It's been a few months since Nokia's X6 hit the scene, but the touchscreen-based, S60-lovin' smartphone is just about ready to ship out to those who've managed to avoid all of the other stellar options that have launched since early September. It seems as if Nokia is gearing up to ship the phone in at least some parts of the world exactly a week from today in concert with a Rihanna release party. And if Expansys is correct, folks in the UK will see their orders ship out on November 12th. Too bad that £529.99 ($891) price tag is darn near debilitating, but hey, awesomeness has its price.

[Via Brighthand]

Read - Rihanna / Nokia shindig
Read - Expansys order page

The first Android device from Sony Ericsson may have undergone an upgrade in the naming department, jumping from X3 all the way to XPERIA X10 (probably to avoid confusion with Nokia's X3 handset), but what lies under the hood is reassuringly in line with what we've been hearing. That is to say, a 1GHz Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm, wide 4-inch capacitive touch display, 8.1 megapixel camera with LED flash, and a thoroughly tricked out Android skin named Rachael. Sony Ericsson stressed to us the symbiotic importance of both the new flagship device and "open OS" UI -- they see the X10 as the patriarch of a whole new family of handsets, which we can expect to see in the first half of 2010, all sporting the beauty of Rachael and perhaps helping to bridge the gap between featurephones and, well, more advanced featurephones. So don't be shy, come along to Engadget Classic to see our full and uncensored first impressions of both, along with hands-on video and pictures.

And here we go: at 9AM CT, or 10AM in New York City where the real Americans live, Sprint will be making public its plans for the Palm Pixi. You know, Palm's 2nd smartphone to run its lauded WebOS platform. The announcement should bring pricing and availability so check back then ya hear. If you're lucky, we even might get some Verizon news too.

[Thanks, Jocelyn]

We know Sony Ericsson's PS3-lovin' Aino would be hitting European shelves at some point during the month, and now Sony itself has stepped forward to confirm that the handset is on sale. We're hearing that it's selling for £399.99 ($639) sans a contract, and just in case you're wondering why you and your PlayStation 3 should care, the Aino is capable of turning your console on and off, browsing the XMB user interface, accessing DRM-free content on the HDD, shopping for items in the PS3 Store and watching live TV via PlayTV. Hit up the read link for all the nitty-gritty, and be sure to hit your British friend up if you're stuck yearning here in the States.

[Via Joystiq]

First, the good news: that slide we saw back in August promising Blue Earth deliveries in October was spot on, seeing how Samsung just made an official announcement to that effect. Now, the bad: unless you're in Sweden, that doesn't mean much -- at least, not yet. The HSDPA-equipped full touch handset with an integrated solar charger is set to launch in the Nordic nation this month, with France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, and "other European and Asian countries" following on shortly; notably missing is the US, which wouldn't benefit from the 900 / 2100MHz 3G radio anyhow. Pricing hasn't been announced, but does it really matter when you'll be saving all that cash on your power bill?

We knew it was coming, and here it is -- the glorious first showing of the Palm Pre in its GSM garb. From today, our Deutsch comrades can grab a Pre and do whatever they want to do to it, courtesy of O2, its exclusive German supplier. The device will set you back €481 without contract, with the O2 My Handy option letting you finance it via 24 monthly payments of €20. Check out the online store link below for full details and available calling plans. Pre Thinking have also noted the arrival of two new free apps in the Pre catalog -- ran and VZ-Netzwerke, both in German -- and the likely prospect of even more coming along as the Pre starts its long-awaited rollout across Europe over the next few days.

[Via Engadget German]

Read - O2 Germany Palm Pre launch announcement
Read - O2 Germany online store
Read - Pre Thinking

The European operators are really liking mid-October for their Pre launches, and that trend continues now that Spain's Telefonica has unveiled an October 14 availability date for Spain's very first webOS device. The phone's being offered on plans that will bring the cost of the handset itself down to anywhere between €0 and €219 (about $322) -- and if you're wondering exactly what you have to do to get it for absolutely free, well, you'll be shelling out €60 or more a month in voice plus €15 in data. You'll be able to pick it up both online and in your friendly local Telefonica shop, so it'll be interesting to see if any lines start forming -- just how many Palm fanatics are their in Spain, anyway?

