Field tidbits from Engadget's mobile insider, The Boy Genius.

Remember way back when we caught wind that AT&T was eying Sony Ericsson's initial American 3G efforts -- the Z750 and K850 -- for release? Well, it's looking good! This slide, imploring employees to focus on "exclusives," shows us that AT&T has locked onto launching a version of the K850 as the "Ansel" (seriously?) come next March. Seems like an awfully long time to wait, but in the meantime, we can check out the MediaFLO-equipped LG Vu in January. Why must you make it so hard on us, LG -- Voyager or Vu? Decisions, decisions!

Field tidbits from Engadget's mobile insider, The Boy Genius.

If you close your eyes and trace your fingers along the midrange W490, you could almost fool yourself into thinking it's a KRZR -- open your eyes, though, and you'll discover that it's a whole lot more colorful for a fraction of the price. The handset launches on October 1 in "licorice" (you may know it better as black) for $49.99 on a two-year contract, but bright green and purple are on the docket in the not-too-distant future, fitting for a phone that T-Mobile is positioning to take over for the discontinued RAZR V3t. Features include a 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD slot, the obligatory myFaves support, and Bluetooth, and the carrier is saying that it's using the handset to take aim at Verizon's u540, Sprint's M500, and Samsung's SYNC. The first two we can see, but isn't the SYNC just a tick higher on the totem pole? At any rate, look for it as an "exclusive" to T-Mobile's retail stores, Target, and Costco on launch day with full availability following on the 8th.

Field tidbits from Engadget's mobile insider, the Boy Genius.

Did you know that AT&T plans on marketing the N75 to males and females ages 25 to 45? Or that said individuals should be "spontaneous and fun"? Personally, we think that North America's first 3G-compatible S60 device suits 18 year old curmudgeons and 80 year old hermits just as well as it does anyone else -- just don't expect your friendly local AT&T sales associate to agree after he or she takes a gander at AT&T's training guide for the device. Nothing too surprising in here from a device features perspective, though we're glad to see that AT&T lists "hundreds of compatible applications" as one of Symbian's selling points, suggesting that the carrier is going to be making at least a half-hearted attempt to keep the phone open. Hit the gallery for the full doc!

Field report tidbits from Engadget's mobile insider, the Boy Genius.

We have some additional details to fill in some blanks created by Sprint's last roadmap document -- nothing groundbreaking, but we now know exactly what it is that'll be discontinued over the next few months, and admittedly, there are a few surprises. But before we talk about phones riding off into the sunset, let's touch on some new arrivals, shall we? The PPC-6800 and Treo 755p are set to show on on exactly the same day -- May 14 -- which should lead to an interesting sales face-off. Sprint's brief description of the 755p is kinda interesting: "1st Palm EVDO Treo w/intern antenna. In box support for IM, NFL Mobile, Mobile Voice Control, voice dialing, replaces Treo 700P." Actually, it's not that interesting, we just really like to see the phrase "1st Palm EVDO Treo w/intern antenna" all official-like. Also of note, the Sanyo Katana II hits June 18 to replace the Katana (obviously), though Sanyo fans' excitement is going to be quelled a bit by the knowledge that the M1 is now chalked up for decommissioning in the May - June timeframe. Seems like a short life for a relatively powerful handset, no? Anyhoo, follow the break for a full list of Sprint pieces getting the proverbial axe in the coming months.

Sprint's "3 Month View" spreadsheet makes for some absolutely fascinating reading -- as long as it proves to be nonfiction, anyway. The document gives us an in-depth look at Sprint's (and Nextel's) launches for the months of April, May, and June, and needless to say, we're liking what we're seeing. Starting with standard phones, the Samsung M300 should make its grand entrance next month in silver alongside the Sanyo 3200 -- which replaces the 3100 -- in black, blue, and pink (the latter will run $200; no pricing on the former yet). Moving upmarket, the Samsung M510 replaces the M500 in May for an as-yet-undetermined price. In PDA land, no surprises here; the HTC Titan launches in PPC-6800 guise next month (sorry, no price here either), as does the Palm Treo 755p in blue and burgundy. Nextel users get the ic502 in black with an extended battery bundled (whooptie doo) for $270 next month, and if you wait until June, you'll get a crack at the ic902. Finally, road warriors will be pleased to hear that the Rev. A ExpressCard AC595E from Sierra Wireless gets launched in May, though a price remains to be set.

[Thanks, Terry]

Rumors are just that -- rumors -- until they start to take shape and more people can confirm them. That being said, this one's pretty juicy: sources tell us AT&T the BlackBerry 8300 has appeared on their internal website with a tentative ("tentative" as in "close our eyes and hope for the best") launch date of May 25th. That date would fall right in line with Boy Genius and his predictions, making for a fabulous month of May (for BlackBerry fans, anyhow!).

