July 4 - 1:30pm EDT   Sony Ericsson's first Android smartphone will be a very high-end touchscreen device most likely taking the iPhone head on, a Danish scoop shows. Codenamed the "Rachel," the phone would fit into the XPERIA line occupied only by the X1 but would emphasize speed, according to Mobil. Like the Windows Mobile-based Toshiba TG01, it would have a very high-end 1GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon processor at its heart; it may also compete against the iPhone 3GS through "great" 3D graphics capabilities. [full story]

July 2 - 3:50pm EDT   While it was reported just yesterday that Toshiba's first full touchscreen smartphone, the TG01, will be officially unveiled at a launch event in London on July 9th, it is now known the handset will make its debut in the UK at provider Orange on the same date. The wireless provider already has a product page up for the device; pricing is unknown but may be unveiled at the July 9th launch event. [full story]

July 1 - 11:55am EDT   Toshiba today at last said it will hold a launch event for its TG01 smartphone. The July 9th gathering in London is expected by SlashGear to mark the formal start of sales for the Windows Mobile handset in Europe; it's already on sale in Japan as the NTT DoCoMo PRO T-01A and should be available not just in the UK but Germany, Spain and possibly other countries. [full story]

June 30 - 12:30pm EDT   Bsquare today said it has developed a port of Adobe's Flash plugin for most Android phones. While officially coming first to the HTC Hero early next month, any Android device running Android 1.5 or later on an ARM-based processor should support the extra features. The addition should let those phones with enough performance play Flash videos in the browser rather than in a separate container like Google's YouTube app. It should also render websites much in the same way as desktop versions. [full story]

June 29 - 9:30am EDT   Several major cellphone makers today agreed to support a European Union push for a universal charger standard. Apple, LG, Motorola, Nokia, RIM, Samsung and Sony Ericsson have signed a deal with the European Commission that will see micro USB become the default connector for powering cellphones in the continent. Chipset producers like NEC, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments have also agreed to the deal. [full story]

June 24 - 10:30am EDT   The first fruits of the Intel-Nokia partnership could come within a matter of weeks, the Taiwan-area Commercial Times newspaper claimed today. Stating the rumor as fact, it insists that reports of Nokia netbooks are true and that a portable based on Intel Atom chips could come as soon as this summer. Its details aren't known, but Quanta would be contracted to build the computer. [full story]

June 23 - 1:10pm EDT   Images and specifications have leaked for what is claimed to be the HTC Firestone. A Windows Mobile 6.5 device, the Firestone is believed to use a 3.6-inch WVGA touchscreen, with graphics powered by a 600MHz Qualcomm processor. Memory comes in the form of 256MB of RAM, supplemented by 512MB of ROM and a microSD slot. One of the major features is said to be an eight-megapixel camera, though there is no mention of flash or autofocus so far. [full story]

June 23 - 7:45am EDT   A last-minute leak this past evening would have Nokia use Intel processors for the first time in some of its devices. One unnamed source for Bloomberg claims that an announcement could come as early as this morning from Intel senior mobility VP Anand Chandrasekher that it has landed a deal to supply chips to Nokia. What this would entail isn't evident, though it would almost certainly involve a variant of the Atom processor and likely wouldn't be a complete replacement of Nokia's line. [full story]

June 22 - 6:35pm EDT   Qualcomm has confirmed its Snapdragon-based smartphone and Smartbook netbook will launch in its home market of Korea later this year, according to a Monday Telecoms Korea report. The company is apparently engaged in talks with the country's local mobile operators to launch the products. The Smartbook will become available in the fall from Taiwanese companies, while the Snapdragon handset will come from a Korean phone maker late this year or early next year, said Qualcomm marketing director Jordan Lim. [full story]

June 19 - 4:40pm EDT   China's SciPhone has recently announced the future release of its N12 handset which, most notably, will ship with Google's open-source Android operating system, according to a report. One of the first Android phones from a small manufacturer, its processing power comes courtesy of a relatively powerful 624MHz Marvell Monahands CPU sitting in a Qualcomm MSM6246 chipset. The quad-band GSM device has 3G WCDMA data network support and built-in Wi-Fi, GPS and CMMB TV support. [full story]

June 10 - 11:15am EDT   The Palm Pre may cost significantly more to make than first anticipated and has surprising similarity to the iPhone's supply chain as it's existed in the past, according to a post-launch cost breakdown by iSuppli. Originally thought to cost $138 in raw manufacturing and parts, the smartphone is now estimated to cost at least $140 and as much as $160. Much of the price is attached to the 3.1-inch Sony multi-touch LCD, which with its Cypress controller costs about $40.60. [full story]

June 8 - 8:25am EDT   Acer's mobile computing VP Campbell Kan today said his company is developing a notebook with a 3D display for late October. The first model should have a 15.6-inch screen and will both recognize 3D movies natively as well as convert typical movies to a pseudo-3D format. Whether or not it will support 3D games isn't mentioned, but Kan tells DigiTimes it will initially require stereoscopic glasses like most existing displays. [full story]

June 3 - 12:15pm EDT   Acer has been showing two of its Tempo-series handsets, codenamed F1 and L1, first shown at CES in January, at the Computex show in Taiwan. The display model for the F1 revealed some of the smartphone's specs, including a particularly quick 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU and Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional for its operating system. It also centers on a large 3.8-inch, 800x480 touchscreen. [full story]

June 2 - 4:35pm EDT   Qualcomm on Monday announced the upcoming launch of its 802.11n wireless local-area networking (WLAN) chip for portable electronics devices such as cell phones and MIDs, the WCN1312. The 7mm by 7mm device can support data transfer speeds as fast as 72Mbps. Built on 65nm CMOS technology, it contains a 2.4GHz 802.11n baseband processor, media-access controller, RF transceiver and other necessary hardware. [full story]

June 1 - 11:25am EDT   Qualcomm upped its stake in the mobile space today with an upgrade to the Snapdragon line of mobile processors. The QSD8650A jumps from the previous 1GHz to a new 1.3GHz but is also Qualcomm's first 45 nanometer processor; it's about 30 percent faster than its predecessor but simultaneously uses 30 percent less average power than earlier parts. Video performance in 3D and elsewhere has also been given a boost, the company says. [full story]