These days, voice is the tip of the iceberg. Carriers are always -- and we do mean always -- looking for crafty ways to boost their average revenue per user, and with everyone and their brother offering an unlimited voice plan at this point, it's about data and value-add services more than it ever has been before. To that end, Verizon and AT&T have embraced MediaFLO as a way to keep their subscribers entertained on the road to the tune of a few extra bucks per month. AT&T's service, simply christened Mobile TV, has just launched with a pair of devices from Samsung and LG; naturally, we wanted to know whether the phones were worth the $199 and $299 AT&T's asking, respectively -- but perhaps more importantly, we had to figure out whether the service was worth sucking another $15 a month out of our already-strained wallets.

We had a little thumb-print orgy with the new HTC Touch Diamond immediately following its launch. Light and small, the Touch Diamond comes off as a unit with promise. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a while to get our hands on this via a US carrier, but Orange users in the UK will no doubt be pretty happy with this new handset, the first of its kind to use Windows Mobile 6.1.

Check out the gallery below, complete with comments and interface walk-through. A couple vids after the break, too!

So our friendly local postman dropped this little gem off at our door this morning! That's right, your eyes don't deceive you -- it's an LG Vu of the CU920 variety, complete with Mobile TV support. We haven't had a chance to get the TV service up and running just yet, but we wanted to throw up a few visuals for everyone to feast on. In short, the screen's beautiful, we're pretty happy with the touch control so far, and we're pretty shocked at just how light this phone is. Click on, people! Do it!

Windows Mobile Standard devices are a whole heck of a lot more refined now than they were in the early days, aren't they? Manufacturers have figured out what form factors seem to work best, the quality of the hardware has improved by leaps and bounds (though it admittedly can't ever really be good enough), and the handsets continue to find ways to squeeze blood out of the WinMo 6 stone by way of new capabilities and new skins. The i640v from Samsung -- a Vodafone exclusive for the moment, hence the "v" -- represents the pinnacle of everything Samsung has learned about making these non-touchscreen smartphones over the last several years, and we can honestly say it's one of the most refined and most attractive Windows Mobile phones we've ever used, period. It's pleasantly compact when closed, sliding open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard only when needed, and the mirrored finish with chrome accents gives it a high-end touch without crossing the gaudy line. The nav wheel spins just like the BlackJack II's, but the larger diameter is a welcome addition and makes navigating Vodafone's custom skin a breeze.

Samsung, T-Mobile, AT&T -- we implore you, bring a version of this to the States, preferably one with 3G that we can use, k? Thanks!

Thanks to the good folks at Wireless Imports for the hookup!

Gallery:

The next episode of the ubiquitous Pearl is now available in T-Mobile stores across the land, bringing the spec sheet in line with the features Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T customers have been enjoying for a little while now -- a 2 megapixel camera, external microSD slot, and 3.5mm headphone jack, just to name a few. Unlike the 8130 for CDMA networks, the 8120 that T-Mobile and AT&T share adds a 802.11b/g radio, but the T-Mobile version packs yet a couple more tricks up its sleeve -- you know, the ones you'd probably expect of any modern T-Mobile phone with WiFi, namely support for myFaves and HotSpot@Home. That last bit about the WiFi calling is where it gets really interesting. Put simply, the experience we had setting up, using, and making calls with the new Pearl linked up to our router was the best we've had so far with any HotSpot@Home device; it definitely seems like T-Mobile and RIM are learning a thing or two about how to make this a truly seamless and painless process. A "UMA" indicator on the display lets you know that calls are being routed over the service, but if you're not paying attention to it, you might never know it's happening -- it's just that good. Grab it starting today for a shade under $150 on contract, or if you'd prefer to keep your money firmly in your pocket, you can still live vicariously through our gallery here!

We're still smarting from the apparent cancelation of the fabulously powerful K850 from AT&T's 2008 lineup, but as consolation prizes go, the Z750a ain't bad. That being said, it's solidly seated in the midrange, which seems like an unusual place for Sony Ericsson's very first carrier-launched 3G handset for the US to be; the 2 megapixel camera isn't going to "wow" anyone, and the choice of colorful, ultra-gloss shells definitely limits the phone's appeal to a certain demographic. On the bright side, the music player has an XMB appeal to it -- users of other recent Sony Ericssons will feel right at home with the app -- and it's one of the better built-in players currently available on any handset. The Memory Stick Micro slot makes that player just a little trickier to use for anyone that isn't already using Sony Ericsson kit, but c'est la vie, we suppose. Check out some shots in our handy dandy gallery here.

"Kyocera" and "GSM" are two words we're not used to putting in the same sentence, but we're going to have to start warming up to it now that the company has come rolling into CTIA with a full fleet of four GSM devices. Both its GSM and CDMA lineups here range from the very low end to the midrange; nothing terribly exciting, though the E3500 clamshell features a pretty familiar RAZR 2-esque design on the outside (complete with music controls) while managing to push the price point considerably lower -- of course, one only need open it up and glance at the size of the screen to see where the costs were cut.

Over on the CDMA side, we handled a limited edition Wild Card for Virgin -- not bad at all -- but the real draw here has to be the Neo E1100 with its "light-pipe" down the front. It's extremely difficult to show it off in pictures, but trust us, it works, and it's bright. Obviously it's a gimmick more than anything else, but rest assured, if your E1100 is sitting across the room on silent, you'll definitely know when you're getting a call.

