Thanks to a China Mobile press release, the details that we leaked back in August about Dell’s Android-powered Mini 3i are now confirmed. According to both sources, the Mini 3i will pack a 3.5” nHD (640×360) display, Quadband GSM/EDGE, 3 megapixel camera with zoom, auto-focus, flash, and video capture, Bluetooth, GPS navigation, and microSD expansion (up to 32GB). Dell’s first serious smartphone venture will be available to China Mobile’s 500 million strong subscriber base in “Red Passion” and “Oiled Bronze” variants later this month. Full press release after the break.

China Mobile Becomes First to Sell Dell Mini 3i Smart Phones

The Mini 3i, in Red Passion and Oiled Bronze colors, will begin arriving across China later this month

China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator, serves more than 500 million subscribers

China Mobile will soon become the first mobile operator to sell the Mini 3i, a sleek and slim new multi-touch smart phone from Dell designed to leverage the power, flexibility and applications of China Mobile’s new OPhone and Mobile Market platforms. Available in Red Passion and Oiled Bronze colors, the Mini 3i will begin arriving through China Mobile’s nation-wide channels (its authorized stores) by the end of this month and Dell direct to follow.

The Mini 3i runs China Mobile’s flexible OPhone open source platform, and includes the latest in popular entertainment including pre-loaded 139Mail e-mail, Fetion chat and digital maps for navigation. A large 3.5-inch widescreen creates a big-screen experience, making photos and videos bigger and more intense. The Mini 3i is also compatible with a range of consumer applications, e-mail platforms, and office productivity software.

“People today want to carry their lives with them – they want to discover, capture and share new content as they roam around the world,” said Michael Yang, vice president and general manager for Greater China Consumer of Dell. “We believe Dell’s year-long development collaboration with China Mobile will amplify those experiences better than anyone else in the industry.”

“This signals an important milestone in the long term partnership between China Mobile and Dell,” said a China Mobile spokesperson. “We are excited for Dell to be among the first manufacturers to introduce new technology based on the OPhone platform. We look forward to working with Dell as it brings innovative new products and services to add value to our customers’ lives.”

The Mini 3i is the result of a year-long collaboration with China Mobile and further illustrates Dell’s ongoing investment in smarter and more mobile products. China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile service provider with more than 500 million subscribers, teamed with Dell earlier this year to develop a new product for the rapidly growing base of mobile broadband users in China, embedding 3G technology in the Dell Mini 10 netbook.

With the recent launch of the OPhone platform, industry analysts are estimating that the current base of 180 million mobile broadband users in China will continue to grow at a rapid pace. The Mini 3i is specifically engineered to give those customers a smart phone that delivers fast, easy and fun access to the internet, e-mail, chat, music and video.

Popular Mini 3i Features:

• Entertainment: Access to China Mobile’s Mobile Market suite of services, games, productivity tools, wallpapers, ringtones and applications. Discover China’s popular Internet sites including 51.com, Kaixin and Renren.
• Customization: Personalize MP3 ring tones, icons and shortcuts. Run widgets on the home screen: sports, stocks, news and weather tickers.
• Navigation: GPS navigation.
• Search: Search contacts, appointments and e-mail from the home screen.
• Camera: 3 megapixel camera with zoom, auto-focus, flash, video capture and photo-editing capabilities.
• A 3.5 inch, widescreen (16:9), 640 x 360 display that’s ideal for viewing photos and videos.
• Popular Messaging: Support for the wide range of messaging platforms and services, including e-mail, IM, MMS and SMS.

Dell Mini 3i OPhone Specifications:

Form Factor: Tablet/PDA
Dimensions: 58.35 x 122 x 11.7
Display: 3.5” nHD, 640×360
Bands/Modes: Quadband GSM/EDGE
Weight: <105g (grams)
Bluetooth
GPS
Micro SD (up to 32GB)
Connector: Mini USB

Oh yes, we’re back at it! To show our appreciation for making BGR a part of your daily lives, we’re giving away (5) AT&T BlackBerry Bold 9700s. They will be retail units in AT&T boxes but will also be unlocked. We’ll also keep this short and simple: drop in a comment, win a BlackBerry. Here are the official rules…

• To enter, please leave a comment below telling us why you think you should win a brand new BlackBerry Bold 9700.
• This giveaway will run for one week, until Sunday, November 29th, 2009. We will announce the winners sometime shortly after that.
• Please make sure to leave only one comment as leaving more than one will automatically disqualify your entry.
• This is open to anyone over the age of 18, worldwide. (If you are outside of the U.S. and packages shipped to you are subject to an import tax, you will be responsible for that, but we’ll cover shipping.)
• Also be sure to use the email address you’d like to be contacted at if you win. Email no worky, no prize.

