Hoping to have some solid bug fixes and a few new additions in place on your shiny new Nokia N97 before you start partying this weekend (or even today if you live North of the border)? Well we told you it was coming and this morning it dropped — say hello to 11.0.021. Even the most staunch Nokia fanboys seemed to take issue with the release firmware on Nokia’s latest flagship handset and as such, this update is most definitely a welcome one. The firmware should be available in most regions and if you can’t get it OTA, fire up Nokia Software Updater and give it a go. As for what you can expect from this release, hit the jump for the change log. If you’ve installed it already, let us know what you think in the comments.

Side note: The N96 was updated today as well to 30.033. Yay.

Thanks, Joseph!

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Well boys and girls (and especially CDMA BlackBerry-lovers), your much-awaited BlackBerry Tour launch date is getting closer and closer. To try and make it easier on you, we’ve got our hands on a retail Verizon BlackBerry Tour and put together a quick unboxing for you. Part 2 of our popular BlackBerry Tour review will be coming soon, but in the meantime, couple sneak peaks:

• The battery door isn’t all glossy anymore which was scratch city. It’s got soft-touch rubber on the outer part and the inner part is a carbon-fiber material. Really, really sharp.
• The dark chrome bezel which is also found on the BlackBerry Onyx looks stunning on the Verizon Tour.
• The device comes with a BlackBerry leather holster!

You’ll have to wait until the second part of the review is done for more, but in the meantime, check the gallery!

Click on over to our Verizon BlackBerry Tour Unboxing gallery!

The folks over at Colorware just hit us to let us know about their latest offering — the Stealth MacBook Pro. Take your standard MacBook Pro with a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2×4GB), 15-inch matte widescreen display and a 256GB solid-state drive, and wrap it in a sleek, smooth-textured, zero gloss black finish. Drool. Only 10 units will be produced so you know this won’t be on everyone’s table at the local coffee shop. The price of exclusivity: $5,999.

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Verizon Wireless confirmed today what a lot of excited and angry Verizon Wireless customers knew already — The BlackBerry Tour is currently not available for pre-order if you are upgrading your current line. It’s not a random ordering glitch or a problem with Verizon’s website as many initially thought. Front and center on the Tour pre-order page and stated in bold red letters is the ugly phrase, “Pre–orders not available for upgrade orders at this time.” Yikes. So what do you all think? Is it reasonable to let new customers have first dibs or a major fail that will alienate current customers to the point of revolt? As an aside, luckily many CS reps still have no idea what’s going on so there’s a good chance that if you put on your best Isaac Hayes voice and sweet talk the rep, you’ll be good to go. Let us know how things work out.

Thanks, Ben!

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Folks who scooped up the HTC Ozone from Verizon Wireless or the HTC Snap from Sprint may be pleased to learn that an official upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5 may be in your future. According to documents published on the Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s website, a Windows Mobile 6.5 variant of the HTC Cedar, codename for the CDMA Snap, has received regulatory approval. There are no additional details other than the CEDA100 moniker and the WM6.5 designation. With this handset being released so close to expected Windows Mobile 6.5 roll out later this year however, we can only hope HTC (and Sprint and Verizon) will extend this olive branch to early adopters.

[Via wmpoweruser]

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Still wondering why we steered clear of that July 20th rumor? Sprint has made it official folks, the BlackBerry Tour will be launching with Sprint on Sunday, July 12th. Pricing lines up with Verizon at $199.99 after instant rebate but there will be a mail-in rebate of some kind to deal with. More info as it comes in — Sprint still hasn’t issued an official press release.

Last night we told you that iPhone OS 3.1 beta was released to developers and we’re pretty sure each and every one of them has had a pretty long night of playing, err, working with the new OS. Thankfully however, one anonymous tipster took a break from getting his or her 3.1 on to send us a quick breakdown of the changes so far in this build:

