The Samsung Epix, as it's known on AT&T, recently joined the herd of others cluttering up the carrier's shelves after being known elsewhere for the longest time as the SGH-i907. For those teetering on a purchase, the cats at Pocketnow have some valuable insight you should probably chew on first. For starters, they found the screen to be stout and the optical joystick to be "fantastic," though the dearth of in-box amenities was a bit of a letdown. On a very positive note, the reviewer never once had to initiate a soft reboot, and the ginormous 1800mAh battery got him through a solid 1.5 days of heavy usage before calling it quits. Unfortunately, the lackluster software suite was the Achilles' heel; critics found that Samsung's Windows Mobile overlays and additions were ho hum at best, and the complete omission of a soft reset hole was just unacceptable. The bottom line? You should probably give this one a handle in-store before buying blind -- as lovely as some aspects are, you don't want to buy into a device that's frustrating to use.

It's already been floating around for a day or two, but Samsung and AT&T have decided to go ahead and follow up their latest WinMo smartphone's release to stores with... oh, you know, some actual press material. The i907 Epix rundown goes something like this: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, 3.6Mbps HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth, 2-megapixel cam, AGPS with AT&T Navigator, Video Share support, 320 x 320 2.5-inch touchscreen display, and one of those crazy "optical mice" for on-screen navigation when using the touchscreen itself is just too much trouble. Get it now (or yesterday, if you were really on the ball) for $99.99 on a two-year contract.

We've gotten a number of reports today that the Samsung i907 Epix is turning up in sundry AT&T stores across the lands, and those claims are certainly backed up by a fresh retail unboxing of Sammy's WinMo 6.1 Professional monster for AT&T that's turned up over on Boy Genius Report. "Monster" is the right word here, too, in light of Mr. Genius' claims that the Epix seems to be just about the thickest device offered by the carrier outside the beastly Tilt -- not the news we wanted to hear about a QWERTY handset that looks from a distance to be no more imposing than a BlackJack. The optical mouse is cool, don't get us wrong, but is it cool enough to justify a conspicuous bulge in our pocket?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

This week is the week for Pantech and Sony Ericsson fans on AT&T to break out the bubbly and throw a wild, crazy party, because the trick dual-sliding C740 Matrix will be joining the W760a (check the gallery) for release on Thursday; they'll be available for $79.99 and $129.99, respectively. Down the road, we're now seeing signs of a Pantech "Slate" running $49.99 and a Samsung "Propel" for $79.99 (in three available colors, no less), the latter of which is signed up for a late October release, but we really don't know much more about 'em.

We don't have dates, but it looks like that Samsung Epix will suck $199.99 out of your wallet after rebates, and the Fuze will run $299.99. Finally, we're seeing an AT&T "Quickfire" that's due in late October just like that Samsung Propel -- but unfortunately, we don't know much about this one, either. Any educated (or completely wild) guesses?

[Thanks, Kal]

Okay, bear with us here, because the road to this device is a winding one, to say the least: first, there was the Samsung i780 that launched in Europe. It was informally and unofficially branded the BlackJack III, thanks to its obvious resemblance to Samsung's own BlackJack series that has been a stalwart of AT&T's 3G lineup since its early days. More recently, we caught wind of an i907 that would be launching on AT&T's airwaves in the next few weeks; thanks to the model number's proximity to that of the i900 Omnia, it didn't take long for rumors to spread that it'd be an AT&T-branded version of the i900 -- but a counter-rumor claimed that it would actually take the form of the good ol' i780. A training pamphlet now circulating seems to have sealed the deal that this will, in fact, be a tweaked i780, which means we can expect Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, a full QWERTY keyboard, optical mouse, and HSDPA. What's more, the "Mirage" name we'd heard seems to have been tossed out for the way (way) cooler "Epix." Still no word on an exact release date or price, but considering the hefty specs we're expecting and the smartphone label, we're not exactly counting on a free-on-contract deal here.