Pinky and the Brain were consulted, and you can rest assured they were both highly supportive of Clearwire's latest initiative. Announced today in cooperation with Russia's Yota and Japan's UQ Communications, Clearwire has banged out a memorandum of understanding with the aforesaid WiMAX carriers that "identifies the objectives and activities each operator will perform towards the realization of establishing WiMAX roaming between the [two]." With translators in tow, the trio are hoping to define and institute the necessary processes that'll ensure devices from each carrier works on the other's network, and while American's probably couldn't care less about these two operators in particular, it's the thought that counts. Just imagine -- 4G global roaming at a decent price point. That, friends, is the future.

Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for Tuesday, August 4th, 2009:

• Following the G'zOne C731 Rock, Casio's C741 Brigade for Verizon has nabbed FCC clearance. Not much is known about the phone -- we can assume it'll be ruggedized to one degree or another -- but one interesting tidbit is the inclusion of VCAST TV support, something Verizon's been getting lax on as of late. [Via PhoneArena]
• Have you seen a white / silver Samsung i7500 Galaxy? Now you have. [Thanks, Ruben W.]
• China's regulatory peeps have had the good fortune of seeing a couple new Philips Xeniums in their midst, a K700 full touch model and an X501 candybar. Philips has yet to announce either unit, but you can bet they'll last until the next ice age on a single charge. [Via Unwired View]
• Microsoft's MSDN -- its official developer network -- has published a case study on porting an iPhone app to Windows Mobile. A year ago, you'd have been more likely to see case studies going in the other direction, but, you know, times are changing. [Via Tweakers.net]
• Digia put together a nice little web browser for UIQ called @Web, but then UIQ sorta went away -- so they're back at it again, this time on S60 5th Edition in beta form. S60 does a decent job browsing out of the gate, but @Web's got some interesting UI elements that might make it worth a look. [Via All About Symbian]
• We don't see much of it in the States, but Samsung's got a whole brand -- DuoS -- for dual-SIM capable handsets. Mobil.cz has dug up a new model in the series, a low-end candybar dubbed C3212 that'll run the equivalent of around $195 and go on sale in Russia later this summer before expanding to other European markets. [Via Mobile Phone Helpdesk]
• Value brand Cricket is adding yet more value to its unlimited voice plans that start at a bargain-basement $40. The $40 price point now includes web access; $45 gets you unlimited email, backup, and 30 roaming minutes a month, and $55 ups the roaming to 200 minutes.

Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for Tuesday, July 14th, 2009:

• Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard -- yes, Standard, not Professional -- has been spied on video running on an HTC S710. What does it look like? Pretty much the same as 6.1 with a few tweaks.
• A security dude has discovered a Bluetooth "vulnerability" of sorts in HTC devices running Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 that allows unfettered access to the phone's file system when file sharing is enabled, but here's the catch: you've got to pair with an untrusted phone for it to really be an issue, which might explain why HTC doesn't seem to concerned about it.
• Prison directors from 26 states have come together to sign a petition asking for FCC petition to jam cellphone signals on their premises. Something tells us the CTIA isn't really cool with that. [Via Phone Scoop]
• Remember that rebranded Mobinnova Ice hacked to run Android in Russia? Yeah, well, it's totally real, and mail.ru has a unit to prove it.
• Canada's Koodo Mobile is now offering the LG 5500 flip for CAD $175 (about $154). The VGA camera isn't going to inspire any deep romantic love, but the lack of a contract just might. [Via MobileSyrup]

Coming off that epic BL40 tease, it's hard to take something from the same company that looks like this very seriously -- but hey, you've got to cover every market segment to be a global top-five manufacturer, and that's exactly how LG rolls. The GB130 is an ultra-simple slider destined for the Russian market, featuring a 2-inch screen at 160 x 120 resolution, an integrated FM radio (conveniently accessed via a dedicated button), and 6.5 claimed hours of talk time. Look for it on your next trip to Moscow for 2,990 rubles (about $91).

If you don't remember the Mobinnova Ice, we can't say we blame you -- apart from its unique and mildly amusing (but poorly implemented) secondary display, the Windows Mobile-powered handset really didn't have anything going for it to set it apart from the pack, and our hands-on experience with it left us questioning its build quality, its robustness, and indeed its very reason for being. Anyhow, it seems that a Russian company has taken the Ice's guts and remixed them as the Highscreen PP5420, offering Android atop the 528MHz Qualcomm core with a WQVGA primary display, 3 megapixel camera, GPS, and full HSPA. As other fly-by-night companies have already learned, Android really looks like garbage on anything but half VGA right now -- and who the hell knows what (if anything) that secondary OLED is going to be programmed to do -- so we'd probably stay away from this one. If you're still feeling it, though, it should be available now for 15,990 rubles (about $511).

[Via Unwired View]

See folks, this is the kind of mess you end up with after you gleefully do a deal with the devil. According to a roundup of reports over at Unwired View, three of Russia's major mobile operators could be looking at massive (we're talking hundreds of millions of bucks) fines if they can't sell through their iPhone allotments, and unless a significant market shift happens within the next few months, that situation seems remarkably unlikely. We're told that Vimpelcom pledged to sell 1.5 million iPhones within two years, while Megafon committed to 1 million and MTS the same. Today, just 900,000 iPhones have been imported to Russia, with over half entering the country via grey market channels; we'll let you figure out the math there, but it ain't pretty for Russia's carriers. Of course, we're not shocked in the least -- after getting burnt by a bootable-but-not-usable iPhone over there, are you seriously going to give Apple another chance to win you over?

