They say "there's no such thing as a free lunch." They also say "there's no such thing as an unlimited contract-free $45 monthly unlimited plan that offers awesome phones," so we're not terribly surprised to see that TracFone's new blowout offering -- dubbed Straight Talk -- is rife with ancient Motorolas (with a RAZR V3a thrown in for good measure, of course) and an LG flip that we're pretty sure we saw McClane use in the first Die Hard. Then again, the plan becomes the one of the cheapest for unlimited voice and text anywhere -- and if you're less heavy on the minutes you can even step down to 1,000 minutes and 1,000 texts for $30 -- so we'll let it slide. But seriously, TracFone, we expect a V9 by 2012.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Here's a fact: the world really doesn't need another mildly tweaked Aura. Sorry, it just doesn't. That being true and all, we're still pretty jazzed to see Motorola giving the ultra-luxurious handset another go with the moon-themed Celestial Edition. Word on the street has it that this here handset won't deviate much from the predecessor, but it will come pre-loaded with multimedia from the original moon landing mission, a laser etched quote honoring the 40th anniversary of the journey and a price tag that's far, far beyond stratospheric. We're told that it's all set to go on sale next month, but good luck finding one.

[Via phoneArena]

Want a sneak peek at Motorola's first Android phone? Well, you're looking in decidedly the wrong place -- but if you want to know what's coming down the pike in the company's low-end stable (and who doesn't?), look no further than our dear friends at the Bluetooth SIG. Ever since the SIG's database started offering Mr. Blurrycam-style shots of upcoming products, we've really started to warm up to their ways -- and the VE440 is the latest to roll up to the counter. There's not much to see here, but we know from the SIG filing that it's a CDMA phone destined for North American markets, so we wouldn't be surprised to see this on, say, Cricket or MetroPCS in the near future.

[Via mobile-review]

We've been playing with Motorola's recently-announced Endeavor HX1 for the past few hours, and we're just going to come right out with it: this is the best Bluetooth headset we've ever used. Moto claims that the HX1 is the world's first consumer headset to use "true bone conduction technology," a veiled (but obvious) reference to the external cheek-resting sensor found on Jawbone's devices -- and indeed, the Jawbone Prime is the most obvious direct competitor to the HX1. Both devices offer decent styling, feature optional earloops and a selection of earbuds for a tighter fit, are being positioned as premium headsets, and -- most importantly -- pack a ton of innovative circuitry all in the name of cutting noise in harsh surroundings. Follow the break for our quick impressions!

We've been hearing about this one since the wee months of the year, so it's good to see Motorola and AT&T come to the table to finally make it happen. The QA1 Karma follows the ever-popular QWERTY route, this time in a portrait slider configuration (a la Samsung Propel) with 3G, support for AT&T Navigator, a 2 megapixel camera, and a 2.5-inch QVGA display. A little like the Hint, ain't it? Find it in stores starting June 28 for $79.99 on contract after a $50 rebate. Follow the break for AT&T's unboxing (and it's even available in HD, if you're into that sort of thing).

Is the world ready for a white, black, and shiny metallic blue Android phone? Well, the world may not have to be -- but we strongly suspect this picture claiming to be the Motorola "Morrison" for T-Mobile USA is real since it exactly matches the thumbnail in that leaked roadmap from a while back. We can only guess from the coloration that this is likely going to be billed as a youth device -- and Motorola's said in the past that it wants to build its Android lineup around a social networking platform, which all the kiddies are into these days -- so we're thinking this could end up being positioned below the G1 and its contemporaries / successors in T-Mobile's catalog. Would we buy it? Yeah, maybe -- the keyboard looks usable, but maybe we're still so Android-starved around here that our judgment can't be trusted.

[Thanks, Stanley]

Remember that Motorola i856 we told you about way back in March? It's now lost its FCC innocence, garnering external photos and a user's manual for our excited perusal. As phones go, it's nothing much to look at -- but this is iDEN we're talking about, where sliders and multimedia features are still awfully hard to come by . Indeed, the i856 has a dedicated music button right on its face, a far cry from the ultra-rugged workabout Nextels of yore. Probably not a fit for construction site types, but for your average Boost Mobile customer, this'll definitely be a win. No word on a release date or a full list of carrier partners just yet.

The Casio Exilim was the big news out of Verizon this week, but it wasn't the only anticipated model to finally get announced for the carrier. The Motorola A455 Rival sorta reminds us of LG's Neon for AT&T, offering a touchscreen basically for the sole purpose of on-screen dialing so you don't need to slide out the keyboard or do anything crazy with the d-pad just to place a call; otherwise, you've got a 2 megapixel cam, EV-DO, VZ Navigator, and microSD expansion to 8GB. Even though the Neon's the doppelganger here, the Rival's priced more like the upmarket Xenon -- $99.99 on contract after rebate -- and is available now in your choice of silver and purple.

