Well, there you have it: the very real-looking Katana Eclipse pictured in that leaked Sprint roadmap is, in fact, real. The upcoming clamshell flew right on through the FCC recently (filed under new parent Kyocera's name, no less) bearing the expected external music controls and an evolutionary design that's kinda sorta reminiscent of everything that makes the Katana series, the Katana series. We've got EV-DO in here, too, so if we had to guess, this will end up slotting in somewhere toward the bottom of Sprint's midrange when it goes on sale -- which may or may not be August 17 depending on the accuracy of said roadmap.

[Via Cell Phone Signal, thanks Marco]

Though the document doesn't exactly look magazine-quality, this is a case where we'd argue that it doesn't have to be to be real; it's clearly for internal use only, for one thing, and secondly, we don't know where else the picture of that new Sanyo Katana Eclipse would come from. The Eclipse is just one of several pretty nifty releases claimed to be lined up between now and September, with the Motorola VE20 Vegas and a pair of data cards joining it on August 17. September should bring the Motorola i365 and V950 Renegade, Samsung m220 and m320, and the HTC MP6950 -- which we assume to be either the Touch Diamond or Touch Pro -- clearly in desperate need of an actual name by the time it launches. Go-go gadget, product marketing team!

[Thanks, Owen]

In Japan, carriers tend to release new models in giant, blockbuster batches -- seasonal "collections" that leave the rest of the world green with envy. KDDI au is no exception, having just announced its predictably spectacular Summer 2008 lineup with entrants from Kyocera, Sony Ericsson, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba, Casio, and Korea's Pantech. Here's the rundown:

• Hitachi Wooo W62H. KDDI is emphasizing this one's video and 3D gaming capabilities, both of which are assisted by the presence of a 2-way hinge for flipping out the screen in a landscape orientation. Comes in blue, silver, and black.
• Sharp W62SH. The FM transmitter's kinda cool, and the three-inch WVGA screen should be perfect for watching Spiderman 2, which comes bundled with the phone. Purple, white, and gold are the color choices.
• Sanyo W63SA. Global CDMA roaming and an integrated English-Japanese dictionary makes this one a solid choice for world travelers. Get this one in red, silver, or black.
• Toshiba Sportio. As the name implies, this one's all about burnin' those calories with an integrated calorie counter. The candybar form factor is a refreshing change of pace in the lineup, but too bad about that QVGA display! Five colors to choose from here: orange, black, white, green, and red.
• Casio G'zOne W62CA. Like its counterparts on Verizon, the W62CA is designed to take a beating without falling apart. It's impact resistant and waterproof, features a compass, thermometer, and GPS, and naturally, one-seg TV. Get it in green, black, or white.
• Sanyo W64SA. This fashionable flip has some crazy light effects to go along with its crazy selection of colors, but other than that, it seems pretty pedestrian. If you can call a 2.8-inch WVGA display "pedestrian." It's available in pink, white, yellow, and black.
• Sony Ericsson Full Change re. The WQVGA display is one metric ton of weak sauce, but as the "Full Change" name suggests, five individual pieces can be removed from the front, back, and top of the phone to create a totally customized handset. Shell choices include white, pink, green, orange, and silver.
• Toshiba W62T. Seriously, what's up with all this WQVGA garbage? The W62T appears destined for the midrange, though the 3.2 megapixel camera ain't bad. Colors for this one are gold, pink, and black.
• Kyocera W64K. Possibly leading up the bottom end of the collection, the W64K rocks a WQVGA display and a weak 2 megapixel cam. We see "basic capabilities" mentioned a couple times in the translated description for it, so that says pretty much all we need to know. Pink and gold are the only color options here.
• Kyocera W62K. Whoa, and we thought the W64K was low end! 1.3 megapixel cam, QVGA (yeah, that's right, QVGA, not WQVGA) display. 'Nuff said. Beige, blue, and black are the choices here.
• Kyocera W63K. The W63K candybar is just 10.8mm thick, but we're still not sure that we can forgive it for a meager 1.3 megapixel camera. Kyocera's seriously dragging here, in case you haven't noticed the trend. Black, burgundy, and beige.
• Pantech W62PT. The only phone in the lineup sourced from a non-Japanese manufacturer, the Pantech's nothing to get too excited about with a QVGA display, but the presence of quick dial buttons directly below the screen indicates that this one's designed for folks that are looking for a simple, easy-to-use phone that's just enough to make voice calls -- and ironically, it's still better than a good percentage of the phones you'll find elsewhere in the world. It'll come in silver, gold, and pink.

Not a bad showing, especially considering that KDDI au stands out as Japan's major CDMA carrier in a country dominated by FOMA. Get 'em while they're hot, folks -- you know it's just a few months before the next collection debuts!

So that rumored June 15 launch date for QChat in retail channels was pretty much spot on, it seems, according to the latest Brightpoint launch sheet for the month. The shot, posted on the always-chatty HoFo, reveals that Sanyo's PRO-200 and PRO-700 are expected for $249.99 and $279.99, respectively, while the Samsung Z400 comes in at $299.99 and the LG LX400 at $279.99. That's not a very wide range of price points for the initial round of QChat devices, a sign that Sprint's probably totally cool limiting interest in the service to business customers initially. Also due on the 15th is a fresh USB modem, the U680, which is being touted as "the only USB Modem that fits the design of the MacBook AIR [sic] without using USB connection cable." It's the Franklin CDU-680 in its generic form, and it's indeed pretty small as external data sticks go -- music to the ears of Air owners, we'd imagine.

