Brace yourselves, folks: it looks like one of the more painful incidents in recent memory might be in the process of repeating itself. Remember a while back when AT&T canceled the hotly-anticipated Sony Ericsson K850 at the last possible fricking second? Yeah, well, we're hearing that LG and AT&T may have mutually agreed to put the brakes on the CF750 Secret (which, like the K850, just happens to be a 5 megapixel phone) "due to cost" -- in other words, some guy in a suit thinks the price point wouldn't make sense. He's likely right, but we're going to grumble nonetheless if that ends up being the case.

In happier news, the well-traveled Shine looks due to finally be put out to pasture by the end of May "at the latest," while the Vu is scheduled to be euthanized in August -- but don't worry, both models have replacements in the pipeline. Currently, it looks like AT&T expects the Shine 2 and Vu 2 to hit in the third quarter, though we know from countless past experiences that this is liable to slip dangerously close to the holiday shopping season as both manufacturer and carrier realize that neither the hardware nor software are ready for primetime. The Vu 2 is said to have "some new 3D touchscreen that... was very impressive," which we take to mean that S-Class is a strong possibility here. Could the Vu 2 end up being a thinly-veiled Arena or Viewty Smart clone?

[Thanks, Kal]

After weeks of hand-wringing, we've finally settled on a winner of our contest for LG's uber-limited $1,500 Iron Man edition Shine! We asked you to send in pictures of the busted-up pieces of garbage you call "phones," and holy cow, did we get some doozies.

Without further adieu, our winner, Mark H., comes to us from Novato, California. Here's his story:

"I need a new phone as you can see. I have had this Nokia phone since 2001. I'm in the military service and my friends make fun of my old phone and now they're really on me since my phone was run over by a car and I use electrical tape to keep the faceplate together. I don't get paid enough by the service to buy a nice new phone."

Congratulations, Mark! Even if this relic were in perfect condition, it'd still be time for an upgrade. Let's try to keep this one a little less scuffed, because that solid gold battery cover definitely does not live up to the "Iron Man" name. Follow the break for some honorable mentions -- you guys made it really hard to choose!

That black LG Shine we'd heard AT&T would be picking up is finally starting to trickle into stores, along with a green rendition of the Sony Ericsson W580i -- a phone that's no stranger to new paint jobs. Neither device is up on AT&T's site yet, so as of now, it looks like the only way to pick these two up is going to be to mosey on down to your local retailer. Sorry, couch potatoes!

[Thanks, BrainsOnTheMonitor]

If ever there were an LG Shine to live up to its lofty name, this would definitely be it. We'd like to introduce you to the Iron Man phone -- presented here by our boy Robert Downey, Jr. -- based on the Shine slider as sold by AT&T. Unlike the garden-variety Shine, the Iron Man edition trades up to a deep red case with gold plated highlights and a solid 18K gold battery cover to commemorate the launch of the film in style. That's plenty enough element 79 to give this thing some serious heft. We're not bragging, though -- we want you to have it.

The phone is valued at a princely $1,500; twenty are being given away by LG directly -- we've got the twenty first. How do you pry it out of our hands? Easy: we want to see just how nasty, disgusting, and close to complete breakdown your current face candy is. Send us a pic and tell us a little bit about your poor, dilapidated phone and the long journey it's taken to its current state of disrepair. We'll pick the saddest entry and let you retire that terrible thing for something just a little flashier.

One word of advice though: don't bother breaking your phone or taking a photo of your dad's Dynatac or something, that's not what we're looking for.

Check out the gallery to see shots of the very Iron Man phone that could be yours, and don't forget to enter. Good luck!

The rules (yeah, there are always rules)

• Send us your original photo. If we find your picture elsewhere on the internet, you will so be disqualified. Don't test us here, we've seen every picture of every phone. Ever.
• Email submissions to contests [at] engadget [dawt] com with the subject "I am Iron Man!" And for the love of our inbox, please keep your images 1MB or under, ok?
  
• You may only enter this contest once. If you enter this contest more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc.
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
  
• Entries must be in by 11:59PM EDT, Sunday, May 18th. After that, give us some time to sort through the entries and pick out the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it).

We've just received a fresh round of release dates on AT&T, and if we had to pick a single word to describe the theme here, it'd be "colors." Shades upon shades of phones -- both new and old -- will see a release on AT&T in the next couple of months, starting with the Sony Ericsson Z750a, the first 3G Sony Ericsson to be released by a carrier in the States (but not in North America -- that honor belongs to Rogers); it'll hit in your choice of gray, pink, or purple in early April. The now-ancient UTStarcom 5700 finally sees release toward the end of April more than a year after we first saw it in the FCC's business, giving a lower-end choice to the Windows Mobile faithful. Finally, May should bring about the LG CU720 Shine in black, following its initial offerings of silver and red.

Oh, and it looks like the Motorola Z9 and the black Centro should be widely available pretty much any minute now -- stay tuned. Strangely missing from the list is the Vu, though that doesn't necessarily mean it won't be released by the end of May, it merely means that AT&T's not sure yet. Surprise, surprise.