That’s it! Good luck.

What’s that sound we hear in the distance? It’s probably cash registers at AT&T going wild as today, the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 is publicly available for sale. The device was offered up to Premiere customers starting at the top of the week, but since general availability is this morning, we have to ask… are you going to hit an AT&T store and grab RIM’s finest? Or maybe you’re on T-Mobile and snagged one already? Let us know in the comments!

Motorola has announced that its brand new handset, the Crush, is available as of this week from U.S. Cellular. Going for $79.95 after a $50 mail-in rebate on a 2-year contract, Motorola is positioning the Crush as an affordable phone with a high-end design. Having said that, we can’t help but think only Motorola would think placing the lock and power buttons on either side of the earpiece is “high-end”. Having said that, the Crush has the following features: 2.8″ 240×400 WQVGA touchscreen display, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD support for cards up to 16GB and EV-DO Rev. 0 connectivity. Is anyone going to check this bad boy out, or does your heart yearn for something else?

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It might not be fancy or scream “look at me”, but Verizon’s now-available BlackBerry Curve 8530 is a smartphone that gets the job done. Kitted out with a 2.5″ display, 2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS and 256MB of flash memory, the Curve 8530 is also the first full-QWERTY BlackBerry from Verizon to feature RIM’s new optical trackpad and OS 5.0. Other than that, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Stereo Bluetooth, support for microSD cards and dedicated multimedia keys round out the rest of the phone’s features. Of course at $99.99 on contract there are a lot of better smartphones that are similarly priced, but for BlackBerry lovers fond of Verizon and always looking to save a bit of coin, you can’t really go wrong. Plus it comes in two colors: Black and Smoky Violet (imagine the color of your grandmother’s ugliest pant suit). Yay?

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So far, all of the Black Friday leaks we’ve seen haven’t been all that friendly to smartphone lovers, but according to our sources, Wirefly will be picking up the slack come Friday with the following deals:

Verizon BlackBerry Storm2: $0.99 for new subs / $29.99 for existing VZW customers (Friday only) followed by $9.99 / $49.99 until Monday

AT&T BlackBerry Bold 9700: $0 / $29.99 (Friday to Monday)

Sprint Samsung Moment: $79.99 / $99.99 (Friday to Monday)

If none of those phones catch your fancy, there are still some savings to be had as Wirefly will be waiving activations for AT&T and Verizon phones until Midnight on December 1st.

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Alright, here we go… We’ll be giving away three of the five Motorola DROIDs in our stockpile in this particular contest, and here is what you will need to know if you’re interested in entering:

We realize that a lot of you have been waiting for an iPhone competitor and that Apple’s device gets a decent portion of the spotlight (you can debate whether it is warranted or not in the comments), but since this is one of the first real alternatives for some people, we thought it would be great if we could help shine some light on the passionate and excited DROID-lovers out there. We’re looking for the best, funniest, strangest, most daring, and even dumbest videos possible featuring you or your friends, and the reasons why you think you deserve to win.

You could go to an Apple or AT&T store and read them the riot act on why you think the DROID is better than the iPhone (removable battery, the network, QWERTY keyboard — whatever) and capture this on camera, you could show us your current phone situation and plead your case, you could shave a BGR and Motorola logo into your head on film — we’re not joking. Whatever you want to do, we are willing to look at. Within reason.

