Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Sprint, Windows Mobile, EV-DO, CDMA

Everything prior had been rumors, hearsay, speculation, and leaked documents — but now that Sprint has something out in the open, it’s going to be a whole hell of a lot more difficult to renege on that September time frame we’d all been pulling for. The carrier and partner Bluefish have thrown up a site taking names and email addresses to be notified when the Touch Diamond is available for purchase; no exact date is given (we wouldn’t be surprised if Sprint still hadn’t decided on that), but they do mention that it’s “coming in September.” That gives ‘em a full 30 days to make good — but if it just happened to roll out on September 2 like we’d originally heard, we don’t think we’ll be seeing too many complaints around here.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Be honest here, GoLive2′s Stix didn’t stand a chance at being taken seriously, and even when one reviewer attempted to have fun with the unashamed Wiimote knockoff, he failed epically. The Stix 200 looks strikingly like Nintendo’s accelerometer-packin’ controller, though this 2D-only rip was seen as “a set of slightly unresponsive, highly inconvenient arrow keys” rather than an exciting new controller. The PC games that can be played with the device are equally dreadful, and while the 3D-capable Stix 400 might be able to make up for some of the 200′s shortcomings, we can’t wholeheartedly say it’s even worth the effort to check out after reading this review.

[Thanks, Robert]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Handsets, Peripherals, Others, Samsung, ATT, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

So a few shiny new pieces of hardware are starting to show up in AT&T stores; nothing to get terribly excited about, really, but the recently-released USBConnect Mercury is one of the purdiest data sticks we’ve seen in a while, and it’s certainly a hell of a lot better looking than the USBConnect 881 of old. We also have an a237 here from Samsung (or a dummy of it, anyway) — not bad for a dirt-cheap flip, we suppose — and another unidentified Sammy with a hidden front display. Anyone want to hit us up with some knowledge on what that is?

[Thanks, Kal]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Neurosurgery with robotic assistance is getting pretty old hat nowadays, so it looks like scientists are trying to up the difficulty factor by keeping their patients awake — a team of French doctors just completed the first successful removal of malignant brain tumor from a still-conscious patient, using a computerized laser and an MRI scanner to guide the probe. The fiber-optic laser was fed into the brain through a 3mm (.12 inch) hole in the patient’s skull and guided via MRI to the tumor, where it fired for two minutes and completely destroyed the cancerous tissue. Once the tumor cells were dead, the cable was removed and the patient was allowed to return home — all within a single day. That’s pretty impressive, and it comes on the heels of 15 similar trials where five out six patients who underwent the total removal procedure were cancer-free nine months after surgery. The team says further research will cost an additional two million euros to progress, but if this technique works as well as they claim after peer review, we’d guess that money won’t be hard to come by.

[Via Fark]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Cellphones

Sure, we’ve seen some blurry videos and a few stolen glimpses when Andy Rubin demonstrated this beast, but now we’ve gotten our hands on a slew of pictures showing off a very real T-Mobile-branded Dream in all its Android-running glory. Not only does this confirm the design spied in those FCC docs as well as show off that nearly-done version of Android, but it seems to confirm the fact that this will be headed to T-Mobile, and sooner rather than later judging from the looks of the above device. Needless to say, our inner-geeks are completely geeking out right now. Hit the gallery below for a handful of other views of the phone.

[Thanks, Michael]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Cellphones

Not that you won’t be able to buy this thing from carriers here shortly, but there’s just nothing quite like being the first on your block to own a new handset. For those with cash to burn and an insatiable desire to play with RIM’s forthcoming Kickstart 8220, look no further than eBay. Up for auction right now is an unlocked version of the aforesaid mobile, but it looks as if the final bid will end up well over a grand. Good luck (being patient).

[Via CellPhonesMarket, thanks ghengis]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

We’re not sure how this came to be, but when Jon Stewart needs to make a real / fake call to Democratic governor Mark Warner to let him know how bad his speech at the DNC “suuuuuuucked,” he reaches for a Centro. Check the read link to watch the full episode, and if you don’t enjoy comedy, you can just skip to about 3:29 in to see Palm’s cheapo smartphone get some face-time.

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Now that the cat’s out of the bag it was no trouble tracking down HTC’s S740 this morning, and just for kicks we rammed the phone up against the Touch Pro, which we subsequently rammed against the Touch Diamond and an iPhone for a generally violent display of smartphone force. It is worth noting that while the S740′s keys are similar to the Touch Pro’s, they’re not quite as deep or clicky, which leads to a rather sub-par typing experience by HTC’s standards. That glossy mirror finish on the phone screens isn’t doing them any favors either — even when wiped smudge free it seems to impede viewing — and we must say the Touch Pro’s matte finish makes the Diamond and iPhone 3G look cheap in comparison. Oh, and when asked about the Dream, the HTC rep quickly replied “we don’t know anything.” It was worth a shot, right?

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Original post by Paul Miller