While we twiddle our thumbs and wait for some sort of official confirmation that this thing even exists, Boy Genius Report has heard some rumblings that AT&T is putting the Nokia E71 through its paces with the intention of launching it -- in your choice of black or white, no less. Multiple Eseries colors certainly aren't without precedent, so we can buy that much -- and AT&T has previously launched the E62, so we can totally picture this going down. What's more, we've now heard from an independent source that the AT&T-branded E71 does in fact exist and is currently being crafted in Nokia's San Diego facilities (production models won't be born in the same place, we presume). Just a warning, guys: if this ends up happening as an EDGE-only device, we're going to lose it.

Sony Ericsson's leaky enough so that we've had no problem believing that the BeiBei is dead real, but as we've seen with the M610i, a very real and very well-developed Sony Ericsson prototype by no means guarantees a release. That being said, we're starting to get pumped that this one might live long enough to see a store shelf or two -- particularly considering that it's said to rock UIQ 3.3 and looks a heck of a lot better now in its dark, handsome color scheme that the last time we saw it. So, anyone want to get a launch date pool going? This quarter? Next? 2009?

[Via Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog]

Letting the Instinct bask in the limelight back at CTIA earlier this month, Samsung has gone and saved a three-pack of fancy new phones for Dutch show Televisie 2008 this week. First up, the U800 (pictured) is the latest Ultra Edition piece, and at 9.8mm thick, the candybar appears ready for the job -- not to say the 3.2 megapixel camera or 3G radio hurt much, either.

Next, the L870 represents Samsung's newest S60 entry, seemingly slotting in under the N95-killing G810 but still managing to offer a full 3 megapixels on the cam along with Bluetooth, 3G, and quadband GSM. Give us triband HSDPA here, Samsung, and we can be besties forever.

Finally, the long-rumored i900 finally gets some face time, looking ripe to take on LG's fashionable KS20 with UMTS (HSDPA too, if we had to wager a guess), a full 5 megapixels of shooting power, WiFi, and Windows Mobile 6.1. No word yet on when we might be seeing any of these outside the safe confines of a trade show floor, but at least we know they're all real now.

[Via Unwired View]

Read - Samsung U800
Read - Samsung L870
Read - Samsung i900

Like detective work? Good, this one's for you. That's the supposed first picture of Nokia's Tube which we've enhanced a bit to see all the detail. According to Symbian-Freak, the device code-named "Tube" will be Nokia's first touch S60 device but will not be a flagship phone. Another higher spec'd phone will ship "shortly after." The display is said to be between 3- and 3.5-inches with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a camera (with another up front based on the picture) which they say is "way better" than the iPhone's but not on par with the existing N-series shooters. The phone is said to ride atop quad-band GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSDPA radios with built-in Bluetooth, WiFi, uPnP support and a stylus. Something you'll apparently need judging by that skinny scroll bar. GPS? Yup, that too. No multi-touch on this model but it is said to provide haptic feedback in a package supposedly smaller (maybe a little bit wider) than the N73. We also notice an "XpressMedia" label on the phone which would indicate an affiliation with Nokia's XpressMusic class of media devices. You'll also notice that the icons have been slightly revised since we went hands on with the S60 Touch UI back in February. Real deal or not, it's a mystery worthy of your skills.

[Thanks Jose and to everyone who sent this in]

Turning our attention away from the unobtainable iPhone version for a moment, let's take a look at something far more real that StyleTap has in the cards: Symbian support. The Palm OS emulator is already a well-worn member of the Windows Mobile community (pictured), and seeing how Symbian's got a huge installed base, it makes sense that they'd want to attack it next. There's no word on exactly what models and flavors will be supported, but it certainly seems like having a touchscreen would be a good idea -- sorry, N95 owners! The beta program kicks off May 12 and StyleTap's soliciting applications now, so head on over to the site if you have some insatiable desire to be the first kid on the block rocking all your favorite Garnet apps atop a P1i.

[Thanks, Jason]

Quite frankly, we're still recovering from Garmin's onslaught of GPS navigation systems at CES, but just as those last mental wounds were healing, along comes the outfit to drop yet another bomb. This time, Garmin's taking CTIA hostage and announcing a veritable smorgasbord of application upgrades and partnerships. Up first is an upgrade to Garmin Mobile, which promises to bring a new interface and Google Local search to a variety of BlackBerry, Symbian and WinMo handsets. Continuing on, we're also hearing that Garmin GPS owners can "now send locations found on Google Maps" and MapQuest, select Samsung handset owners can grab hold of Mobile Navigator and Garmin Mobile now plays nice with nTelos' lineup of BREW-enabled devices. Thirsty for more? Fantastic -- you'll be bubbling over once you get done perusing the links below.

