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Wouldn’t it have been nice if this job listing was up, say, nine months ago or so? An eagle-eyed reader has just spotted an interesting entry in the jobs section of the Apple website. Titled “Lead Camera Design Engineer - iPhone,” the position calls for a new head hancho for the iPhone camera design team. From the listing:

Duties include research into both current and future camera technologies, evaluation of proposed solutions, executive presentation of current and future options, working with suppliers to customize modules, working with both product design and electrical engineering to physically and electrically integrate the parts, tuning the solution for optimal image quality, and design of production line testing setups.

We sincerely hope this doesn’t mean that we can expect the same terrible camera quality in the upcoming 3G iPhone as we had to deal with in the first version. It doesn’t bode well though. Looks like we’re waiting until Spring or Summer of 2009 before we see an iPhone with a decent camera; assuming Apple finds a good man for the job.

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The long, cold wait for an official HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile 6.1 build will soon be over. According to several sources, HTC is in the final stages of preparing an official firmware update. The revamped OS will be made available for HTC branded devices sometime over the next several days, with an AT&T version for the Tilt coming sometime after that. Nothing unexpected in the actual update, with threaded SMS, a Getting Started Wizard, and modest performance improvements topping the list of changes. We’d still recommend loading this one up, however, so stay tuned for the upcoming official launch.

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Interested in a side-by-side comparison of the current iPhone and the upcoming BlackBerry Bold? Yeah, we were too. Obvious differences not withstanding, the striking thing about the comparison is the similarities between the two devices. Dimensions of both are close to identical, though the Bold is certainly a bit thicker. The bezel on the Bold gives a visual cue to the iPhone’s bezel that is hard to ignore. Each device is clearly targeted at a slightly different market, but BlackBerry appears to have really stepped its styling game up, and while the screen on the Bold is notably smaller that its iPhone equivalent, the high resolution almost makes up for the lack of screen space. Not a whole lot of technical substance, but if eye-candy if your thing they’ve got it in droves. Hit the jump for a full video and a bunch more pics.

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How fantastic is this? According to BB World, the BlackBerry 9000 aka BlackBerry BOLD will be making its way to Telecom Italia Mobile during the second week of July. It will also carry a hefty price tag; 450€ - 500€ in fact. That’s not the fantastic part though. According to their sources, the long awaited 9000 series debut will be marketed as the “BlackBerry GOLDFINGER” by TIM. The rebranding still has “rumor status” and we’re not entirely sure that TIM would do something like that, but we definitely think they should go for it. In fact, if they market the upcoming BlackBerry Thunder as the “BlackBerry Octopussy”, we’re moving to Italy. Note that the read links are in Italian.

[Thanks Stefano]

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You didn’t think our ninjas were done for the day, did you? Maybe you saw the recent news that T-Mobile has announced the launch of the Nokia XpressMusic 5310 handset and you thought to yourself, “wow that thing is pretty hot and I need a new phone but I wonder if there’s anything coming out soon that I’d like better?” Well stop wondering, that’s what BGR is here for. We’ve got the exclusive on five more handsets that will all be in stores by the end of June. The rundown:

• Nokia 2760 - Available June 16: Smooth low end clamshell with all the basics
• Nokia XpressMusic 5610 - Available TBD (we heard June): Estranged brother of the 5310; Slider, 3.2 megapixel camera, A2DP stereo bluetooth, external music player controls, microSDHC support and plenty more
• Nokia 6301 - Available June 23: Sleek and elegant candy bar with WiFi, 2 megapixel camera, A2DP stereo bluetooth and all the rest S40 has to offer
• Samsung t229 - Available June: Bright red low end clamshell with a 4x zoom camera and the basics
• Samsung t339 - Available June 23: Sexier slimmed down burgundy clamshell with WiFi, 1.3 megapixel camera, A2DP stereo bluetooth and more

So now you know; and knowing is half the battle. What do we think? Not bad at all, T-Mobile. Hit the jump for exclusive internal info sheets on each handset.