We’ll pick the three most amazing videos we receive and post them in a follow-up post. Here are the official rules:

• To enter, please submit your video by uploading it to a video sharing website like YouTube, Vimeo, whatever your choice is. You may password protect the video if you would like, just be sure to give us access.
• Please email the link to your video to droidvideo at boygeniusreport dot com — if you email us an actual video attachment, we will delete it and not count it.
• This contest is open to anyone in the U.S. over the age of 18 years old.
• By submitting a video to the BGR DROID giveaway contest, you assume all responsibility and liability for your entry and indemnify BGR.
• This giveaway will run for one week, until Friday, November 27th, 2009. We will announce the winners sometime shortly after that.
• Feel free to talk about your submissions or ideas in the comments!

[Via CrackBerry]

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We’ve just received a full spec list for the very blurry Motorola Motus and it’s pretty interesting. Why, you ask? Besides AT&T 3G support, the specs are pretty similar if not identical to the Motorola CLIQ. Our connect didn’t flat out tell us that the handset would be hitting AT&T, but hey, we can dream right? Here are the full specifications for the Motorola Motus:

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Tri-band 7.2Mbps HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100MHz)
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash
• 256MB RAM
• aGPS
• Wi-Fi
• 3.1″ capacitive 480×320 display
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Weight: 133g
• 1400mAh battery
• microSD slot
• Qualcomm MSM 7201A CPU
• MOTOBLUR

Last but not least, we’ve been told the Motus is not a slider but a unique “flip” phone. That’s all we’ve got for now, but we’ll keep you updated as always.

Thanks, Daddy G.!

If there was ever a contest for blurriest photos taken post-haste, this image of a Motorola CLIQ look-alike, rumored to be called Motus, takes the cake. There isn’t much to be said or gathered about the Motus so far, except that it looks like a CLIQ with a flat keyboard and no D-pad for navigation. Said to be coming out in Q1 2010, rumors also peg this device as packing Android 1.6 and a 5 megapixel camera, so it’s not as if anything terribly special is going on. Unfortunately, the image is far too blurry to really make out the left side of the keyboard and what the bright yellow spot is. Maybe image stabilization should be standard on camera phones now.

Thanks, Vitala!

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Alright, all you BlackBerry-modding freaks, grab your screwdrivers and listen up. Our pals over at Colorware have just informed us that you no longer have to send them your beloved BlackBerry Curve 8900 for inking. Oh no. Now they’ll send you the rainbow colored parts and let you do the dirty work. This service, which is already available for the Bold 9000, comes with a price tag of $175. It might seem like a lot, but hey, you can’t put a price tag on steez. Colorware’s website hasn’t been completely updated for the new service, but you can always hit them up now to see what shade of fuchsia looks best on your 89-hundo. Happy modding.

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Guess what, Sprint Hero users? The update that you have all been so patiently waiting for has finally arrived. No, we’re not talking about anything as big Android 2.0, but a bug killing maintenance release. Available OTA and coming in at 3748377 bytes, firmware 1.56.651.2 fixes that pesky SMS issues which caused significant battery drain as well as enables the device to play friendly with DST. So far we’re not noticing any other changes (we wish there were an official change log we could take a peek at), but if you spot anything, be sure to let us know. We love hearing from you.

Thanks, Mark!

Although initial reviews have concluded that it’s far from perfect, today marks the first day of availability of the Nokia N900 in the United States. Available through Nokia’s flagship stores in Chicago and New York City for $649 (as well as at nokiausa.com), the N900 has also been spotted on various online shops such as Amazon for a little over $500. At that price it’s all very tempting — especially if you’re a die hard Nseries fan that wants to get a glimpse of the future with this Maemo 5 business– but that’s a decision you’re going to have to make on your own.

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Today we hit up Sony Ericsson’s shindig in NYC for some one-on-one time with its XPERIA X10, and so far (it’s a non-retail prototype) it looks like SE has a decent device on its hands. Of course, we all know the X10 is running Android 1.6, but SE has created its own UI, or UX as it prefers to say (short for User Experience), called Nexus. Like other UI overlays for Android, Nexus focuses on social media integration, entertainment and simplifying contact info by aggregating user information. Two very unique applications that SE has integrated into Nexus are Timescape and Mediascape. Timescape is much like viewing your contact information on HTC’s Sense UI and Motorola’s MOTOBLUR: you can view your contact’s email, SMS, Facebook and Twitter updates all in one place. Mediascape allows you to access photos, video and music from your phone as well as YouTube and PlayNow, SE’s music store. The great thing about Timescape and Mediascape is that they recognize connections between your contacts (like facial recognition), music and media and it makes suggestions on how you can communicate or get a guide to new media. Now that we’ve got the software aspect out of the way, hit the jump to see not only what think of the device itself, but quite a few pretty pics and a video overview!