While the iPhone got an official announce for China last month, its retail pricing and delivery date have remained a mystery. That's going to change later today when China Unicom is expected to announce an October 1st launch for Cupertino's darling. Eight service packages ranging in price from 126 yuan (about $18) to 886 yuan (about $130) per month will be available to Unicom's 141 million subscribers from a pool of 700 million cellphone toting Chinese. How much will it cost? 5,000 yuan or a steep $733 green retail. Subsidies of about 893 yuan (about $131) to 4,253 yuan (about $623) will be offered for those signing to long-term plans on Unicom's fledgling 3G network. Looks like somebody's standard of living is on the rise.

A trusted tipster with a proven past just gave us the launch day scoop on the hotly anticipated HTC Leo. A Windows Mobile 6.5 handset we recently spied with HD2 branding and a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display with 800x480 resolution -- a pixel density that should give plenty of room for finger-friendly TouchFlo 3D navigation. According to said source, the O2 intranet site lists the "HTC HD2" on its future products list with an October 12th launch date. O2 peeps will immediately recognize the lack of XDA branding which makes the claim a bit suspicious. Then again, HTC has been trying to break the shackles of pointless carrier rebranding for years. Truth be told in the days ahead.

If you've been waiting with bated breath for some real news on the XPERIA X2, wait no longer. News has just broken that the re-styled, gutted refresh of Sony Ericsson's popular (and expensive) X1 is due to hit "selected markets" in Q4. According to a post on SE's Xperiancers blog, the company is in talks with various carries right now, and will be detailing the plans in the coming weeks. Additionally, the blog delivers some info on the device itself, calling out its 8.1 megapixel camera, inclusion of a standard 4GB microSD card, and 13 pre-loaded "panels" in its reworked Windows Mobile skin (which appears to have a new SDK for the forthcoming OS update). Oh, and speaking of Windows Mobile, it'll be shipping with 6.5 onboard. To learn much, much more, check the two videos after the break. We'll also be grabbing an up close and personal hands-on with the device in a few moments, so keep your inter-set tuned to the Engadget channel.

Not that most Americans could care, but Nokia is pushing back the US launch of its DRM-laden Comes with Music service into 2010. CWM, you'll recall, is Nokia's "free" all-you-can-eat music service that bundles the 12-18 month music subscription cost into the inflated handset price -- although like any DRM music scheme, solutions already exist to break the CWM shackles. The delay is probably a wise move considering the weak state of Nokia's US partnerships required to offset consumer costs, lukewarm response to its latest handsets, and the fact that most US consumers share a broad distaste for DRM music. We'd rather see Nokia launch late but with a compelling proposition than launch now in blind adherence to a timeline.

We can imagine the phone call now:

"GSM Association, how can I help you?"
"Yo, this is Telus... where'd you hear September for our HSPA launch? What are you smoking?"
"But we..."
"Yeah, 'but you' nothing. October, broham... you heard it here first. Telus out." (click)

[Thanks, Alex]

With Garmin-Asus' nüvifone G60 already on sale in Asia, it makes sense to hear that said smartphone will soon make its way over to North American soil. Of course, it also made sense to think that this thing would be launching on AT&T about forever and a day ago, so we're not holding our collective breath just yet. At any rate, Garmin recently made abundantly clear on a quarter-end conference call that the GPS-infused handset is in the final testing stages with an undisclosed amount of US carriers, and if all goes well, it'll hit the streets in Q4. What's crazy is that every last specification remains unchanged from when it was announced back in January of 2008; meanwhile, Apple has shipped two new iterations of its iPhone, Android has blown up significantly and even Motorola and Palm have seemingly resurrected themselves from the grave. Knowing all that, will anyone even bother to show up to snag one in "just a few months?"