[Via PhoneNews]

From rumor to sale in about two months' time -- not bad. The Sanyo Katana LX is now available through Sprint, offering a worthy replacement to the aging Katana II at the same price point, $49.99 on contract after rebates. Fashion is the name of the game here, thanks to a trendy see-through front cover revealing an external display underneath and availability in three collect-'em-all colors: Liquid Graphite, Pacific Blue, and Elegant Pink. You're also going to get GPS, Bluetooth, and a VGA cam -- but one thing you aren't going to get is EV-DO, so steer clear if you have a need for speedy bits.

[Thanks, Chuck and Jorge]

Fresh out of the FCC's lair comes a new pair of QChat-enabled mobiles ready to launch on Sprint: Sanyo's Pro-200 and Pro-700. Unsurprisingly getting official at CTIA, the pair of Nextel Direct Connect devices can handle all the hot PTT action you could ask for, and while the Pro-200 (shown above) checks in with Bluetooth, messaging capabilities and mobile e-mail, the beefier brother (pictured after the jump) touts a ruggedized shell "certified to military standards for dust, shock and vibration." Curiously, the duo is only expected to go on sale in "limited markets" this month, with availability popping up elsewhere in due time; those eager to get their chirp on can plan on dropping $49.99 / $69.99 on contract, respectively.

[Thanks, Colton]

So that's where the external display is! From the FCC documentation, we couldn't really make out what was up with Sanyo's Katana LX -- a phone that's allegedly destined to replace the lowly Katana II -- but it turns out that the display is hidden under a semi-translucent casing. This is a trick we've seen employed by various manufacturers in the past, often with lovely results, and it's looking pretty solid this time around, too. With any luck we'll see this one in the flesh next month. Follow the break for another glamor shot, if you're so inclined.

That rumored Katana II replacement, the creatively-named Katana LX, is looking more real than ever now that the FCC's labs have put it through the ringer. If the remainder of the rumor ends up checking out, the LX ended up passing the federal checkpoint just in the nick of time en route to an April launch. One thing that concerns us just a tad is that we're having a hard time finding an external display or a camera, though we imagine it's possible that one or both are crammed into that black area near the hinge; if not, this bad boy's going to make a pretty miserable Katana II successor since the older model carried both features. Needless to say, EV-DO isn't in the cards either way.

Word on the street is that customers might be getting their first crack at Sprint's QChat wares rather soon -- April 16, to be exact. The news comes from phoneArena, which reports that the LG LX400 (pictured) will be launching alongside Sanyo's PRO-200 and PRO-700 on that fateful day, presumably along with the Direct Connect tech (and iDEN heir apparent) itself. The LG is rumored to be coming in at an SRP of $279.99, while the two Sanyos check in at $249.99 and $269.99, respectively. Also slated for April launches are the BlackBerry Curve 8330 in "titanium" along with Sanyo's Katana LX, a replacement for the Katana II that'll presumably keep its slim profile but carry over the forgettable VGA cam.

The trickle of QChat-enabled handsets for Sprint's Direct Connect push-to-talk service is in the process of turning into a flood now that manufacturers don't have to worry about dealing with Moto's proprietary iDEN network, and Sanyo is the latest to join the party with a pair of models named SCP-PRO200 and SCP-PRO700. As the names and ID label renderings imply, these will likely be ruggedized models targeted squarely at the same audience that currently snaps up iDEN equipment, so go ahead and get ready to drop these things, splash them with mud, and generally treat them like poo. Both are equipped with Bluetooth and EV-DO, so they'll be able to hold their own with the remainder of Sprint's midrange whenever they get around to launching.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Read - Sanyo SCP-PRO200
Read - Sanyo SCP-PRO700

Yes, friends, the time has come once again for Japan's carriers to upheave their still-fresh lineups and replace them with even fresher ones. Here we take a look at KDDI au's just-announced Spring '08 collection, including a model with an e-ink display and another with a 3 inch OLED. Wowza! Note that not all of these handsets are new -- some are carryovers from the carrier's Winter '07 collection, so we won't be covering those here. Read on.

Sanyo just made official what's been rumored since August: the sale of its troubled cellphone division to Kyocera. The deal is set for completion on April 1st at a value of about $350 million. The deal involves about 2,000 employees moving from Sanyo's mobile phone operation to Kyocera where they can reminisce with ex-Qualcommers about the good ol' days.

If there's one thing we'd like more than a Rumor with fixed firmware, it's a Rumor in green. Alright, that's a little bit of a stretch, but it looks like we're going to get one nonetheless; Sprint's latest Playbook is circulating among the ranks, revealing a supposed green Rumor dropping on February 17. The pink Centro we've heard so much about should be available on January 13 alongside a red version of the BlackBerry Pearl 8130, the first in-store appearance of the Sanyo S1 candybar, and a new iDEN piece in the form of the Motorola i570. Keeping the green Rumor company on the 17th of next month will be the Samsung m520 slider (yay?) and -- maybe most notably of the whole lot -- the Samsung Ace, Sprint's answer to the whole BlackJack craze.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

From Sprint's roadmap to the FCC to a Radio Shack shelf near you, Sprint has decided to launch the entry-level Sanyo S1 right on time. Equipped with nothing more than a dual-band CDMA radio, speaker phone, and Bluetooth 2.0, it leaves much to be desired for all but the most basic tastes. You can catch the uber-thin candybar at Radio Shack now $220 full retail, $95 on a one year, or free after a two year contract.

[Thanks, Brandon]