Seriously, RIM, at this point you might as well just announce the Kickstart flip phone and let us officially request something more than EDGE data, because this thing isn't exactly under wraps any more. The latest set of photos by our pal Mr. Blurrycam don't really reveal anything we didn't know apart from confirming that the Kickstart is still something of an ungainly beast -- especially when set down next to the Bold. Oh, and there's the first picture we've seen of the front 160 x 128 LCD display and 2 megapixel camera. Yeah, it looks like just every other flip phone with an external display and a camera -- but if you're a Berryman (or Berrylady), there's a couple more shots at the read link to keep you warm until this thing finally hits.

While our homeboy Boy Genius may not be quite as well-known for his Moto scoopage as he is for his streak of RIM leaks, we're totally intrigued by his report today that Moto is working on an 8 megapixel phone code named "Alexander" that's being internally described as the company's "last stand." The unit is said to feature an NVIDIA-sourced chipset for video and 3G graphics (Tegra, perhaps?), an integrated GPS chip, and "probably" running "UIQ 4.0 or higher." It's not confirmed whether it'll have a touchscreen or what the final form factor will be, but release is set for October, and BGR says that if it's a flop the Moto brass will give up and sell the company off. That's a lot of pressure -- but with Moto's struggles lately, we can't say there's much to lose by betting the company.

There's a lot of hoopla today over a Wall Street Journal piece stating that Google's first Android device has been pushed back to late 2008 for release -- yet the article fails to mention that this is right inline with what Google has been saying for quite awhile now. Admittedly, the fresh-faced mobile competitor probably is finding itself somewhat mired in carrier demands, which doesn't seem unexpected given the broad swath of partners it's collaborating with and the open source nature of the project, but as phone release schedules go, it hasn't veered off the path much. The breakdown is something like this: from what we've been told, you can expect an Android-powered handset before the new year (i.e., HTC's Dream driven by Google's OS), followed by a crop of higher profile phones showing up in early 2009 (as previously stated by companies like LG and Samsung). So... feel free to switch off the alarms anytime you like.

[Via GigaOM]

We're just four days away from WWDC, so the rumor mill is churning at a fever pitch -- and the latest context-less bits of info to emerge from the churn are these purported photos of the 3G iPhone's touchscreens over at iLounge. Yeah, that's touchscreens, plural -- if these are to believed, Apple's got two sizes of iPhone in store for us on Monday: a 3.2-inch model, and a smaller 2.8-inch model. Note that both of those sizes are smaller than the current iPhone's 3.5-inch screen, which seems slightly implausible -- but kinda-sorta matches up with other rumors we've heard, including those persistent "iPhone nano" whispers from last year. We still really doubt that Apple will shrink the iPhone's screen size, however, and there are literally hundreds of touchscreen iPhone KIRFs these panels could have come from, so we'd say there's a better chance this is just more hype -- but we know y'all have your own ideas. Let us know in comments!

[Thanks, Sleuth]

As we inch towards the towering precipice of WWDC 2008, rumors swirling around Apple's next iteration of the iPhone are being deposited onto the interblogs at an alarming rate. The latest set comes in three distinct flavors, the first of which recalls an earlier story that telcos would be offering subsidies for long-term contract signers. According to separate sources, Spain's Telefonica and the UK's O2 would offer the 3G iPhone at discounted rates (as low as €100) for those willing to put pen to paper, while some are claiming that O2 might also offer a "free" upgrade to the new phone for existing users. In other pot-stirring news, iDealsChina is reporting that the phone will suddenly be 2.0mm shorter and 0.5mm thinner than previously spec'd by Griffin in its new casing molds, thus causing all kinds of trouble for the accessory-maker... and people with big hands. Finally, we can safely report that AT&T has run out of stock of the device online (finally joining Apple). The site claims it's a "temporary" situation -- one which we suspect will be rectified by the appearance of a new model. Time to get in that line?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - Telefonica to be sole distributor of 3G iPhone in Spain for 100 euro
Read - Rumour: O2 plans free iPhone 3G upgrade and pay-as-you-go
Read - iPhone 3G last minute size change!
Read - AT&T iPhone page

So the backstory goes something like this: Swedish publication Elektroniktidningen were looking forward to a meeting with HTC, but the meeting was delayed due to talks of some sort of merger with Sony Ericsson. Everyone panicked: Could HTC be bought by Sony Ericsson? They've already worked together on the Xperia X1, so it could be possible, right? Not so much, according to HTC. Word from them is that this whole this is a bunch of hooey. According to HTC's spokesperson, "This is just a rumor and there is no truth to this statement." For now we're moving along.

Take this one with a huge grain of salt, but some enterprising members of the MacRumors forums went poking around the iPhone SDK files and unearthed what might be an icon representation of the 3G iPhone. (We looked ourselves and it's definitely there.) There's only one tiny image (scaled up on the left), but it's clearly different from the other iPhone icons in the bundle, and it matches up nicely with some of the other leaked images we've been seeing. Of course, this is more likely a bad render or even just temporary art for the SDK, but things certainly seem like they're starting to domino here -- June 9 can't get here fast enough, can it, Steve?

