It's looking like LG will be offering an Android phone boasting Qualcomm's hot Snapdragon chip -- which has recently squeezed its way into handsets such as the Xperia X10 and Acer's Liquid. The new LG mobile phone is expected for the Korean market in the second quarter of 2010. While the device is still unnamed and specs are still a mystery, LG is promising that the device will be "more mature" than the GW620 Eve, an Android device announced earlier this week for Rogers in Canada. There's no solid word on what availability of the device will be like, though LG says its considering possibilities outside of Korea.

[Via Slashgear]

RIM's successor to the original Bold -- the BlackBerry Bold 9700 -- has finally landed on our doorsteps. The 9000 is in many ways a hard act to follow. Hardware-wise, it lived up to its name, going where most phones never went with its retro, leathery, nearly clunky looks in an age of rounded edges and shiny curves. Don't get us wrong -- we loved the 9000's aesthetics obsessively -- which is why we couldn't wait to get our hands on its newborn child. A few questions we had in mind: would the 9700 live up to its predecessor's notoriously uncompromising fashion sense? Would the new Bold feel as good to hold and use in the hand as its loving parent? How would it stack up against other, new devices from RIM? If these are the kind of questions you think you might want answers to, read on for our impressions.

Kempler & Strauss (who just the other day unveiled an epically cool watchphone) have just announced the imminent arrival of its newest Windows Mobile handset, the touchscreen Billionair 6. This 3G HSPA devil has a 624MHz ARM processor, boasts GPS and WiFi, and has a micro SD slot for up to 4GB of storage, plus a 3 megapixel camera. The B6, as it's affectionately called, runs a custom interface over WinMo and boasts an accelerometer to boot. The B6 runs $260 and it's available now.

It's been a little piece of time since we saw that photo of the G1-esque Samsung InstinctQ emerge, and we were starting to wonder what had become of our newest QWERTY cutie. Well -- the M900, as it's also known -- has just ducked through the old FCC, and though we didn't really learn anything we didn't already know, it was just nice to see its face again. The Sprint-bound, CMDA / EV-DO-loving Android slider will pack Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and we have to say that it's looking pretty fly to our eyes. We're not sure when this bad boy's going to hit reality, but the FCC appearance makes us think it won't be too long now.

[via Unwired View, thanks Ryan]

Unless you're talking about S60 5th Edition, the terms "Nokia" and "touch" don't typically go together in the same sentence -- but over in China, stylus-based touchscreens make a heck of a lot more sense for character input than they do in locales with with Latin character sets. Following the bizarre (by Nokia standards, anyway) 6208c, the company's now rolled another China-only Series 40 model modified for on-screen character recognition in the form of the 3208c candybar. It's got EDGE, a QVGA display, and a 2-megapixel cam -- nothing to write home about there -- but on the plus side it features a 3.5mm headphone jack, that aforementioned trick touchscreen, and if you squint hard enough, it sorta looks like an N79. Of course, the dilemma of whether to sink the cash for it will never enter most buyers' minds; it'll never see the light of day outside China's domestic market, where it'll be launching in the fourth quarter.

[Via GSMArena]

We've been hearing about the Samsung Blue Earth -- an eco-phone, if you will -- since way back at MWC. Now CNET's finally gotten its hands on one at CommunicAsia in Singapore, and we have to say that we're pretty intrigued with what we're seeing. The back of the phone is covered with a solar panel, and Samsung says that one hour of sunning time for the mobile equals about 10 minutes of talk time. The handset also has a built-in pedometer to count steps for the Eco Walk carbon footprint app -- certainly something prospective buyers of the Blue Earth might be interested in. We still don't know full specs, pricing or availability for the phone, but we'll let you know when we do. Hit the read link for a video.

A survey of internet leaders, activists and analysts -- which undoubtedly included one Kim Jong Il -- found that by 2020, the leading method for accessing the intarwebz will not be highly potent Alienware gaming rigs, but cellphones. Granted, the finding isn't all that shocking considering just how ubiquitous mobiles are in comparison to full-fledged PCs, but it's still a rather astounding hypothesis. Comically enough, these very "leaders" couldn't come to an agreement on whether the widespread access along with other tech advances would "lead to more social tolerance, more forgiving human relations, or better home lives." Ah well, we've only got a dozen years to find out, no need to spin your wheels now.

[Via mocoNews]

Hello, T-Mobile, anyone home? Despite T-Mobile's giant 2G drag on the overall retail picture, 3G phones outsold their 2G counterparts in the third quarter in the US by a 55 to 45 percent margin. Topping the 3G list was the Motorola RAZR V3m, followed by the LG VX8300 (really?). The number one seller overall was -- you guessed it -- the lowly RAZR V3, a phone that has seemingly well outlasted its retail viability but continues to hustle off shelves as long as carriers are willing to offer them at bargain basement prices. Oh, and yes, we know the whole 3G thing isn't really your fault, T-Mobile!

[Via textually.org]

Just this summer we saw text messaging party down after turning 15, and now its time to get your weekend started right by celebrating 20 whole years of GSM. Reportedly, "15 phone firms signed an agreement to build mobile networks based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) Communications" on this day in 1987, and while it took "12 years for the first billion mobile connections to be made," things have pretty much taken off since then. So here's to 20 incredibly fruitful years, GSM, you've earned it.

[Image courtesy of RetroBrick]