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Ahh Wednesdays. Is the first half of the week over or is the second half of the week beginning? Optimist or pessimist, here at BGR we’re doing our part to make today as painless as possible. How about we start out with an exclusive dose of some live shots of the Palm Treo 850! Truth be told, this puppy is pretty smooth looking! Details are still coming in but we can tell you it’s sporting a 400 MHz processor and 100 MB of RAM. Hit the jump for a nice comparison pic with the BlackBerry 8800.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

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T-Mobile USA and Nokia have just launched the Nokia XpressMusic 5310, which is the successor to the Nokia 5300. The slider candybar handset sports a number of mid-range features, including a 2MP camera with video support, FM radio, QVGA screen, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a bit more. Sadly, the handset is a tri-band EDGE phone, so anyone with aspiration of taking T-Mobile’s new 3G network for a spin might want to look elsewhere. The phone does come with a 1GB microSD card out of the box, and the handset supports cards up to 4GB. To drum up some attention for an otherwise mediocre launch, Nokia and T-Mobile are holding a contest for new 5310 owners, offering a depressingly boring range of prizes, including free music and ringtone downloads, and a grand prize of a $100 Ticketmaster gift card. Yay! The phone will be available starting May 28th in three exclusive colors, black/red, black/purple and black/orange, for the low, low price of $49.99 with a 2-year contract. Hawla.

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Let the games begin. Or should we say, let the games continue? It has long since been predicted that WWDC will bring with it an official announcement and introduce the world to the next-generation iPhone that we’ve all been waiting for. New word comes from “sources close to the 3G iPhone launch” that June 9th, the first day of WWDC, will in fact be the day that the Jobsinator announces the new iPhone. We know what you’re thinking; “A 3G iPhone… I had no idea!” Hard to believe, we know. In terms of a launch schedule, the US might have access to the reincarnation of the Jesus phone a week or two before most other regions but the scheduling should be pretty close. There’s also word that the policy shackles in terms of pricing and other restrictions will likely escape the new model and carriers will be able to subsidize the handset, at least to an extent. Speculate all you want; at this point we’re seemingly less than four weeks away from Apple’s big day. We hope you called June 9th in the contest post so you have a chance of scoring yourself some free 3G iPhone love!

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There’s good news, and there’s bad news. First the positive side. A new Sidekick model has just cleared the FCC certification process. There are two rumored new devices on the way, and we’re honestly not sure if this is the new Sidekick Gekko or Aspen, as the FCC label identified it only as the Sharp PV210. FCC is a big step on the road towards official release, so this is a good sign for anyone eagerly awaiting the device’s arrival. The bad news, however, is that the FCC documents made no mention of any 3G radios, so unless Danger has a trick or two up their sleeves, high speed data might no-go.

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Last month we all got a nice taste of Samsung leak love when some initial details about the L870 made the rounds. To refresh your memory, it looks hot. A Symbian slider running the latest version of S60 with a metal face, 3 megapixel camera and a quad band GSM radio (or so we thought). We also knew that this puppy was going to be nice and fit, sporting dimensions of 102 × 50 x 13.55 mm. Now it’s looking like the L870 will also be home to an interactive directional pad, a front-facing secondary camera and some more goodies although the quad band radio looks like it will now be tri band alongside 2100 UMTS. Some more specs:

• Tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900), 2100 UMTS, 3.6Mbs HSDPA connectivity
• Symbian 9.3 S60 3.2 OS
• 2.3″ 260K color QVGA 240 × 320 pixel display
• 3 megapixel rear camera, VGA front camera for video calls
• FM radio with RDS
• USB 2.0 and Bluetooth 2.0
• microSDHC support

Typical Samsung. Take the juicy handsets and make sure that GSM 850 and US-compatible UMTS is omitted. Other regions can expect to see this Soul-like smartphone announced next month at Communic Asia or even sooner. For the rest of us here in the US it looks like it pretty much doesn’t matter anymore.

