By and large, LG's announcements at CommunicAsia in Singapore this week have been straight-up rehashes of announcements from earlier in the year -- the GD900, for example -- but there was one diamond in the rough that should get a few people excited. The GW550 is the latest fruit of LG's strategic alliance with Microsoft to produce Windows Mobile phones, offering a 2.4-inch QVGA display, full HSPA with 7.2Mbps on the downlink, a 3 megapixel primary cam with a VGA sensor up front for video calling, and stereo speakers on board; the front cam immediately tells us that we can't expect this phone to drop as-is on AT&T, but we bet LG would just love to put something very similar up against the Jack. Any takers?

[Via PhoneArena and Tech2]

Look, we're not going to stop you if you insist on staying up until 4:30AM ET tomorrow morning to see what Sony Ericsson has in store at its CommunicAsia press conference, we just don't want you to walk away with a broken heart if nothing cool happens there, alright? Xperiancers is now reporting that the show will be little more than a recap on the company's recent announcements -- chiefly the GreenHeart stuff, the Satio, and the Aino -- which means the X2 may not be happening for a while yet. That's disappointing, yes, but no one's exactly calling the X1 a slouch in the spec department just yet, so maybe this is a strategic win for Sony Ericsson -- particularly with a big Rogers launch just around the corner.

Remember that mysterious Huawei Android number from MWC? It's all grown up and officially launched as the U8230 now. Specs are still maddeningly ambiguous, however -- the only hard info we've got is a 3.5-inch touchscreen and a 1500mAH battery, which is said to be the largest battery "among Android-powered handsets currently available." Considering the only set that's really out there is the notoriously battery-poor G1, that's not such a radical claim, but we'd sure love to test this one out in person when this launches (perhaps on T-Mobile?) alongside the 2.8-inch Windows Mobile-powered C8000 later this year.

Nokia certainly took its launch lineup seriously ahead of CommunicAsia's grand opening in Singapore this week with the launch of the 5530 XpressMusic and E72, and considering that, we're willing to bet that Sony Ericsson would want to make a similarly big splash when it holds its press conference on Wednesday -- but what could it be? The Satio and Aino are already out there, so it seems like the odds-on favorite for announcement here would have to be the well-leaked XPERIA X2. If the leaks turn out to be spot-on accurate, we're definitely not sold that the phone's any better-looking than the X1 it replaces, but then again, it'd be awfully hard to argue with an 8.1 megapixel cam and OLED display running Windows Mobile 6.5, even if you're not a WinMo kinda person. The action kicks off at 4:30PM Singapore time, which works out to a torturous 4:30AM for you New Yorkers -- so just how badly do you want to see it possibly unveiled, eh? And more importantly, how peeved will you be if it isn't?

[Via WMExperts and Electronista]

Samsung's being tight-lipped with the details, but at least it did us the solid of making its Omnia Pro B7610 (aka, B7610 Louvre) QWERTY slider official today at CommunicAsia. The phone on the right is the Omnia Pro B7320, which, if we're not mistaken, is just the Jack candybar already available to AT&T customers. Unfortuantely, Samsung isn't giving out any detail on the B7610 so we'll have to go on believing in the rumored 3.5-inch AMOLED display with 800x480 pixel resolution, 5.1 megapixel camera, 7.2Mbps HSDPA data, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, 1GB built-in with microSDHC expansion, and 800MHz processor driving Windows Mobile until they tell us something different.

[Via Akihabara News]

Press / in the wild shots still not enough for you? Fret not, friends, as CNET had a chance to spend a few quality minutes with Sony Ericsson's F305 slider and write up a few paragraphs of impressions. For starters, they seemed to prefer the white motif versus the black, and while a trio of games will reportedly be available to take advantage of the Motion Gaming controls, only a fishing title was on tap for demoing. It was noted that the phone required "vigorous shakes" in order to get the job done, and unfortunately, critics were less than enthused by how the game actually looked. Nevertheless, it's probably worth a visit to see if SE's next shaker has the chops to earn a spot in your handset collection.

Dual-band? Check. Dual-SIM? Check. One phone? Triple check. Believe it or not, Coolpad has reportedly crafted a phone that's multifaceted like no other -- one that not only includes room for a pair of SIM cards, but includes GSM and CDMA radios. Furthermore, the unit can purportedly switch between GSM and CDMA accounts on a whim, making you wonder why on Earth this didn't arrive before you plunked down for a second handset. The mobile is supposedly going for anywhere between $100 to $1,000 (depending on model and "who you know on the inside"), but you'll have to trek to Indonesia, China or Africa in order to acquire one.

