smartphones

Earlier in May, AT&T announced plans to bring the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 to its shelves in early summer and looks like the carrier is making good on its promise.

The newest Curve will be available in stores and online on May 22 for $199.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate. Though the smartphone isn't scheduled to be in stores till Friday, it looks like you can actually purchase it from AT&T's Web site now.

AT&T's RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 is largely like T-Mobile's version, … Read more

Virtualization company VMware says that its new platform to let organizations virtualize smartphones and mobile devices will show up in handsets next year.

The mobile phone is now as important to businesses at desktop computers, and acts as a mobile computer in many cases, said Stephen Herrod, VMware chief technology officer, speaking at the Interop industry conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Although Herrod said the project is still in its "early stages," researchers at VMware are working on a VMware Mobile Virtualization Platform, which will create a virtual machine for mobile devices, allowing users to move their … Read more

This one slipped through the cracks Tuesday with all the Palm Pre madness, but we're pretty sure more than a few phone fans will still find this news of interest.

A Sprintusers.com reader says the HTC Touch Pro2 will be available from Sprint in mid-June and the HTC Snap will arrive a month later. We're not sure of the reader's source, so as always, take this rumor with a grain of salt.

However, HTC did confirm via Twitter that the Windows Mobile smartphone is North America bound and the above picture looks pretty legit.

The HTC … Read more

Worldwide cell phone sales fell in the first quarter of this year, but smartphones continued to grow, despite a deepening recession, according to a report published by Gartner Wednesday.

The news shouldn't come as a big shock. Cell phone manufacturers, such as Nokia, had reported disastrous earnings for the first quarter. But the growth in smartphone sales, which were up 12.7 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008, provides some hope for the industry.

Touchscreen devices seem to be leading the pack in terms of device growth, with Apple's iPhone 3G doubling its market share in … Read more

Apple iPhone aside, it's pretty safe to say that there hasn't been so much hype and anticipation over an upcoming smartphone as the Palm Pre. The tech community was all abuzz on Tuesday when Sprint and Palm finally announced the pricing and release date, but could there already be rough waters ahead?

Speaking at an investor conference on Tuesday, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse warned of likely Pre shortages:

"We don't intend to advertise it heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while. We won't be able to keep … Read more

While many were thrilled to finally learn the price and release date of the Palm Pre on Tuesday, some of that excitement was deflated by the fact that Sprint's $199.99 price tag came only after you sent in for a $100 mail-in rebate. Fortunately, Best Buy isn't taking the same approach.

The consumer electronics retailer has announced that it will offer the Palm Pre for $199.99 outright. You will, of course, still have to sign a two-year contract with Sprint, but at least you won't have to deal with the hassle of a mail-in rebate. … Read more

As if June wasn't packed enough with new smartphone launches, there are rumors that the RIM BlackBerry Storm 2 may just hit Verizon Wireless stores in the same month.

BlackberryOS.com says it received a tip from an "insider" (a senior-level Verizon employee, apparently) who says Verizon has been training its tech support on the Storm 2 all week and that they've been told to be ready to support the smartphone by the end of May. Though the tipster could not give a specific release date, she said it would be out by the end of … Read more

By now, most of you know that Palm and Sprint finally announced that the Palm Pre will be available nationwide on June 6 for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and with a two-year contract on Sprint's Everything Data plan or Business Essentials with Messaging and Data plan.

The Pre's price was one of the key pieces of information missing when I did a basic comparison of the Pre and iPhone 3G (with OS 3.0) back in March but now that we have it, I thought it'd be a good time to revisit the topic … Read more

Sprint Nextel and Palm announced on Tuesday an official release date and pricing for the Palm Pre.

The Pre will be available nationwide on June 6 for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and with a two-year contract on Sprint's Everything Data plan or Business Essentials with Messaging and Data plan. In addition to Sprint stores, the Pre will be sold online and at Best Buy, RadioShack, and some Wal-Mart Stores.

Accessories for Palm's Web OS-based smartphone will also be available June 6, including the Touchstone Charging Kit (Touchstone dock and Touchstone back cover), which will retail … Read more