Our initial impression of the XPERIA X10 is mixed. The screen is a vivid and crisp 4″ capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 480 x 854 while the device itself is both light and thin. It also packs smartphone basics like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, 3.5mm headset jack and a rather impressive 8.1 megapixel camera. The device feels nice in the hand, although those with small hands might think it’s rather large. Still, it’s not cumbersome by any means. When running through the screens, we did experience a bit of lag even though the X10 is running the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. And while SE has added its own UI over Android 1.6, it still feels like a bare-bones Android device. The UI is very functional and it gets the job done, but it’s not as attractive as HTC’s Sense UI. We’re not quite sure what it is about the XPERIA X10, but we’re just not feeling that “wow” we got with the Droid, for example.

SE says it’s working with U.S. carriers to get the XPERIA X10 subsidized in the States, but in the even that doesn’t happen it could be another expensive device that might be overlooked in the Americas – we’ve got our fingers crossed that AT&T or T-Mobile will pick this up. There’s no word on when this will be released, but with all the press and fanfare we’re thinking it shouldn’t be much longer.

Just a quick  little heads up for our Canadians brothers and sisters that at this moment may or may not be doing battle with polar bears on glaciers the size of Manhattan — TELUS has released the BlackBerry Storm2. Retailing for $599.99, the Storm2 is also available at the subsidized price of $199.99 provided one is willing to take on a 3-year contract with a minimum of a $50 voice and data plan. So what’s it going to be, Canada? Yay or nay?

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According to the Maemo marketing team, it looks like it’s already in motion. Apparently Nokia still has some Nseries devices in the pipeline which will still use S60 as the operating system, but after those are out of the factory, it seems like Maemo will be the OS of choice for Nokia’s Nseries. That doesn’t mean that Nokia has plans to ditch Symbian altogether yet, as the enterprise-friendly Eseries and new Xseries will still run Symbian for the foreseeable future.

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Haven’t had your fill of Android handsets yet? Neither have we. T-Mobile just hit us up with a Samsung Behold II and here are some first impressions:

Physically the unit feels pretty good to hold, albeit a little cheap. The weight is good, but the choice of a glossy plastic makes it feel a little chintzy to us. The back cover has a certain depth to it and it’s pretty darn cool, but we can see it scratching really easily if you’re not careful. As far as the front of the device, the buttons are surprisingly pretty easy to press despite their intimidating layout, and the 5-way navigational circle is also pretty friendly. Now for what we don’t like…

Samsung needs to learn that it isn’t 1999 anymore, and re-skinning most of Android’s decent but not great UI elements isn’t a good idea. We literally feel like we’re in downtown Seoul when the display is on — neon blues, neon orange, neon yellow — all on a black background which really doesn’t make for the most appetizing phone interface. Additionally, you can no longer press the Menu key to unlock the display once you turn it on, you’re forced to press a dedicated unlock / lock key on the side of the phone. Awk. Ward. While the paper specs on the phone (capacitive screen, 5 megapixel camera, AWS 3G, etc.) are definitely competitive, at first glance, the user experience seems to be way too involved for the average user. It’s not friendly by any means and the price point of $199 seems borderline laughable with other devices available at this time. On and off T-Mobile.

While it is set to go on sale November 22nd, business customers on AT&T have been able to order the 9700 starting yesterday morning. If you got in early enough, there’s a good chance your unit shipped out the same day just as ours did. Here’s a quick unboxing for anyone desperately waiting for their BlackBerry 9700s to arrive, and you can always re-read our BlackBerry 9700 review in case you really want to tear your hair out. Also, if anyone else picked up an AT&T unit, or even a T-Mobile unit for that matter, we salute you, friends. BlackBerry fiends need to stick together…

P.S. We’ve been told most AT&T store locations actually have BlackBerry 9700s in stock as of now, but they’re not supposed to sell them until the 22nd.

Click on over to our AT&T BlackBerry 9700 unboxing gallery!