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If Steve Jobs were dead, he would be turning over in his grave. As it stands, Stevie is alive so he probably just sufferer a massive coronary. Hey iPhone owners - do you find that there is entirely too much time between crashes and freezes on your iPhone? VistaPerfection 2.0 might not help you in that department but it sure will make your handset look like the bug catcher we all know and love. The installation comes with Vista wallpapers, graphics, sound effects and over 90 Vista icons. It even simulates Vista’s sidebar and start menu. We’re not saying that the iPhone is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but why anyone would do something like this is a bit beyond us. If you’re a Vista addict and begrudgingly picked up an iPhone but always loathed its clean UI, well then by all means click on through.

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While this post might be reserved for aretheystillreallyinbusiness.com, we thought we’d be doing a disservice to public humanity if we didn’t run this. The first shot is of the Palm Treo 800w by his lonesome, and the second shot has the 800w in the middle of a Samsung Upstage, and a PPC-6800. Check them both out after the jump!

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One of Roger ninjas hit us up to give us the breakdown of mobile device launches for the month of June. It’s a pretty impressive line-up if you ask us. As usual, dates do change, but this is what we got so far:

• BlackBerry Bold launch time frame is June 9th-29th. (we don’t have an exact date just yet)
• The HTC Shift will launch on Rogers within the next 10 days. Rumored date is May 22nd, and it’s going for $1,500 on a 3-year agreement.
• The Motorola E8 will be making the trek up north for a June launch. No specific launch date or pricing info yet.
• The Motorola ROKR U9 which as we’re told was supposed to be launched in May, will now be launched in June on Fido.
• Motorola’s W755r (same exact model AT&T has) will also be coming to Rogers in June.
• We’ve also been told Rogers will not be getting the BlackBerry 8320. They are sticking to the BlackBerry 8120 and BlackBerry 8820 for their UMA action.

I think we’ve about covered it for now. Also, the BlackBerry Bold date seems a tad early, so we’d guess it would be launched towards the tail-end of that timeframe. AT&T should either launch before that date, or soon after as we can’t imagine Rogers getting it first. But that’s our own prediction and not based off actual AT&T internal information. Who’s excited out there

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This one is a long shot but crazier things have surely happened. A new promo video from Sony Ericsson is now making its way across the internet. Many people who have seen the video are jumping to the conclusion that the handset featured in it is none other than the XPERIA X2. Sure, it is possible that the second model from the XPERIA line is leaked before the first model is even released. It’s happened before. What people have failed to mention so far however, is that the video actually depicts two entirely different handsets. The device being used by the girl in this video (pictured center above) clearly omits the three buttons along the bottom of the “X2″ being used by the guy. Also, it looks like the handset is sporting a front-facing camera and a light sensor above the ear speaker; both missing from the guy’s phone. Can we assume that the girl’s handset in the video is the X3? Then again, these could just be mock-ups built by the producers of the video. If that’s the case, Sony Ericsson should think about bringing this producer on board because those phones look pretty sweet. Hit the read link for the full video.

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Eager to get your hands on the newly revamped HTC Advantage 7510? You’re going to have to resort to the gray market, at least for the time being. HTC has decided not to distribute the new “handset” in America. So sad. Truth be told, we’re not entirely sold on the redesign, with an altered keyboard design that appears to leave a little to be desired in the ergonomics department. The reason for the ban is that the handset runs off of the Qualcomm chipset that has been banned in the US pending litigation. As there hasn’t been much progress on the chipset ban, we won’t hold our breath for an impending 7510 release stateside.

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Time to drool-guard your keyboard. Two of the most highly-anticipated handsets of 2008 were found mingling side by side and CNMO scored some shots. Granted, they’re not the best quality or lighting, but you get the idea. The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 pictured above to the left, is Sony’s eventual first entry into its high-end XPERIA line. We hear that at some point, Sony Ericsson is actually going to make it available to consumers. To the right is the HTC Diamond, the ultra-sleek touch-only gem that was announced recently. If we had to chose only one… Well, luckily we don’t. More pics after the jump.