[Thanks, Allory]

Read - Garmin Mobile On BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile
Read - Garmin Teams with Google Maps
Read - MapQuest and Garmin Announce a Partnership
Read - Garmin Provides Navigator for Samsung Mobile Phones
Read - Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry Available from Centennial Wireless
Read - Garmin Mobile Turns nTelos Phones into GPS Navigators
Read - Garmin's Fleet Management Interface Network Grows

Ahead of CTIA -- and ahead of a possible Windows Mobile 6.1 announcement -- UIQ Technology has announced that UIQ 3.3, based on a Symbian 9.3 foundation, is now available to manufacturers. It's not a revolutionary build by any stretch of the imagination; in fact, the firm itself says that it includes "incremental enhancements" designed to keep up with changing requirements in the marketplace. Headlining features include Opera 9.5, support for Opera Widgets (widgets do seem to be the rage in mobile these days), and a dedicated widget "dashboard" for managing the little bits and pieces of content the user is tracking. The 3.3 SDK is already available, so with any luck, we should see devices in the marketplace before the century's out.

App certificates have long been a bane to S60 users and developers alike, causing pain, frustration, and an almost obligatory cash outlay to get your hard work certified to run on the very platform Nokia is so quick to call "open." Finally, it truly is, thanks to the hard work of the Symbian hacking community that has developed an easy (or easy sounding, anyway) method of "jailbreaking" the Symbian 9.2 device in your life (S60 3rd Edition FP1 users, that's you). After that, installed apps won't need a certificate at all -- let alone an invalid one -- to do their dirty work. Open, indeed.

[Via Part-Time Phone Reviewer, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Our sights are sort of irreparably set on the N78 and N96 at this point, but let's not forget a killer handset out of Espoo that's already launched, already available at retail, and holds its own in the technical arena: the N82. The 5 megapixel Nseries badass offers a candybar alternative to the N95, thanks to a 5 megapixel autofocus camera that's ready to take the place of your average point-and-shoot -- and the xenon flash actually one-ups the N95's weakling LED unit. We really liked the original pearlescent white when we saw it in the flesh with our very own eyes, but if you simply must have something just a little meaner looking, consider this: black. Yep, the N82's been relaunched in a rather menacing gloss black, and even better, it comes preloaded with the model's latest firmware that offers photo geotagging out of the box thanks to the phone's integrated GPS receiver. Grab it now for €400 (about $618).

[Via MobileBurn]

Seems like Nokia could've used this press release... oh, about two weeks ago when we first got the fateful call from our local store about its availability. Alas, a late press release is better than no press release at all -- especially for a device of this magnitude and symbolic importance in the North American market -- and maybe this is indicative of broader availability. In fact, the release specifically mentions that the N95 8GB "will be available through Nokia Nseries retailers across the United States, such as the Nokia Flagship stores in New York City and Chicago, as well as many online e-tailers," so if you can stomach the $749 outlay, it shouldn't be terribly difficult to come across.

It'll be a little while yet before devices running S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 are expected to hit the market, but thanks to mobile-review, we have enough visual stimulation to hold us over for, oh, at least another 15 minutes, anyway. Little changes have proliferated throughout the entire user interface, but biggies appear to be the addition of a third soft key, a heavily reworked and more flexible home screen (thank goodness), and improved application management. We strongly recommend having a thorough look at all the screen shots -- those media player visualizers are bangin', are they not?

[Via MobileBurn]

Whoa, what's that little symbol we spy in the upper right? Aye, indeed, it's the unmistakable marque of speedy wireless! Sure, Samsung's S60-powered i550 already had HSDPA, but as any N95 owner will tell you, there's just no substitute for an 802.11 radio every once in a while. Samsung must feel the same way, because they've now apparently re-released the i550 as the i550w, where the "w" stands for -- you guessed it -- WiFi. A quick search reveals that the revised model is already in the retail chain and can be had for under $400, so just be sure you're getting that precious extra letter tacked onto the end of the model name if you place an order.

[Via Unwired View]

By default, home screen search is a luxury reserved only for Nokia's very newest S60 handsets, but Google's looking to change all that -- and you don't have to wait for the N78 or N96, either. The searchmeisters have just released a native S60-based application that adds Google search directly to your device's home screen, shaving a few precious seconds off the amount of time required to figure out the capital of Mozambique (Maputo, by the way) or the phone number of that awesome Cuban joint up the street. Now, what'd be really cool is if the app supported GPS for location-based results instead of requiring a zip code, but we suppose they've got to leave something to keep us pining for the next version.

[Via All About Symbian]

We think it came as a surprise to pretty much everyone that Nokia's long-rumored E71 was a no-show at Mobile World Congress this year; it looked real enough and totally ready to go the last time we spied it, and really, our only guess is that Espoo didn't want to steal any thunder from its lovely new Nseries goodies. Turns out that the company covertly showed off a shot of the businessman's dream at its Nokia Showcase event in Sydney, though, and CNET reports that it's "considerably smaller" -- 10mm thick and 57mm wide, as the rumor goes. Making the phone too narrow could ultimately be detrimental to the usability of the all-important keypad, so we'll need to keep a close eye on the "feel" part of "look and feel" when this one finally debuts. CTIA in April, perhaps?

[Via Boy Genius Report]