry 9900 launch, we can add more fuel to the fire today. Seems as though the folks over at BlackBerryInsight caught a glimpse of both devices over at Handango. While searching the compatible devices list over at the software mega-store, the BlackBerry 9700 and 9900 were clearly visible.

Of course, this was probably just someone jumping the gun on their end… I just hopped on over to Handango to try for myself, and couldn’t find the 9700 or 9900. Whatever the case, take this as a sign that more BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) goodness is coming down the tubes in the near future.

Just in case you thought there’s no way Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) could succeed in the Land of the rising Sun, check this out – the iPhone 3GS 32GB is the number 1 best-selling handset in Japan. Moreover, the 16GB model also found its place on the list, which is awesome for Apple’s shareholders and fanboys globally.

Kudos to Apple for getting its piece of the action in the single most-advanced mobile phone market in the world, despite the fact their baby lacks the ever so popular 1seg mobile TV receiver, which is usually found in Japanese high-end devices.

The complete top 10 list of best-selling devices for the month of July follows after the jump…

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SouthernLINC Wireless has a new device in its offering – the super, ultra rugged Motorola (NYSE: MOT) r765. The radio-inspired iDEN phone may be as hell, but it works in the noisiest of environments, which is usually one of the top requirements of the push-to-talk service users.

Aside from boasting military-grade ruggedness, the r765 also boasts a GPS receiver, and is Bluetooth enabled. Again it’s the services such as emergency group calling, isolated site operation, status messaging and multi-simultaneous talkgroup calling where Moto’s phone really shines.

Those interested should check out SouthernLINC’s website for more information. The price is whooping $850 with a contract…