[Thanks, Staska]

Frankly, if we were forced to choose between smudgy and blurry, we'd take the former each day of the week. Russia's own Mobile-Review has somehow already managed to wrap its paws around one of the newly released Android-based I7500s, and while it's not really a drastic departure from Sammy's other smartphones of late, it's still worth a peek if you're suddenly in the market for one. Check the read link for the goods.

[Via ForoAndroid]

While we still don't have an official release date for HTC's Touch Pro2 here in the states, the folks at Russian site Mobile-Review have managed to get some extensive hands-on time with the unit. Props go to the quality of the voice calls and especially the QWERTY keyboard, noted via the machine translation as one of the most user-friendly in modern mobile devices. The same is not said here, however, for the plastic casing and steep pricing. They also don't really touch on TouchFlo 3D 2.0.XX -- that's apparently coming later in another article -- but hit up the read link for a plethora of pictures and a video of the updated UI in action.

[Via WMPoweruser]

Dual SIM support still isn't a big deal in most of Europe and North America, but in Russia -- where the new B5702 is launching, among other places, in May -- having two lines at your immediate disposal seems to be a headlining feature. The leaked B5702 is now fully official, offering a 3 megapixel camera, quadband EDGE, QVGA display, FM radio with RDS, built-in document viewer including Office and PDF (kinda unique for a dumbphone), and microSD expansion up to 8GB. Unlike some dual-SIM devices, the B5702 utilizes both cards simultaneously; two LEDs indicate which line is being used by incoming calls, and a button on the side allows users to hot-swap active lines without restarting the phone. Just don't mix up "Boss" and "Sweetie" on the speed dials, alright?

Seriously Samsung -- you should know what happens when a company settles for churning out modified versions of the same thing for too long. If not, just ping whomever is left at Motorola's mobile division. Bad slams aside, the longstanding F480 is seeing yet another makeover (two, in fact), with the P!nk-inspired Rockstar version destined for Germany and the flora-inspired (and currently unpriced) La Fleur slated for a Russian release. As expected, nothing too great is changing except for the externals, though the Rockstar model does come loaded with P!nk tracks and a 1GB memory card. Oh, and considering the quoted €499 ($640) asking price for the Rockstar, we'd say P!nk better be seeing some serious royalties.

It's actually tough to tell whether or not this Hello Kitty "inspired" handset is real or fake, but at least Mobile-Review is claiming that the HK-adorned F305 will go on sale in Russia this March. From what we can gather, this is a rather standard F305 outside of the flamboyant exterior, boasting a two megapixel camera, M2 card slot, Motion Gaming and a ringer that only knows how to meow. We've no clue how costly this little beauty will be, but you can go ahead and bank on the fact that you'll be buying one for the Cosmo Girl in your life.

[Via eldarmurtazin, thanks c88lman]

Man, it's crazy to see what flies as a "luxury phone" these days. The altogether vanilla looking Ego S9402 fittingly feels pretty darn good about itself, and while twin SIM card slots, a Bang & Olufsen sound processor and a 2-inch QVGA AMOLED display are nice inclusions, we're still wondering what we've missed that would justify the 48,990 rubles ($1,543) price tag. Who knows, maybe it's the 5 megapixel camera, metallic casing or the Russian exclusivity. Yeah, definitely the latter.

[Via UnwiredView]

Personally, we're always excited to get free multimedia packs loaded on our phones -- wallpapers and ringtones don't come cheap, after all. We draw the line at multimedia packs of Cold War-era dictators, though, which is why Nokia's pretty fired up that some of its sets are being sold at retail in Russia preloaded with exciting Stalin-themed memorabilia. Apparently -- and we believe them -- Nokia has nothing to do with the unexpected bonus, saying that "even if Nokia was on the brink of ruin and release phones or panel with a portrait of Stalin was the only chance to save our business, Nokia [would not do] that." Admittedly, we're pretty curious to learn more about the doomsday scenario they're referring to where companies can only survive by Stalin-branding their products -- but for now, Nokia's recommending comrades shoppers steer clear of the "special edition" devices since they're clearly not factory sealed.

[Via textually.org]

If there's one thing Philips' Xenium line is really good at, it's ridiculously long claimed talk and standby times; and if there's one thing it's really bad at, it's 3G. Personally, we'd rather recharge an HSPA phone once a day than an EDGE phone once a week, but for those who don't share our love of high-speed data -- particularly those in Russia -- we give you the Xenium X710, complete with dual SIM slots and a respectable 3 megapixels of autofocus power. It's got Bluetooth, an integrated FM radio, and microSD expansion, too, not to mention an unabashedly clean, simple look that does a pretty good job projecting its low-end aspirations.

[Via Unwired View]

Now that you've already gone and unboxed all of your latest acquisitions, what better to make you feel neglected and uncared for than watching an unboxing of Motorola's latest CAPS LOCK-loving clamshell -- the MOTOJEWEL. Mobile-review got their hands on one of these glossy devices and managed to take it for a spin. The reviewer praised the keyboard and external screen, and found the "Midnight Quartz" (read: purple) housing to be a nice touch. We'll let our translation tools handle the bottom line for us -- "If you like, you can even buy, I do not mind." Hit the read link for even more pics of the unboxing or to read the whole review. Go ahead, we do not mind.

[Via iTech News Net]