Read - Tin Silver
Read - Purple

Boost Mobile's i9 stands head and shoulders above the rest of the carrier's line as its clear-cut hero device, but there's a problem -- the launch color, kind of a dark bronze, was a little bland. That's not cool for an iDEN flip this far up into the rare air, is it? Of course not, so we're glad to see that they've partnered up with Moto to bring out the so-called Stature in a second (more fitting) color, red. It's available now for exactly the same price as the original that's been available since February, $299.99.

Last time we saw the Rival in action, Mr. Blurrycam was in full effect, so we're happy to see that someone with steadier hands decided to step in and do the deed this time around. The QWERTY side slider -- which could very well launch tomorrow on Verizon -- is a simple text-centric device, which seems to be about the most popular mobile meme going right now. It's really not a bad looking phone (we particularly like the white), and if it's dirt cheap on contract, we'd wager they'll sell a few, especially considering the EV-DO support and decent 2 megapixel cam resolution.

Despite the A1600 and A1800, Motorola's soldiering on with variants of the original circa-2006 MING -- for reasons only known to the company's most senior, jaded product managers, we'd imagine -- and the A1200R's the latest fruit of those efforts. The QVGA touchscreen, 2 megapixel camera, translucent lid, and Linux core all carry over from the original, but the A1200R ups the ante with a new widget platform that lets the user customize little tidbits of information (news, weather, and so on) to be shown on the home screen. Also new to the model is an Office document viewer, but what isn't new is the fact that the US will almost certainly never get it; it's been announced in Argentina, which makes it a likely target for a variety of South American countries over the next few months.

[Via Unwired View]

Okay, we think we're starting to get a good picture for how T-Mobile's Android plans for the year are going to play out (naturally, this is all subject to change -- we doubt the manufacturers know precisely when they'll be ready with this stuff, much less the carrier). That seemingly leaked roadmap has now revealed its final Android-based treasure, a Motorola "Morrison" that looks a heck of a lot like the device we'd seen leaked through some Wal-mart docs. Granted, there's a silver bar at the bottom here that isn't present in the earlier picture, but they could easily be different generations of rendered mockups, so we're not putting too much weight on that discrepancy. The roadmap currently has the Morrison pegged for the holiday season, so there'll be plenty of Android devices available to you before you get a crack at this one -- which probably isn't how Moto would like to see it work out, but hey, them's the breaks.

Following the seemingly unstoppable trend toward QWERTY and heavy texting in the low end of the market, Motorola has announced its very first iDEN device to ever feature a full keyboard. The rumored i465 looks just a little better in glamorous press shots than it did before, and it's picked up a name along the way -- Clutch. Naturally, Boost Mobile is a perfect fit for the thing, and the Sprint division looks to be launching this quarter. Specs include Bluetooth 1.2, a 160 x 128 display, video capture via a VGA cam (hey, it's low-end, what did you expect?), and mil-spec compliance for shock, vibration, and all that good stuff that you might need when your phone hits the pavement. Pricing will be announced closer to launch, but we don't expect it to break the bank.

Motorola needed to release an Android set about six months ago, but we know these things take time -- and if it's any consolation, it sounds like the first fruits of the labor could be pretty awesome. Boy Genius Report now claims that the rumored landscape QWERTY slider Calgary will be the first Android-powered Moto device to go commercial, though it's not clear when (or where) it'll hit shelves; given the device's seemingly unusual appearance and the possibility (foolish hope?) that they'll be infusing some customizations into the UI, they might just have an angle to attack offerings from HTC and others. That's not all for the Android department, though -- it looks like there might also be a portrait QWERTY slider in the works for the third quarter codenamed "Ironman," pictured, which will pack 3G, WiFi, and some sort of high-res camera. In other words, a solidly high-end device. Bring it on, guys.

Moving on, it seems the lovely full touchscreen Flash has been canned, along with the Krave's successor, the Inferno -- possibly further confirmation that Moto's throwing virtually all its weight into the Android camp at this point. Finally, rumor has it that a device codenamed "Rolex" is in the labs -- and as you might've guessed, it uses the Aura's astonishingly awesome ultra-high-res circular display. Odds are this is another luxury phone given its aspirational name and the screen being used, but a poor guy can dream.

Read - Calgary, Inferno, Flash, and Rolex
Read - Ironman