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 2 - 12:40pm EDT   T-Mobile's version of the HTC Touch Pro2 may ship later than originally expected if sources are truthful. Initially assumed to ship on the 22nd, the phone may now not show until August 12th based on TmoNews' information. Why the delay exists isn't known, but the date would follow a week after the expected August 5th ship date for the myTouch 3G and may be tailored to keep the Pro2 from undermining the Android phone's bigger launch. [full story]

July 2 - 11:10am EDT   LG is developing a new designer phone that would specifically target the iPhone, the company's wireless chief Ahn Seung-kwon told Korea's Yonhap today. Only providing a teaser, he says the future device would ship in the fall and come within Black Label series that has so far been reserved for LG's best non-smartphones, such as the Arena and Viewty. [full story]

July 1 - 3:55pm EDT   Zer01 today kicked off the launch of its self-titled Zer01 Mobile cellphone service. Roughly as promised, the service uses custom software and a unique network trick to funnel both data and voice through a VoIP system rather than the usual network, bypassing most of the costs associated with running a usual cellular plan. To exploit the uncapped data, it now has built-in access to NetMovies downloads from the company's front-end app. [full story]

July 1 - 1:45pm EDT   T-Mobile's Dash 3G smartphone, announced for the carrier in mid-June, has been given a launch date and price just a week ahead of when it reaches stores. The complete overhaul of the Windows Mobile phone should arrive on July 8th, priced at $170 with a two-year contract. The original Dash is currently being discounted and trades for just $50 on similar terms. [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]

July 1 - 11:00am EDT   Microsoft has picked the ad firm that will represent its "Pink" smartphone interface, sources said Wednesday. AdWeek hears that a contract bid has been won by McCann Erickson's TAG group, trumping others. The leak doesn't include any details of what "Pink" involves but adds that McCann already handles advertising for Windows Mobile, supporting the phone connection. [full story]

June 29 - 4:05pm EDT   Nokia could paradoxically favor the iPhone rather than its own devices for employee discounts if info discovered today proves true. Where staff reportedly get a 10 percent discount on the flagship N97, the Inquirer understands that those same workers would receive a 17 percent discount on a new iPhone 3GS. It's not clear whether this applies to the unsubsidized prices or to contract plans. [full story]

June 29 - 3:05pm EDT   A major smartphone manufacturer is due to launch a phone based on NVIDIA's Tegra platform, the company has let slip in interviews. One of the "top five" smartphone producers should have a phone based on the advanced graphics technology before the end of the year. The company has also said in a discussion with CrunchGear that it should reach AT&T and T-Mobile for about $199. [full story]

June 29 - 1:55pm EDT   The Windows Mobile cellular platform is being rechristened as Windows Phone, says Microsoft's French product chief for the software, Audrey Zolghadr. The name change should come with a fall OS update -- formerly known as Windows Mobile 6.5 -- and harmonize the interfaces for updated services including Marketplace, MyPhone and the various Live options, such as Messenger and Hotmail. When it launches the Marketplace should contain some 600 certified applications, a fraction of the approximate 20,000 apps in wide distribution. [full story]

June 26 - 3:45pm EDT   Palm chief Jon Rubinstein during the company's fiscal results call yesterday evening detailed the company's stance on licensing webOS as well as some of the early reaction to the Pre. Addressing a question on whether Palm would ever let other companies make webOS phones, the executive was emphatic that there were no current plans for this but explained that it was "not a religious issue" for the company. Although not directly stated, the implication was that Palm didn't share Apple's opinion that software exclusivity was essential to integrating with its hardware. [full story]

June 26 - 1:35pm EDT   Wireless provider T-Mobile will hold a series of business events in several major US cities to showcase its recently unveiled HTC Dash 3G but will also show the rumored Touch Pro2 smartphone. Those who wish to attend the events need to register, but will apparently receive a Dash 3G handset, due for an official release on July 15th, for free. As previously reported, the Touch Pro2 is due to arrive in stores on July 22nd. The first event is on July 14th in San Francisco. [full story]

June 25 - 4:50pm EDT   Wireless provider Sprint is reportedly currently testing the HTC Hero before its release at the end of the year, as well as a portable WiMAX device from Samsung which could be the touchscreen Mondi. According to a Thursday PhoneNews leak, the WiMAX device will ship with the Android operating system, just like the HTC Hero, instead of a Windows Mobile OS, like reported earlier. [full story]

June 25 - 12:00pm EDT   New data published by AdMob today showed that Apple's share of mobile web use has suddenly surged and now makes up more than two thirds of all mobile traffic in the US. In May, iPhone requests represented 69 percent of all traffic, a sudden jump from 59 percent the month before. By comparison, BlackBerries accounted for just 13 percent of traffic and Android phones represented 7 percent. [full story]

June 25 - 8:50am EDT   Verizon today undercut the QWERTY smartphone field by launching the low-price HTC Ozone. The adapttion of the HTC Snap already at Sprint brings a different look but more importantly adds world roaming; while at home it uses CDMA and EVDO Rev A for calls and 3G, it has quad-band GSM and EDGE support for calls and 2G data in most parts of the world. Verizon-specific software also gives the phone Visual Voice Mail and support for VZ Navigator. [full story]