If there's one way to ruin an otherwise perfectly good handset, it's by equipping it with a disgustingly triband GSM / EDGE chipset. Fortunately, though, this isn't one of those otherwise perfectly good handsets, so we're not going to sweat it too hard. The KS360 from LG made its loud entrance at CommunicAsia this week, featuring a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 2 megapixel cam, stereo Bluetooth, FM radio, and a 2.4-inch QVGA display, all wrapped in a rather freakish red and black shell with globule-like controls. Asia's the target market for the device, destined for a wallet-friendly price tag where features like 3G and inoffensive industrial design are apparently optional. Yeah, QWERTY's always nice, but not when we find it physically difficult to look at the keyboard.

[Via Unwired View]

Just when you thought Sony's barrage of new kit from CommunicAsia was finally slowing up, along comes another pair of handsets to prove us all wrong. First up is the simplistic J132, designed to do little more than talk, text, resist dust and tune into FM radio stations. Still, the 9-hours of talk time (450 in standby) is much appreciated. The K330 steps it up by including Bluetooth and a video capture mode, not to mention the 1.7-inch display, VGA camera and Health mate application. The J132 will be available in Night Black and Heaven Blue for "select markets" in Q4, while the K330 arrives in Gold on Black / Green on Black a quarter earlier. Keep an eye out for the J132a and K330a, both of which support GSM 850 / 1900 bands for the US market.

Sony Ericsson's finishing off the onslaught today from Singapore with a trio of colorful Bluetooth headsets, perfect for anyone who doesn't mind talking straight ahead and receiving all sorts of weird glances from other patrons in the local mall. The HBH-PV715, HBH-PV720 and HBH-PV740 arrive in a variety of colors / patterns, boast at least 10-hours of talk time (and 700-hours in standby), and DSP / automatic volume adjustment. The units are aimed at value-driven, fashion-conscience and business-oriented consumers in order of mention, and while specifics (you know, like price) aren't stated, the trifecta will show up in "select markets" in Q4.

In case you couldn't tell, Sony's getting down at CommunicAsia. Next up from Singapore is a fresh pair of HSPA USB modems, the MD400 and GPS-packin' MD400g. Both sticks pull double duty as a M2 / microSD card reader, but it's not like we haven't seen that functionality tossed into similar units already. Nevertheless, these buggers support 7.2Mb/s download and 2.0M/bs upload speeds and feature a swiveling antenna to complement the built-in one, a retractable USB connector and compatibility with Windows and OS X-based machines. SE tells us that the currently unpriced duo will be available worldwide in Q4, with the biggest decision to come when choosing between Exquisite Ebony and Lustrous White.

In a refreshing change of pace from Samsung's traditional black-slab design, we bring you this trio of hotness: the SGH-E950, SGH-E840, and SGH-J600 pictured above left-to-right. All are on display right now at ComnunicAsia and ready to ship in Southeast Asia before July is up. Of the three, only the E840 has a shot of making it Stateside with its quadband GSM, EDGE radios packed into the world's slimmest 10.6-mm slider. It features a 2 megapixel camera and up to 2GB of MicroSD to store your media. Nice and all but we'd love to get out hands on the tri-band GSM E950 instead. That black box on the face is actually a touch-sensitive display which fills itself with a variety of icons depending upon how the phone is being used. Interestingly, the FCC approved J600's main claim to fame is its "intense hues" of "mystical colors" like, say "dark gray" -- riiight, and dreary office cubicles are just tiny magical kingdoms for gifted marketing drones.

Huawei showed off what they're claiming is the world's smallest and fastest HSDPA USB modem, the E220, at CommunicAsia in Singapore last week. We don't know how long that claim will stand but it is, in fact, quite small (3.5 inches long) and fast (3.6 Mbps) -- and, while Huawei seems to mostly be playing up the HSDPA support, it also packs EDGE and GPRS compatibility, plus a nifty mini USB connector. No word on pricing or availability, as far as well can tell -- not that we're ever likely to actually get our hands on one anyway.

It looks like Samsung might be gunning to put another "world's first _____" title under their belt, announcing at CommunicAsia last week that a dual-mode WiMax / GSM handset is in the works for a H1 2007 release. The flavor of WiMax in question here is presumably 802.16e which Samsung says will presently haul 10.2Mb down to you each and every second, with a boost to roughly 40Mb/s in Q3 2007. Of course, Korea generally loves them some WiBro, but WiBro holds the promise of 802.16e compatibility so there may be no conflict of interest here. Samsung has said they expect their dual-mode phone to go on sale worldwide, so we can likely (read: hopefully) expect quad-band GSM in the box -- but whether any substantial population outside Korea will have access to an 802.16e network by 1H 2007 is another question entirely.

[Via Mobile Magazine]