Ready for even more rumors about Windows Mobile 7 and Microsoft's mysterious "Pink" smartphone project? Good, cause we've got a few -- and the first is potentially huge. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley says her best understanding of "Pink" is now that it's a Microsoft-branded phone running a custom UI on top of Windows Mobile 7, developed by what's left of the Danger team and targeted at the Sidekick market. Yep, Microsoft-branded -- as in, the exact thing Microsoft has been denying for ages now. What's more, Redmond wouldn't be letting third parties use this new UI -- Pink would be manufactured only by Sharp or Motorola, who've made Sidekicks in the past. It all makes sense, even if it does feel a bit like MS is knifing its partners in the back -- companies like HTC and Samsung have been equally aggressive in layering their own UIs like TouchFLO 3D and TouchWiz on top of WinMo, but it's another thing entirely to compete against Microsoft itself, especially now that AdWeek says Microsoft's selected an agency to develop a Pink ad campaign. Yeah, things are starting to get a little wild -- we haven't even mentioned the open questions of whether the Zune HD is running Tegra because it's based on Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1, or whether Pink will launch on Verizon, or whether Zune will appear on other phones, or... you get the idea. Hey Microsoft -- you want to clear any of this up by shipping some products?

Read - ZDNet
Read - AdWeek

Timely, no? Just a month after Sharp aided in producing the planet's first waterproof solar cellphone, the aforementioned outfit has just announced the industry's thinnest solar module for handsets. Checking in at just 0.8 millimeters thick, the LR0GC02 shouldn't take up too much space on your daughter's great-granddaughter's smartphone, and while Sharp isn't handing over too many details just yet, we figure it'll pretty much do what it says. You know -- charge the handset it's integrated into whenever sunlight is available. As for when we'll see these in cellphones everywhere? Take a wild guess, tree-hugger.

[Via Akihabara News]

Japanese carrier KDDI au has now followed Softbank and NTT DoCoMo in pulling the red velvet cover off its summer 2009 devices, and as always, there are some neat tricks in here. From Toshiba, the Biblio is billed as an e-book reader; granted, it's using an LCD instead of an E-Ink display, but it's a doozy at 3.5 inches at 960 x 480. It features 7GB of user-accessible storage on board for books, and also has a slide-out dynamic keyboard that can display a numeric pad in the portrait orientation or full QWERTY in landscape. Moving on, the Sharp Sportio Water Beat -- as its name suggests -- is a waterproof sports-oriented set with advanced calorie and distance tracking (a la Nike+), but you're still never too far from your true destiny as a couch potato thanks to the phone's one-seg reception. Next, the Hitachi Mobile Hi-Vision Cam Wooo is the latest in the multimedia-centric Wooo series, becoming KDDI's first phone capable of 720p video recording at 30fps -- and there's HDMI-out on board for when the time comes to enjoy your footage. Finally, the SH002 is the realization of Sharp's solar phone concept from earlier this year, delivering one minute of talk time for every 10 minutes of charge time. There are other announcements in the mix here -- eight new phones in total -- but those were the killers of the bunch, and as always, this post is about as close as most North Americans will ever get to them.

[Via Engadget Japanese]

It's debatable whether anyone really needs a 10 megapixel cameraphone with a maximum ISO setting of 12800, but plenty of people (ourselves included) really want one, so we're coveting these new pics of Sharp's Aquos 933SH, which also sports a 3.3-inch VGA LCD, 16GB of internal storage, and a "cheese focus" setting that guarantees that your friends' smiles and not their fondues will be in focus at your next party. Also handled by Akihabara News is the Miruno 934SH, another high-end model with a more feminine marketing angle that somehow gets by with just eight megapixels on tap, but adds in all sorts of fun (and demeaning) applications like a palm reader and a kitchen timer, and is even waterproof so that bath time doesn't have to interrupt gab time. Unsurprisingly there's still no mention of an American release, so don't give up that bathroom speakerphone just yet.

Read - Aquos Shot 933SH Hands-on
Read - Miruno 934SH Hands-on

8 megapixel cameras and 3-plus-inch wide VGA displays are the order of the day in NTT DoCoMo's 18-strong summer 2009 range of phones from Panasonic, LG, Fujitsu, NEC, Sharp, HTC, and Toshiba, but a few are definitely standing out for us. First would be the unforgettable N-09A from NEC, integrating patent leather right into the phone's case; it's not often that you need to condition your handset with saddle soap, so that one definitely caught our eye. Next up, we have a couple smartphones (not to say that anything in this lineup can be labeled "dumb" by any stretch) from HTC and Toshiba -- the expected HT-03A and T-01A, respectively, which are localized rebrands of the Magic and TG01. Only a Japanese carrier lineup oozes enough machismo to make a TG01 look like a 16-ounce can of weak juice, so our hats go off to you, NTT DoCoMo -- thanks for ruining one of 2009's most promising devices for us. Hey, at least they're offering the Magic in both white and black.

Is it a phone? Is it a camera? Does it really matter anymore? If neither the mirumo 934SH nor the Solar Hybrid 936SH are quite to your liking, feast your eyes on this other wonder from Sharp that's hitting SoftBank Mobile in Japan this summer, the AQUOS SHOT 933SH. The headlining feature on this sucker would be the massive optics combined with a 10 megapixel low-noise CCD sensor, which is made infinitely easier to use as an actual camera thanks to a rotating touchscreen display -- just flip it around, snap it facing outwards, and voilà, your old point-and-shoot is on notice. Otherwise, you've got a 3.3-inch WVGA display (perfect for viewing one-seg television) and global roaming capability, so don't be surprised if we try to smuggle one of these stateside when it launches in late May, alright?

