Two years ago, the idea of a Garmin-developed smartphone running the latest Windows Mobile operating system was enough to generate spasms of anticipation across the internets. Oh how things have changed. Today the Garmin-ASUS team has announced a Windows Mobile 6.5 update for M20 owners currently stuck at 6.1. It's also expanding the M20 theater of pain to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech, Turkey, and other markets by the end of 2009 -- note the omission of North American and Western European countries. Fine by us, we're perfectly happy to wait for the revamped Android handset running Google's turn-by-turn Navigator... oh, wait.

Palm device owners have little to complain about when it comes to webOS; not after enduring Garnet and empty Access promises for so long. Still, that OS which relies so heavily upon web technologies like HTML 5, JavaScript, and CSS can be surprisingly sluggish when compared to other smartphone OSes. Now we have a hint as to why thanks to Palm's Ben Galbraith and Dion Almae who made an interesting admission Tuesday related to the Pre's UI latency compared to the iPhone 3GS -- a phone based on the same ARM architecture. According to the duo, "the path to the GPU didn't exist" in webOS, something that will be solved in the "immediate future" using CSS transforms to modify visual elements thus freeing-up CPU cycles for other tasks. Hmm, immediate future sure sounds like a webOS update to accompany the Palm Pixi release on November 15th.

[Via Everything Pre]

Hey, you -- yeah you, the BlackBerry Storm owner over there. You listening? Good. That mythical software update we heard about just last week is obviously the real deal, and a screen grab from Verizon's internal systems has shown up to prove it. We're told that it should go live tomorrow (that's October 25th for those in strange, potentially illegitimate time zones) at 6PM. On the whole, it'll make your Storm act a lot more like the forthcoming Storm2, but specifically you can expect a "faster, more accurate and more natural text input experience, word completion, a virtual QWERTY keyboard in portrait view and enhanced sensitivity when editing, copying and pasting." You'll also get the ability to "enable Auto Correction as opposed to Word Completion in landscape view." The full changelog should be coming soon, so hang tight! Oh, and cancel those plans for tomorrow night, okay?

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Update: Check out the full (purported) changelog after the break!

The game's back on. Palm just announced the availability of its 1.2.1 update to WebOS for the Palm Pre and, well, that's it for the time being. It fixes Exchange mail syncing issues experienced by some users, which is nice, but for everyone else it re-enables media sync with iTunes 9.0.1, with or without the USB-IF's support. In fact, Palm has signaled its commitment to its rogue approach by improving synchronization with the Photos app to keep the album structure in tact while allowing lower-resolution images to be synced to the Pre. Oh happy day -- enjoy it while it lasts Pre owners.

You can refresh all you want but that won't make the 3.0 update for your iPhone appear any faster. In fact, you might want to give your trigger finger a rest for a few hours -- Engadget bud, Richard Lai, noted in a tweet that Apple's Singapore site says that the iPhone OS 3.0 update will release on the 18th while Apple India says the 17th, the date announced by Apple -- the difference presumably accounting for the 2.5-hour timezone offset between the two countries. That would peg an OS 3.0 release anytime between 1700 and 1930 in London or between noon and 2:30pm in New York. But don't let a little knowledge ruin your obsessive behavior, where's the fun in that?

Update: The theory is supported by reports that carrier 3 in Hong Kong sent a network-wide SMS notifying iPhone owners that OS 3.0 will be available on June 18th, 01:00 local time. That's 1pm on the 17th in New York, 6pm in London, and 1900 in central Europe.

[Via Pocket-Lint and Richard Lai]

Read -- Singapore launch
Read -- India launch

No copy and paste here, move along everyone! What you can expect in the new, just-released 2.2.1 software update for the iPhone is "improved general stability of Safari" -- always encouraging -- and a fix for saved Mail images not showing up just right in the camera roll. It's like Christmas in January!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Although it's running a few days behind the European update, we suppose late always trumps never when it comes to refreshed firmware. As of now, Americans can suck down v110.07.127 for their E71-2 in order to take advantage of a smattering of bug fixes. Most notably, users should see Nokia Email updates as well as "a new update to Mail For Exchange and Nokia Maps, both of which are pre-installed." As always, we'd highly recommend backing everything up before doing the deed, but if you're feeling froggy, jump.