UPDATE: It turns out some nefarious site watermarked WMExperts’ pictures. We’ve updated the links to their site.

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There’s been a flood of news over the past couple weeks regarding the iPhone and carrier partnerships. Almost every single major carrier across the globe has chimed in, telling us what markets they’re going to bring the iPhone to. It’s actually gotten to the point we’re we feel we should list the announced markets up to today. Remember asking your best friend to pickup 10 iPhones during his trip to the U.S.? No more, people. No more. Here’s the complete list as of 05/16/08:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Czech Republic
• Dominican Republic
• Egypt
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Ireland
• India
• Italy
• Jordan
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• Philippines
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• South Africa
• Switzerland
• Turkey
• United Kingdom
• United States of America
• Various countries in Latin America

Who’s planning to buy an iPhone when it’s finally released in your country?

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Just as we predicted, a special red version of the Sidekick Slide has hit the streets. The Sidekick Slide Crimson is functionally identical to its purple brother, sporting EDGE, 1.3 megapixel camera, slide out QWERTY keyboard, Danger’s stellar AIM client, and a bit more. It’s not going to win any awards for "Innovation of the Year", but for the Sidekick faithful, this should do the trick. Expect it to run you $199 on a two-year agreement, available immediately from all of T-Mobile’s retail channels.

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….albeit a bit late for the many Palm faithful that have jumped ship for more exciting waters. Those that have remained, however, have a little bit to look forward to. The Palm 800w is set to be the first Palm device with Wi-Fi, GPS, and EV-DO Rev. A, all of which should be supported and available out of the box. As far as looks go, the handset appears to be a cross between a Centro and a 750, which is either great or disappointing, depending on your preference. We should see this hit Sprint sometime in the next month or two, hopefully sporting Windows Mobile 6.1. But for reals, though, is anything going to actually run out and get this thing?

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Yeah, we know. There have been a long string of seemingly official Sprint Mogul ROM leaks. Given the history, you shouldn’t get your hopes up too high, but it’s still a good step to see this in the wild. A new version of the Sprint Mogul Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM has leaked within the DEV community. The new firmware, ROM version 3.49 and radio version 3.39.10, is being billed as an "almost official but still beta" release. Among the many updates include HTC’s new large Start Menu, Sprint TV (finally), subjectively faster response time, and a bit more, all running atop Windows Mobile 6.1. We’re hearing June 1st as a possible drop date, but we’ll believe it when we see it.

[Via WMExperts]

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Not a whole lot to go on here, but we have confirmed that the Sidekick Gecko is in the wild, and that the browser is fully functional. The Sidekick Gecko, if you remember, is one of two new Sidekick models rumored to be coming out this July. The phone is supposed to be a replacement for the recently-deceased Sidekick iD, and should arrive with a Sharp Aquos-influenced screen, 2 MP camera with video, interchangeable bumpers, and more. We’re tentatively looking at a July 30th release, but we’ll hit you with more info as soon as we get it.

Thanks, SS-T!

UPDATE: Sorry for the false alarm here folks, but it looks like we may have jumped the gun. Several astute readers have pointed out that the screen shot above is a calling card of the Gecko web browser engine, used by Danger for all of their back-end web proxy duties. As such, there’s nothing in the shot itself that points to the new handset.

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Remember that refurb iPhone deal we told you about a while back? AT&T is bringing it back, though with a couple of amendments. This time, both the 8GB and 16GB versions are available. Just as before, the 8GB model will run you $249, while the 16GB model is a full $349. Not bad, but certainly not great considering the impending arrival of the new version of the handset. These went very quickly last time, so if you’re in the market you might want to hit this ASAP. Then again, waiting a month or two might give you the pleasure of a fully-subsidized $199 next gen iPhone. Your call.

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A "breaking news" bulletin was just sent out to all AT&T Retail employees today stating that they have started limiting iPhone purchases to one per customer. The email isn’t exciting, but the inventory is definitely starting to dry up. Full email (which isn’t that interesting) is after the jump.