It's hard to stand out in the sea of Windows Mobile handsets; no smartphone platform is already more stratified, serves more market segments, and offers more form factors, so where's a new entrant supposed to fit in? Somehow, though, Velocity Mobile manages to do exactly that -- partly through an interesting software strategy, partly through sheer brute force of its first devices' impressive spec sheets. We had a chance to check out both the 103 and 111 models that'll lead off Velocity's production roadmap, and while they don't really look much different than your average high-end WinMo handsets, the flush touchscreens, trackballs, and clean lines all feel great to the touch. We're told that Velocity's slick, finger-friendly, widget-based interface will improve over time; the improvements will be made available to all existing owners, too, so don't let that little fact deter an early purchase.

A quick visit to HTC's CTIA outpost yielded dividends in the form of two little gems announced this week: the American version of the HTC Touch Dual and the Verizon XV6900, a bleached Touch with a Verizon logo slapped in place of the Sprint one. Both of these phones are rehashes of existing products, and there's really very little to say about them -- other than a heartfelt "yippee," we suppose, seeing how they're both intended for 3G in North American markets. We really enjoyed the appearance of the XV6900 -- white's definitely a color that suits it well, and while the bright shell's probably going to keep it out of the office, we think Verizon might have a consumer-market smartphone winner on its hands. You know the drill: click on!

The great unasked question, "what would a buttoned-up, business smartphone look like in the same color as this pie I'm eating?" has finally been answered, thanks to the good folks at Motorola. This here Q9c is destined for Alltel and US Cellular, and we have to admit, it's actually pretty attractive. Could we actually see ourselves sliding one in our pocket? Eh, that might be going a bit far, but we think they'll manage to push a few of these suckers off shelves.

Putting Windows Mobile 6's user interface at ease with fat fingers is a monumental challenge -- but it's not a challenge manufacturers are shying away from. Perhaps they see devices like the iPhone as a threat they can't ignore any longer, or perhaps they're simply tired of waiting for Microsoft to roll something truly revolutionary, but at any rate, companies like HTC with its TouchFLO interface are doing pretty much everything they can to keep the stylus firmly locked away. That's where the LG KS20 comes into play, which steals as much of the Viewty's identity as it can while still keeping Windows Mobile 6 under the hood.

LG's effort results in limited success. The home screen is about as attractive as any we've seen on a WinMo 6 Professional handset, but it's not particularly useful beyond the plain-vanilla functionality beyond what you'd see on any device in this class. No big, pretty clock, no weather widget -- just a nice color scheme and a four-pack of touchable buttons above the two regular soft keys. Hitting the right three buttons will take you to the normal dialer, messaging, and browser apps, respectively, while the leftmost button takes you to another Viewty-esque display for launching apps. It's nice, but we noticed that it's not difficult to confuse the phone into reverting back to the normal, stock launcher, which looks starkly out of place in this glossy beaut.

As usual, the lack of North American HSDPA is a dismal downside, too. Bottom line? It's a great looking device -- but don't expect LG to have worked any miracles with the platform.

Thanks to the good folks at Wireless Imports for the hookup!

We've finally seen the M8 in the wild, made with real molecules -- sort of. The prototype being passed around doesn't really function beyond showing a few screens, though a rough cut of the full interface was available on a decidedly un-M8 looking prototype board. Check out our comprehensive coverage of the device, which looks nothing like the iPhone, below!

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As sexy as the idea of a keypadless, pebble-shaped device with a full-face touchscreen may be, for some, there's simply no replacement for the real thing. A real, physical keypad continues to be a necessity for some folks, and for as much popularity as devices like the Touch and iPhone have garnered, old-fashioned keys really aren't going anywhere any time soon. HTC recognized this pretty quickly and followed up the Touch with the Touch Dual, a phone that carries over most of the original device's high points while adding in 3G data and, perhaps even more notably, a keypad that tucks neatly away when it's not needed.

Thanks to the good folks at Wireless Imports for the hookup!

After spending some quality time with Samsung's ACE for Sprint the past few days, yep, we can now say with confidence what we've suspected all along: it's essentially a BlackJack in Sprint clothing. Actually, it's more accurate to say that it's 95 percent BlackJack and 5 percent improvement, with a more inward-slanted, square d-pad that makes it considerably harder to accidentally hit the surrounding controls, and angled keys that offer an embedded numeric pad in the proper configuration (we appreciate what Samsung tried to do with the original BlackJack's every-other-key layout, but in practice, it just didn't work out). The Windows Mobile 6 Standard software load is fairly typical, albeit mildly Sprint-ified with a yellow theme and shortcuts to access On Demand, Sprint TV, and the like. The phone seemed reasonably snappy, and the EV-DO modem hauled butt when we downloaded the Sprint TV client; don't expect that kind of performance overseas, though, as the ACE's GSM radio lacks any sort of 3G. Check out the gallery for all the glamor shots -- the Sprint-branded SIM card gets us every time!

Well, you knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. We've gotten our mitts on Palm's latest entry to the AT&T lineup -- a white, gray, and neon-green unicorn known as the Centro. We can't say we're surprised about anything that happened when we opened it up and turned it on, as this model is pretty much identical to the Sprint version we manhandled a few months ago (save for that pesky difference in networks). Of course, the proof is in the Garnet-flavored pudding, and we're not seeing any big differences there, except that this model is sporting the Treo 680 phone tabbed phone interface. Check out the gallery below and experience the thrilling "you are there" feeling of getting a brand-spanking-new phone.