[Thanks, Michael]

Either Apple's getting leakier or the fakers are getting fake...ier, but the latest round of supposed 3G iPhone pictures is upon us courtesy of Dutch site iPhoneclub.nl and our old friend Mr. Blurrycam, and they're pretty convincing. You'll notice that they show a device almost identical to the one in the last set of images we saw, with a white back and three dots inside the earpiece. Of course, that's not to say some aspiring Photoshoppers haven't just been copying each other, but we're not here to kill your dreams, people. You'll just have to trust your friends for that. Hit the read link for the rest of the pics.

Update: Looks like we killed iPhoneclub's website, so check after the break for the other two shots, courtesy of Macfreak.nl.

Next-gen iPhone rumors are swirling fast and furious, but the latest out of iLounge matches up with what we've heard: the 3G iPhone will be glossy black and slightly thicker than before. iLounge says that Apple has once again provided overseas case manufacturers with details of a new device, and they've mocked up the image above as an illustration, with the old model on the left and top for comparison. There's not much to go on, but we're curious as to what that additional front-mounted sensor is, and we know a few people that would kill for a red iPhone. iLounge says that developers and case manufacturers believe the specs to be correct and have already started work on accessories, but only Steve (and a couple hundred Apple employees) know for sure -- the rest of us will just have to wait.

Let's preface this by saying that we honestly have no idea what's going on with the hot BlackBerry 9000, but Fortune is reporting that it's delayed due to either a) AT&T concerns over call quality; b) AT&T concerns over launching a 3G Blackberry and the 3G iPhone at the same time or; c) or something else entirely. That's news to our homeboy Boy Genius, who thinks Fortune needs to start double-checking its model numbers and code names before it starts rumor-mongering, and points out that he's been on top of power-management-related 9000 delays for a while now. Testy! We're a little more inclined to trust BGR on this stuff -- the man's got a point when he says he's gotten pre-release versions of every RIM device since the Pearl 8100, and if the 9000's faster processor and 3G are indeed causing power problems, he's likely to notice. Let's just hope this all gets sorted soon -- we're ready to move on up.

Read - Fortune: "Delay seen for RIM's new Blackberry"
Read - BGR: "Cleaning up those BlackBerry rumors"

Apple's next big event is still over two months away, but the iPhone rumor mill is suddenly in full swing, and we'd say the buzz is back after that short-lived Mossberg "60 days" euphoria wore off. Tgdaily is the one making waves today, claiming that we'll see next-gen 8GB and 16GB iPhones debut at WWDC this June for $399 and $499, and that the iPod touch will always offer twice the storage at any given price point. The new units are said to feature revised casings that eliminate the current model's "plasticky" feel, which is interesting, because that supposedly-leaked image from the other day seems pretty ultra-plasticky to us, but we're not exactly expecting any of these rumors to be true, let alone add up. Other than the re-design, tgdaily says there aren't any OS or interface changes in store, and that Apple is really serious about building the Cocoa Touch platform in addition to OS X-- hence the two bridges on those WWDC invites that went out. That's about it -- nothing too shocking, really, but we'd still take all this stuff with a huge grain of salt until Steve sets things straight.

We hit the show floor excitedly looking for iriver's GSM phone which they showed off earlier in the week, but when we got to their booth, the little guy was nowhere to be found. We managed to wrangle a chat out of some of the company's product designers and marketing people, and they explained their hesitation at continuing to show the W7-cum-GSM-phone due to the similarities of the phones UI to an all-too-familiar device. According to the iriver people, the iPhone-like interface which was showcased originally was only meant to demonstrate what the phone was capable of, not a finalized version of the OS. Of course, it's little consolation to us, having seen a brief snippet of the phone, though we're assured that some new hotness -- or hot newness -- is on the way from the cats in Korea.

Just yesterday we saw some pics of what was being touted as an iPhone running the as-yet-unannounced 1.1.3 firmware version, and now we've got word of some video proof from a pretty reliable source. Nate True, all-around modder and creator of the Walluminate light-up wallet, has a short vid up on his cre.ations.net site that claims to depict that handy home page icon rearrangement feature -- you know, the one that suggests an SDK to make use of all the new slots. Go on, check out the short clip after the break.

[Thanks, Marcus S.]

It's been a hot minute since we've heard any marginally believable chatter surrounding the so-called PSP phone, but the idea of such a device has been given new life thanks to Sony Computer Entertainment co-chief operating officer Jim Ryan. Apparently, Mr. Ryan told the India Times that the "PlayStation is a proven success and so is Sony Ericsson," and that "convergence with the two arms working together is definitely plausible." Granted, he did note that it could be quite some time before such a device would see the market, and that if indeed it did, it would likely resemble a handheld gaming system with a phone blended in and not vice-versa. So yeah, we're not really any closer to knowing whether this thing truly is somewhere in the pipeline, but here's to hoping that we don't have to wait another year or so to find out more.

[Via Stuff]