[Thanks, Kal]

We've just been slipped some bittersweet information that we deliver with a heavy heart: AT&T's latest pricing information, which runs through April 7, apparently makes no mention of the hotly anticipated LG Vu. There's no mention of the Samsung Access, either, leading us to believe that the carrier's mobile TV launch may have been pushed out one more time for good measure. Of course, we suppose it's possible that there's no delay and they just haven't slipped pricing details to stores yet, but we're jaded enough at this point to say that another slip is entirely within the realm of reason. Now, onto some happier tidbits: the black version of the Shine should launch, along with the Sony Ericsson Z750 in pink, gray, and purple, the long-overdue 5700 low end smartphone, the white Centro sporting push-to-talk support, and the Motorola Z9 slider -- which AT&T curiously identifies as "ruggedized." We don't remember anything remotely rugged about the one we saw, but whatevs.

[Thanks, Kal]

Some of you good folks may have seen AT&T commercials on the telly this weekend pimping a red version of its Shine alongside a red Curve and Blackjack II -- but for those that haven't, yeah, it's here. Grab it in all its crimson sliding glory for a hundie on contract after rebates.

[Thanks, William]

Wouldn't it be pretty awesome to have the launch dates for, like, all of AT&T's most anticipated devices on one convenient 440 x 330 image? Well, that's not quite what we have here -- the Sony Ericsson K850 is nowhere to be found, for one -- but this is a solid start. It sounds like that SMT5700 (codename "Bulldog," how cool is that?) that we've been anticipating for nearly a year now will finally get outed on February 5 alongside the Vu. We still don't know whether AT&T's MediaFLO network will launch at the same time, and we've heard rumors that there will be a second Vu without MediaFLO support, so we could be seeing that here but we're really not sure. Despite the missing K850, Sony Ericsson's still putting up a reasonably strong showing here with a pink W580i launching this week and the 3G Z750 in grey, pink, and purple on March 11. In addition to the Vu, LG will be offering the CU720 Shine in red on January 22 and in black (ooh, that might look hot!) on February 28. Option's HSUPA data cards are now targeted for January 24, and last -- and probably least -- the Motorola V3xx outstays its welcome by making an encore appearance in "lavender" on the 22nd of this month.

[Thanks, Kal]

AT&T kinda sorta started offering the Shine all quiet-like through some of its brick and mortar stores earlier this week, but in case you needed any more proof that the high class slider is the real deal, here ya go. We'd characterize the Shine as resting somewhere in the upper end of AT&T's midrange offerings -- if that makes any sense -- owing in part to its 2 megapixel cam, HSDPA, and Video Share support. The carrier seems particularly proud of the phone's display, too, calling it a "mesmerizing 2.2 [inch] wide mirror LCD" and playing up its "multi-angle vision technology," so if mesmerizing LCDs and 5-way nav joysticks are your thing, go check it out. Odds are you'll be able to find this in your local store tomorrow, too.

[Thanks, Jacob]

We'd heard that AT&T wanted its own LG Shine in stores before Thanksgiving, and it looks like those hopes and dreams are coming true. A tipster hooked us up today with this shot of a Shine in all its AT&T-branded glory chilling in one of the carrier's brick and mortar stores, suggesting that they're already ready to buy if you happen to be near a store that stocks 'em -- if you've got $150 (after $50 rebate) and a signature on the dotted line to spare, anyway.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

In case our really poorly constructed pun in the title didn't help reveal what we're talking about, let's come right out with it: we're hearing that the LG CU720 Shine slider should be launching as soon as today, and certainly within the next handful of days. Along with it will be the CU515 in "plum" (also from LG), the Samsung A747 flip, and the BlackJack2 on the smartphone end of the spectrum. It's a 3G cornucopia -- just in time for Thanksgiving, eh?

[Thanks, kal]

'Round here, we think of a slider when you tell us so-and-so is launching the LG Shine, but Bell apparently has something a little different in mind. Canadians can now pick up the metal-clad Shine flip (again -- Bell's name, not ours) for a cool $130 CAD (about $134) on a three-year contract, offering the same EV-DO data, 2 megapixel cam, A2DP, and funky sideways external display as its VX8700 cousin on Verizon. For Bell's sake, we hope they don't go launching a Shine slider down the road -- 'cause what the heck are you going to call that then? Hmm?

[Via Mobile In Canada]

So here's the deal for AT&T's CU720 Shine: AT&T looks to be preparing the anticipated slider (or, at least it was anticipated like a year ago) for a Black Friday launch. The silvery model will launch first, with black and red both planned for early '08. The Vu -- alias Prada, alias CU920 -- is still on track for an early '08 launch, too, though LG and AT&T are apparently pushing hard to get it rolled out in December, presumably to catch some last-minute holiday sales. MediaFLO support is confirmed in this bad boy, meaning that glorious display should see a little more action than the Cellular Video and MobiTV options AT&T subscribers have today. Oh, and are you wondering how that name's pronounced? Turns out it's "view," not "voo." Thank goodness.

[Thanks, Kal-El]