We and everyone else that has managed to get some hands on time with the Motorola DROID came to the same two conclusions — it’s a damn good smartphone, but its camera couldn’t focus for beans. Overnight, however, our tips line was literally flooded with reports that the DROID’s autofocus camera was finally doing its job and, well, automatically focusing. First reporters were humorously utterly convinced that their wiping off the anti-glare coating on the lens was responsible for the improvements, but as more and more people starting chiming in it became increasingly apparent that someone, somewhere was hard at work behind the scenes pushing out a silent update ahead of the oft-discussed OTA update due out on December 11th. Such a silent update is a bit of an odd move, but to be perfectly honest, it could go either way. We’re not convinced it improved our camera performance as we never had an issue focusing. Our issue was even though the boxes went green to signal a “lock” our pictures still came out blurry. But we’re curious; how many of our readers with a DROID have experienced a tremendous improvement in camera performance?

Thanks to everyone that sent this in!

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“T-Mobile is pleased to announce that Sidekick sales have resumed. New pricing for the Sidekick LX 2009 will be $149.99 with a two-year contract and the Sidekick 2008 will be $49.99 with a two-year contract.”

But after everything that happened, and heck, all the new hotness available, is anyone going to be picking up a Sidekick anytime soon?

Uh oh… we’re not sure if you’re ready for this, guys. Since we were the first ones to take you up close with the Motorola DROID, we thought it would be fitting if we ran the hands down best Motorola DROID giveaway — we’ll be giving away (5) brand new Motorola DROID handsets for Verizon Wireless. Motorola doesn’t answer our emails and Verizon declined (nicely), so we paid for these out of our own pockets. We’re going to make the contests fun and exciting but don’t worry, you won’t have to jump through hoops. Plus, there is word in the BGR BlackBerry Messenger group that we’ll be giving away some BlackBerry 9700s shortly? Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Just to be super, super clear… dropping a comment here doesn’t enter you into any of the giveaways. It does, however, tell us how excited you guys are about them, and we’ll have more information shortly.

Looks like AT&T is adding a few new handsets to its lineup for the holiday buying season as today, Ma’ Bell announced it will be carrying the BlackBerry 8520 and the new LG Shine II, all now added to its “best in the world smartphone lineup.” The Shine II is a 3G slider phone with a 2.2″ screen, stereo Bluetooth, Java 2.0, and a November 22nd release date. The Shine Part Deux will also set you back $119 with a 2-year commitment. Switching gears, the more familiar BlackBerry 8520 will boast the now-standard specs of: WiFi, a 320×240 display, 512 MHz processor, 256 MB of memory, and a 2 megapixel camera capable of video recording. The exact release date of the updated Curve was not specified but rather listed as within “the next few weeks.” Any takers?

Read 8520

Read Shine II

Today Samsung officially announced the Galaxy Spica i5700, a wallet-friendly Android smartphone that we’ve been keeping tabs on since September. On sale now in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States with availability in the Middle East and Asia coming shortly, the Galaxy Spica features an AMOLED touchscreen display, 3.2 megapixel camera, DivX support (a first for Android), 3.5mm headphone jack and an 800MHz processor. Oddly enough, official pricing was omitted from the press release, but last we heard it was to go for around 350€ or $524 USD.

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Having been on sale in other countries for almost two weeks, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 has finally made it to American soil. Now available from T-Mobile, the Bold 9700 is the first BlackBerry to have AWS 3G. Other features include a HVGA+ display, 3.2 megapixel camera, optical trackpad, and support for HotSpot @Home and Visual Voicemail, but anyone keeping tabs on Waterloo’s latest surely knows those specs by now. So how much will the Bold 9700 set you back? $199.99 on a 2-year contract (Even More) or $449.99 outright via Even More Plus with the option to finance the device at $22 per month over 20 months. Now then, how many of you are going to be picking this up?

P.S. Nice job with the device pic, T-Mo.

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If you’re desperately jonesing for a webOS device but hate those pesky sliders, today is your day, folks. It is the Palm Pixi’s first day of availability on Sprint. Going for $99.99 on a 2-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate, we have to be completely honest and admit that we would personally snatch the Pre over the Pixi, but you own a computer and have navigated to BGR all on your own, so we’re sure you can make a decision over what handset to buy. Let us know if you pick one up today okay?