• Options for MMS are back on AT&T, but not sending or receiving.
• Non-destructive video editing means trimming a clip no longer saves over the original video but gives you the option to “Save as copy…”
• Voice Control now works over Bluetooth
• iPhone vibrates when moving icons
• Updated AT&T profile to 4.2
• Updated modem firmware to 5.08.01
• Improvements to OpenGL and Quartz
• APIs to allow third party apps to access videos and edit them
• You can now paste phone numbers into the phone app’s dialer. This wasn’t possible under 3.0
• While pasting phone numbers, a neat feature is that it will convert alphanumeric phone numbers into a real phone number (e.g. 1-800-FLOWERS becomes 1-800-356-9377)
• Calendar appointment popup notifications now display the “Location” field from the calendar entry
• Ability to save video attachments in emails to your camera roll

One item we notice to be MIA from the listed changes is a fix for the widespread squealing issue we broke last month. Considering Apple’s refusal to comment on the matter, perhaps the company is just hoping everyone forgets about it. Then again, maybe Cupertino will swoop in under the radar and sneak a fix past us in the release build. Yeah, we hope the latter is the case — and our ear drums hope so, too.

Thanks, Jeff / The iPhone Blog!

Have you been keeping those fingers crossed, chums? If this rumor sticks it looks like the long a grueling wait for Palm Pre launch details is almost over. Well, it’s been less than a month since Palm’s first webOS-powered handset launched here in the US so we’re not exactly sure that classifies as long and grueling, but you get the idea. Word from our pals across the pond suggests Palm has pegged next week — possibly Tuesday, July 7th we hear — for the official Palm Pre announcement in the UK. If history has taught us anything, much will likely remain a mystery even Palm if Palm does make its announcement next week but at least merry old England will be one step closer to having the Pre see the light of day. Beyond that, ummm, well, ummm, uhhhh… We’re sorry, we got distracted be the prospect of an imported, unlocked GSM Pre. Anyone?

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A Qik video posted to YouTube shows off the many sides of the Nokia 6790 Surge, codenamed Mako, headed soon to AT&T. The unusually shaped handset has already been spec’d and exclusively photographed in detail of course, so the only real takeaway beyond the release name of the handset is the fact that it will allegedly drop around the middle of this month. The author of the video also claims the Surge will be well-priced, though he notes that pricing details are not yet finalized. Hit the jump if you just can’t resist checking out this little budget messaging machine on video.

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We just got word from a couple tipsters telling us that Apple has posted iPhone SDK 3.1 as well as iPhone OS 3.1 for developers. While everyone was expecting a 3.0.1 update, version 3.1 seems to be here to stay. Let us know if you find anything interesting in the new build.

Having been talked about for quite some time and then all of a sudden dropping off the radar, talks of an Android-powered device from Dell has once again resumed. This time The Wall Street Journal has supposedly confirmed that Dell does indeed have “several Android-based smartphones that it plans to start selling later this year,” something that meshes nicely with the 2G and 3G devices we spoke of some two weeks ago. Perhaps more interesting however, is that Dell is believed to be working on an MID that is also said to run on Android, and it will reportedly be a little larger than Apple’s iPod touch. The WSJ cautions those who are prone to getting ahead of themselves that while Dell intends to release the MID later this year, the possibility its launch will be delayed or canceled cannot be ruled out. Duh. At least the phones are allegedly a lock.

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I want to start this off by saying I have nothing but love for RIM the company. Probably my favorite tech corporation in the world, they’ve created an incredibly unique product that practically replaces the need for drugs for most people. What’s even more fascinating, however, is how RIM (to the pleasant surprise of a lot of us early users) has managed to take a corporate-focused product and service and blow down doors in the consumer world. From the BlackBerry 7100, the first consumer-oriented device, to the eye-catching BlackBerry Tour (it’s business through and through, yet it will be an incredibly popular consumer phone on Verizon and Sprint), it’s clear that RIM has done everything right to this day.

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Yeah, we’ve already confirmed that the BlackBerry Curve 8520 will be dropping on T-Mobile next month but while the Tour trolls are occupied with a flurry of new fodder, why not take a moment to enjoy it once again? Mmmmm, optical trackpad. T-Mobile customers are often forced to wait what seems like ages for hot new devices so it’s always nice to see what looks like a timely release shaping up. Today, another piece of the puzzle slides into place as the sleek little handset receives the FCC’s blessing. Yay. So, T-Moblers, is the Tour going to be enough to pull you away from Tmo or will you be showing off your budget, optical trackpad-rocking 8520 with Pink pride? Cu, Cu, Curve?

[Via Cell Phone Signal]

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