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

And just when we thought "LAZR" was about the least creative name Motorola could've possibly dreamed up for its shiny morsel with the giant external screen, Boy Genius reports that the handset will roll out the door with the "RAZR 2" moniker instead. The choice of verbage there is actually very interesting, because it indicates that Moto views this clamshell as the true successor to the RAZR -- not only one of the first true fashion phones, but the singular device that pulled Motorola out of its rut and back into the manufacturer big leagues. Whether the RAZR 2 will be able to perform the same magic trick, of course, remains to be seen. Boy Genius also reports that the phone will be available in both GSM and CDMA versions (cross your fingers, Sprint and Verizon customers) and will in fact rock a memory expansion slot by the time it makes it into stores. We're wearing our lucky baseball caps today in the hope we see it in official form this week at CTIA in Orlando, and we suggest y'all do the same.

Field report tidbits from mobile insider Boy Genius.

Sit back and relax while we take you on a tour of the new BlackBerry 8300's OS, aptly named 4.2.2. New features -- which were reported here -- include built-in Spell Check, Full Screen Mode while playing videos, creating and managing custom folders, and much more. The camera application has an amazing light sensor that will gage the surrounding light and turn on the flash or not (much improved from the Pearl). The speakers for playing audio and video are extremely loud, yet still manage to sound pretty full. Let's not forget the keyboard of the 8300 which is probably the biggest improvement overall. Click on for the full OS walkthough!

You know there's nothing we adore more than snapshots of our favorite gear that we sadly can't touch just yet, and the BoyGenius himself has snapped up the elusive BlackBerry 8300 just days after codename "Daytona" first hit the 'net as a plainly labeled evaluation unit. Reportedly, the 8300 is a hair slimmer / smaller than the 8800, features an "outstanding" integrated speaker, and touts a much more manageable and responsive keyboard to boot. Interestingly, his unit didn't seem to sport video recording nor WiFi (bummer), and it was constructed primarily of plastic and soft rubber accents, which apparently added up to a fairly stylish device. The built-in OS was AT&T branded, but did feature a spell checker, fullscreen mode for playing back videos, and the ability to "create your own folders on the home screen and move any applications in and out of those folders." Not much nitty gritty beyond that, but be sure to click on through for a few closeups, and hit the read link for the full rundown of snapshots.

We knew our pal Boy Genius would be able to get his hands on the much anticipated BlackBerry 8800, and sure enough, he did. BG was able to obtain the svelte new RIM device by any means necessary through completely legitimate channels for preview. From the initial pictures, the 8800 is thicker than we anticipated, only beating the current 8700 by a marginal amount. This device is setup for Wi-Fi, so it only makes sense that T-mobile might be getting this version. We should know more when the device launches later on this month on the orange splat.

Check out some more pics after the break!

Maybe our good friend Boy Genius has a crystal ball to see into the future or maybe he just has all the right connections, but either way he's on point again. Motorola announced that they will be giving a customized MOTORIZR Z3 to the top 25 nominees from this years Oscar awards. As it turns out, the winners of the soon-to-be released (stateside) slider will come in a custom made box with the nominees name on it along with H800 and S9 Bluetooth headsets. Now, if the nominees were getting that svelte Z6 slider we've been talking about, we might just have to make a move for one of them.

First we were teased with the marketing photos, then there was the instruction manual, now our good friend Boy Genius gives us a hands-on with the Motorola MAXX Ve for Verizon Wireless. From the pics of the larger outside display to the redesigned keypad, it's looking so svelte. Let's not forget the lovely Verizon UI and the 2 megapixel shooter with auto focus. Too bad The Network and Motorola left out VCAST TV because we'd love to watch it on this QVGA!

Cingular's latest accessory price sheet, which covers the period from January 21 to March 31, reassuringly makes copious mention of RIM's upcoming BlackBerry 8800 (in familiar "c" trim for Cingular, of course) -- and seeing how this is an accessory sheet, it's given us some insight into what sorts of goodies the store clerk will be able to pack in that goody bag of ours on launch day for a little extra coin. $30 ($29.99 to be exact, but you get the drift) will net you a leather pouch, sure to stave off the inevitable marring of your baby's casing for a few minutes, days, or -- who knows? -- weeks. The 8800's section also lists a wired stereo headset for $30 and Aliph's highly-praised Bluetooth Jawbone headset for a stiff $120. Throw in a $50 spare battery to boot and the phone's out-the-door list price is starting to look a little misleading, isn't it?

Have you ever heard the saying, "You can't have too much of a good thing?" We wholeheartedly believe that was well and find it as our duty to bring you more photos of the S710, aka the HTC Vox. Striking a close resemblance to the HTC Libra, the Vox has been updated to sport a 4-way directional key and the space bar was pushed closer to the center for what should be a better user experience. Still no word on whether or not this will have any UMTS loving for us yanks, but we have to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

[Via Boy Genius Report]