Also, for those that don’t mind waiting, Wirefly is practically giving the Pixi away at $24.99.

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Better late than never, right? The BlackBerry Storm2 isn’t exactly rocket science. Usually companies whether it’s a car manufacturer, handset company, computer maker or others follow up on an existing product and label it “new and improved.” Just like clockwork, RIM has spit out another iteration of their BlackBerry Storm series and this time it’s the much-awaited BlackBerry Storm2 9550 for Verizon. Finally the handset packs everything you’d hope for in a BlackBerry as far as hardware specs are concerned: global roaming, Wi-Fi, a 3.2 megapixel camera, a decent processor, and 256MB of RAM. Since the screen is pretty much the most important part of the Storm as it’s the only navigation and text entry method, it is great to see RIM improve on their existing implementation and almost knock it out of the park. What’s funny is that the same way the Storm2 works is how it was initially described to us way back in July of last year, and we’ve heard that the original Storm was actually supposed to be more like the Storm2, but we won’t get too far into that as it’s unsubstantiated at this point.

We covered the BlackBerry 9520 a bit as we have been playing with it for a little while, but the screen has got even better with a retail unit and it’s less noisy and even more fun to use. Typing is pretty easy, and the unit in general feels great in your hand to hold and use. As far as market positioning for the Storm2, Verizon hasn’t made things easy for RIM lately. Many people have said that this is what the first Storm should have been, and while we agree, we don’t think it’s too late. If you have to have a BlackBerry and you want a touch-based phone, the Storm2 is an excellent choice. If you’re comparing it to other touchscreen handsets though, the waters get a little murky and you’ll have to make that decision for yourself. Hit up the BlackBerry 9550 gallery for more shots!

Click on over to our BlackBerry 9550 hands on gallery!

The folks over at uLocate, makers of the popular GPS-centric WHERE application, have come through with some stats in order to help us better track the DROID as it leaves store shelves…and there’s a map for that. Oh irony. When you download WHERE from the Android market, uLocate (like any good developer) can tell: what model of Android phone you are using and where, roughly, you are geographically located. The DROID after its opening weekend was estimated to have sold close to 110,000 handsets (Bloomberg), and according to uLocate, 10% of  those devices had downloaded WHERE (this number was based on 11,000 new WHERE DROID activations). Not bad. As of today, uLocate has tracked 21,000 new DROID activations, and is projecting that number to increase to 25,000 by tomorrow. What does this mean? WHERE typically has a 25% penetration rate on all Android handsets sold worldwide, and a 10% penetration rate on new Android devices during the first month of their release. If the 10% number holds true, which we are told historically it does, then there have been somewhere around 250,000 DROID units sold and in use since last Friday the 6th. That wouldn’t include any units that haven’t ended up in customers hands from telesales, or other sales channels. Again, this is just using past and present data from uLocate, but it should be realtively accurate if their download ratio stays the same. So where is the DROID dropping like it’s hot? New York currently has 12% of all DROIDs, LA has 6%, and DC has a respectable 5%. Check out the site for more info and other top cities.

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T-Mobile Android junkies that aren’t digging the carriers current offerings from HTC might want to go through their desk, grab a Sharpie and circle November 18th on their calendars  for that’s the day T-Mobile has officially announced the Samsung Behold II will go on sale. Pricing is still a sekret, but we sincerely hope for T-Mobile’s sake that it will keep the price on this sucker really low, say under $199.99. For all we know that’s why pricing hasn’t been announced, they’re probably still negotiating the subsidy with Samsung. Hit the jump for the press release.

T-Mobile USA Launches the Samsung Behold II on November 18

Multimedia Powerhouse Joins Broad Selection of Android-Powered Smartphones for T-Mobile Customers

BELLEVUE, Wash., and DALLAS — Nov. 13, 2009 — T-Mobile USA, Inc., the wireless leader in offering the broadest selection of Android™-powered smartphones in the United States, today announced that the Samsung Behold® II will be available beginning Nov. 18. The full touch-screen Behold II is a multimedia powerhouse with fast Web and data supported by Wi-Fi® and T-Mobile’s high-speed 3G network.