As you might expect, Japanese carrier SoftBank's summer 2009 lineup contains the usual science-fiction array of ridiculously well-equipped handsets -- plus 3G photo frames and a Lenovo IdeaPad S10 with embedded WWAN -- but the real news here might be a pair of lovelies from Sharp. The mirumo 934SH (pictured left) features a 3-inch external display that can display time, date, weather, news, and other information without consuming any power between changes; sounds like E-Ink, though Sharp describes it simply as a "memory LCD." You've also got an 8 megapixel camera, a waterproof shell, and a UV sensor that can help you determine just how quickly you need to slather on the SPF 30. Next up is the Solar Hybrid 936SH, a phone suspiciously similar in concept to the device Sharp is working on for SoftBank competitor KDDI au. Clearly the big draw here is the big solar array up front that'll give you one minute of call time or two hours of standby per 10 minutes of charging, but you've still got IPX7 water resistance, an 8 megapixel camera, and a full wide VGA display at your disposal. Look for the 934SH in June and the 936SH in August -- if you happen to be in Japan, anyhow.

T-Mobile's Sidekicks have been cult favorites stretching all the way back to the original grayscale model -- a device with a design only a mother could love, may we add -- when it launched nearly seven years ago. Though the unusual form factor with the addictive spring-loaded pivoting swivel has largely prevented it from attracting a mainstream audience, the countless teens and twenty-somethings who've latched on to the Hiptop ecosystem have cited many of the same reasons for loving it since day one: an easy, foolproof UI, push email, high-quality customizability, decent web browsing capabilities, and a stellar messaging-optimized layout (remember that QWERTY was little more than a twinkle in most manufacturers' eyes back in 2002).

At its launch, the first-generation Sidekick LX represented a new high end for the franchise -- big shoes to fill for the 2009 model of the same name. Does it live up to the hype? More importantly, could this be the first Sidekick complete enough and robust enough to reach new audiences? Read on.

Sure, T-Mobile said May 13 for the Sidekick LX 2009's official date with destiny, but if they want to start drop-shipping units a few days early, we don't think anyone's going to complain. In-the-wild unboxings certainly seem to back up stories that devices are already being shipped to those who've pre-ordered it ahead of release -- and call us crazy, but we think we prefer these shots to that creepy viral video unboxing from a while back. Enjoy the shots, and if you didn't (or couldn't) pre-order, we might suggest viewing them very, very slowly so they last through to the 13th.

[Thanks, Ed]

Our first glimpse of T-Mobile's new 2009 edition Sidekick LX was all too brief, so we've jumped back in for some in-depth video hands-on (embedded after the break). One word of warning: this screen is truly incredible, and we can't be held responsible for any instances of sudden onset Sidekick envy. Traipsing through the OS, we found most everything to be responsive, intuitive and actually pretty feature-packed. The Facebook and Twitter apps are some of the best we've seen, and Laura our demo person was actually brave enough to shoot, upload and stream YouTube live on video with us. The browser had a bit of trouble with the visceral multimedia experience of Engadget.com, but overall seemed fairly together. The Download Catalog is a little barebones at the moment, but promising. Overall the hardware will be totally familiar to Sidekick users, but there are enough enhancements and refinements to make this lust worthy to folks on both sides of the Sidekick fence. It's comfortable in hand, with soft touch plastic and a super solid build, despite our best efforts at wrenching that swivel-and-tilt screen from its magical hinge. The phone hits T-Mobile on May 13th for $199 after rebates.

In continuation of a recent trend of major manufacturers announcing a new-found interest in making a buck off developing nations solar-powered cellphones, AU (KDDI) and Sharp have announced the June launch of this unnamed solar handset. Besides being the world's first waterproof solar handset, it charges to a minute of talk or 2-hours of standby after just 10 minutes in the sun. No other specs were announced though we seriously doubt it'll be a power-sucking feature- or smart-phone. Naturally, it'll still be a boon to people where electricity is scarce but what about the industrious guy who owns the village car battery?

[Via Akihabara News]

[Via Engadget Chinese]

If Danger's going to switch up its Hiptop platform strategy in the era of Microsoft ownership, you think that it might be to... oh, we don't know, something even remotely Microsoft-related. Granted, shoehorning Windows Mobile 6.1 onto a Sidekick LX sounds like a match made in hell, but at the very least, they could start with a Windows CE base and attach a bunch of Danger-specific stuff with wood glue until the end result looked familiar to users. Alas, Hiptop3 is reporting its own sources in combination with some telling open job positions and notes from Danger employees to suggest that the upcoming Sidekick LX 2009 -- possibly to be known as the Sidekick Blade -- will actually feature an entirely new kernel based on NetBSD. Our only guess is that this fancy little project started well before the acquisition completed, and in the interest of getting a thoroughly modern, 3G- and GPS-equipped Sidekick into the market as quickly as possible, maybe Redmond begrudgingly greenlighted the remainder of the project. Good on you, Microsoft.

We guess PCD's deal is that they just don't care about the traditional secrecy surrounding product pipelines. The company -- which does nothing more than run interference between carriers and second-tier manufacturers -- chronically leaks its own gear with booth graphics at trade shows, and now they've casually mentioned that there'll be a "couple" new Sidekicks coming to T-Mobile in 2009. It's about time that Danger and Sharp got together to make one of these things with 3G and / or WiFi, so that'd be cool. Also name-dropped is a new version of the Quickfire for AT&T, which seems a bit odd considering the first version just launched and already features 3G, a big touchscreen, and full QWERTY, so it's a bit unclear what they could bring to the table here. Next year, PCD expects to offer some WinMo- and Linux-based stuff (as always) and roll out some of the first devices packing LTE. PCD, we still don't entirely understand your raison d'être, but if you can seriously give us some LTE gear early next year, you've sold us.

[Via Hiptop3]