[Via Symbian-Guru]

It's here. Google Street View and over the air Podcast downloads from iTunes. Yup, public transit and walking directions too and the ability to share your location via email. Bug fixes, Safari enhancements, the ability to toggle auto-text correction, and plenty more... just like we heard in the pre-rumor run-up. Now get outta here, your iTunes update awaits.

Update: Added some screenshots of the most notable new features after the break. The Street View implementation seems solid though we miss the compass feature found on T-Mobile's G1. Also, the real-estate saved by moving the Google search field next to the URL field in Mobile Safari is a welcome and obvious change. As to auto-correction, well, that's personal taste. Tipster Vizcaya also noticed that Apple added a new option to rate an App when you delete it from your phone. You can also view multiple screenshots of applications available in the App Store.

Update 2: The other big update, Podcast downloads, works just as you'd hope and should further promote the spontaneous isolation we all crave. A few shots of that added after the break.

[Thanks Gustavo and badburro]

While Americans have been enjoying the spoils of the RC29 and RC30 updates for a matter of hours now, folks in the UK have finally been treated to an update of their own. The RC8 update, which was recently delivered to Brits over the air, looks to be a single update that mashes together the fixes found in both the RC29 and RC30 updates available in the US. Initial reports suggest that the phone now runs a touch cooler, though it's being debated whether or not battery life has improved or worsened. Have any of you across the pond been able to test it out and see what's new?

[Via TalkAndroid]

If you've got absolutely no complaints with your E66 or E71, you could just leave better off alone and forget that you ever read this. If you've got beef, however, we'd suggest hitting the read link pronto. Nokia has just unloaded a new firmware update for both of the aforementioned mobiles which includes new versions of Mail For Exchange and Nokia Maps. Additionally, the updates provide "a number of performance improvements including camera viewfinder orientation, Mail for Exchange synchronization and browsing." Thankfully, it seems as if the suits in Espoo took Oscar Rogers' advice to "JUST FIX IT," and, well, fixed it.

[Via AllAboutSymbian]

Aw, isn't this cute? Palm's unlocked Treo Pro has just received its very first software update, and we're happy to bring along the obligatory balloons and party foods. As of today, users of the Treo Pro can download a Bluetooth Update which reportedly resolves an issue with multiple calls sometimes getting twisted and diverted to voicemail and / or an operator on Pluto. In other words, this update will eliminate those conversations you keep having with extraterrestrial beings, so it's probably worth installing. Got it? Good.

[Via Palm InfoCenter]

While many of you are still waiting for T-Mobile's RC28 update to hit your G1, at least one reader has trumped us all. KoSoVaR is sitting on fresh, over-the-air software after receiving an update notice a few minutes ago. The process rebooted his G1 "a few times" only to stabilize at RC29. Hard to say what's new at this point but we'll get back to you if we hear about anything more than bug fixes.

P.S. For what it's worth, we're still kicking it old skool back at RC19 -- waiting... and waiting... for the automagic to begin.

Update: Another reader is up on RC29 now as well. Took 5 minutes start to finish and required a single reboot. Snap of the update screens after the break.

[Thanks, KoSoVaR and David]

Well, it looks like G1 owners (or some, at least) will be getting a bit of an unexpected surprise when they turn on their brand new device tomorrow, as T-Mobile is apparently already set to start pushing out the very first OTA software update for the phone. Nothing too major, it seems, but the update will include a fix for a bug that has prevented folks from listening to songs on Amazon, as well as a number of other unspecified "enhancements." As with all OTA updates, however, it's likely everyone won't get their fix at once, and T-Mobile helpfully recommends that you simply just "wait," or "wait a little longer" to make sure you get yours, or check your software version to see if you may have gotten the update without noticing (the new release is version RC28).

[Via TmoNews]

N82 users seem to be among the most diehard fans in the entire Nseries stable, so we'd say they're owed a bone as a token of Nokia's appreciation for spreading the gospel. To that end, Espoo has brought firmware v30's splendors to the N82 hot on the heels of its N95 and N95 8GB debuts, offering a new Flash Lite build, Maps 2.0, speed and stability improvements, and a host of other tweaks. Sadly there's no N-Gage client bundled, but whatever -- it's available as a separate download, so no harm, no foul.

[Via All About Symbian]