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Of all Nseries handsets that Nokia has issued over the years, the N90 / N92 / N93 / N93i have what is by far the most unique form factor. Is it a phone? Is it a digital camcorder? Is it a messenger? Yes, yes and yes. The camera quality, especially on the latter models, was incredible and arguably trumped even the 5 megapixel camera found on the N95 line of handsets. Yes, the handsets where a bit wide around the waist and that was likely the biggest complaint users had, but these devices attracted a pretty big ‘cult’ following that was and is reluctant to pick up another phone. These die-hards are in for some bad news unfortunately. It has been quite a while since the release of the N93i and many would say Nokia is about due for an update. According to a reliable Nokia Blog source however, that update won’t be hitting shelves any time soon. In fact, it could be more than two years before a flip-and-swivel successor makes its way to market. The source placed the time line at 2010 but failed to specify a quarter or any additional details. Whatever the case may be, we hope that once a successor comes along it sees some solid updating and refinement. First and foremost of course, how about some quad-band GSM love and a little US high speed data? Oh and please be sure to put the thing on a treadmill until it works off some of that bulk.

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Since we were the first ones to break the news about a touchscreen BlackBerry device, it’s only fitting that we follow up and give y’all the real lowdown on it! This is going to excite a lot of people, but anger many. Are you ready? The BlackBerry Thunder, as it is codenamed now, (all you "reporting" on it as the Storm are incorrect) will launch in Q3 of this year. It is a full touchscreen BlackBerry — no slide out keyboard — with only 4 physical keys. Those are the send / end phone keys, the BlackBerry menu key, and the back key. Here is the most interesting part, though: it will launch as a worldwide lifetime exclusive on Verizon and Vodafone! We’ve heard the unit will be a hybrid device with CDMA EV-DO Rev. C (for clarification, Rev C., known as UMB is practically dead. If the device will indeed launch with a 4G solution, our bet is on LTE), and GSM HSPA for traveling internationally. Verizon and Vodafone will have the same unit. Currently, the model number is the BlackBerry 9500, though it’s very early and that’s likely to change. This is HUGE for the Verizon lovers. For once they’ll get an exclusive device, but Verizon will have a sales quota for the device and if they don’t meet those numbers, we’ve heard the exclusivity will then dissolve and it’s over. This will be extremely interesting to see play out.

P.S. No, you morons, the image above is not real. Didn’t we go through this once before?

P.P.S. For futher clarification about the whole LTE thing, the chip might support it, but that does not mean the network will be ready by any means…OK?

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Well, well, well. Fresh off the recent FCC filing, the American version of the HTC Touch Dual has shown up on the Best Buy website. Currently available for pre-order from bestbuy.com, the handset sports support for 850/900/1800/1900MHz bands, giving us full quad-band support and making it a useful acquisition for current AT&T subscribers wishing to use 3G here. The price is listed as a back-breaking $549.99, which is a bit steep, especially considering the impending arrival of HTC’s next-gen Touch interface, but if you absolutely must have the latest HTC handset to hit American soil, this one is a keeper.

Thanks, Ron!

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We’re not sure this was any mystery, but Motorola appears to be using "familiar tactics" as far as upcoming devices are concerned.  A few years ago Motorola issued something called a V3 RAZR. It was cool, it was thin and it was new. Shortly thereafter, a flurry of handsets began flying out of the Moto design labs. SLVR, RIZR, RAZR this and RAZR that, etc. Moto used the core design cues found on the RAZR and basically translated them to nearly every high-end handset it issued for a while. In fact, we’re still seeing similar handsets come through to this day. Next in line apparently, is the E8 ROKR design. The buttonless E8 design can be seen duplicated above on the upcoming L800t that we saw leaked a while back on the 2008 Motorola roadmap. The problem here? This new design isn’t popular. Yes it’s pretty cool, we’ll give them that, but it’s unproven to say the least. Isn’t it a bit soon to start the RAZR-esque redo of a redo of a redo loop?

[Via Engadget Mobile]

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