Available exclusively from T-Mobile USA, the Behold II is the first phone from T-Mobile to feature a 3.2-inch AMOLED screen for crisper colors and wider viewing angles, which is paired with a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, zoom, flash, five shooting modes and video capabilities. Samsung’s intuitive cube menu also provides quick access to six top multimedia features: music, photos, videos, the Web, YouTube™ and Amazon MP3 for music downloads.

“With its first-rate multimedia capabilities front and center, the Samsung Behold II adds an exclamation point to T-Mobile’s already impressive Android lineup for the holidays,” said Wendy Piñero-DePencier, vice president, brand and calendar marketing, T-Mobile USA. “The combination of 3G speeds, its high-resolution touch-screen, and access to loads of entertainment features is sure to make the Behold II into a holiday hit.”

The Android-powered phone is equipped with Samsung’s innovative TouchWiz™ user interface for easy customization through movable widgets and one-touch access to commonly used features and applications. The Behold II offers three different home screens to organize multiple workspaces with favorite widgets and application shortcuts.

“The Behold II raises the bar to the next level to create a rich, customizable set of different user experiences,” said Omar Khan, senior vice president of strategy and product management for Samsung Mobile. “Combined with Samsung’s advanced AMOLED display technology, innovative TouchWiz user interface and the Android platform, users can create and enjoy a mobile experience unique to their needs.”

The Behold II features built-in Google™ mobile services, including Google Search™, Google Maps™, Gmail™, YouTube and Google Talk™, as well as thousands of applications and games available for download from Android Market™. The Wi-Fi-enabled Behold II also supports personal e-mail and corporate e-mail with Exchange ActiveSync, as well as instant messaging, and text, picture and video messaging. Additional features include assisted GPS, Bluetooth® 2.1, visual voicemail that allows for easier access and response to voice mail, support for up to 16GB of external memory, and includes a 2GB microSD memory card.

With support for T-Mobile’s rapidly expanding 3G network, Behold II customers can take advantage of a reliable wireless connection and fast download speeds when browsing the Web or downloading applications from Android Market. T-Mobile’s 3G network is currently available in 240 cities across the country. By the end of 2009, T-Mobile USA expects its 3G network to be available to reach approximately two-thirds of the U.S. population.

The Samsung Behold II will be available nationwide at T-Mobile retail stores, select authorized dealers and online at http://www.T-Mobile.com beginning Nov. 18, 2009.

Earlier this week, an Australian coder by the name of Ikee wrote an interesting iPhone worm targeting users with jailbroken iPhones — specifically those users who had not RTFM and changed their root password. The worm was programmed to scan the 3G IP ranges of the Telus, Optus, and Vodafone networks in Australia. Once a vulnerable iPhone was found, the exploit would change the wallpaper of said device to…Rick Astley. Respect. In an interview Ikee explains that his worm was designed as more of a warning shot than an attempt to compromise user data. Ikee had hoped users would be motivated to change their root password, which is set to “alpine” by default post-jailbreak, after seeing the consequences of a compromised root password. Fast forward to today, and a new anonymous coder has modified Ikee’s worm, and this new variant has less of that public service announcement feel to it. The modified strain, dubbed “iPhone/Privacy.A” by the online security firm Intego, is programmed to do several things: act silently and retrieve e-mail messages, SMS messages, calendar appointments, contacts, photos, music files, videos, along with any other data recorded by your iPhone apps. Currently details on where the worm is uploading the farmed data is scarce, and the threat of being infected is low. What’s our recommendation? If you have a jailbroken iPhone, change the root password. Maybe this is why Apple’s looking to secure their incredibly unsecure mobile operating system…

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We hate to tease our American readers who are holding their breath until it arrives on American shores, but Vodafone UK has begun selling the HTC HD2. Free on all tariffs over £35 on a 24 month contract or free on all tariffs over £40 on an 18 month contract, the HTC HD2 is a monster of a smartphone with a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 4.3″ WVGA capacitive touchscreen display. Plus most users will hardly realize that the HD2 is running Windows Mobile 6.5 thanks in part to HTC’s Sense UI. Just watch out for a sharp bezel around the 5 megapixel camera. It scratched the hell out of our desk.

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