Fresh images of the Motorola Calgary have hit the web. You may remember that the Calgary is Motorola’s Android treat for Verizon, something that’s a sure win with the tween crowd. The mouth-watering live shots are courtesy of a tester who’s had the Calgary for a while now, accompanying the shots are reports that the OS is amazing, smooth and responsive, as it should be. As for Hardware, the Calgary packs three touch-sensitive Android keys on the display, a pretty decent working optical joystick, a solid QWERTY keyboard, and decent phone abilities. Among the usuals is a 3 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headset jack, GPS, digital magnetometer, Wi-Fi, microSD card slot, and spring-assisted slider. All in all, the Calgary will find a place in the hearts and pockets of Verizon users. No release date has been announced yet, but Q4 is looking to be very inviting.

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The HTC Leo has been out of sight for a while now, but recent leaks into the world of bloggers have it that the HTC Leo will now officially be the HTC Touch HD2. A leaked document has shown that the HTC Touch HD2 will be heading for T-Mobile soon. Of course there’s no release date, but with Windows Mobile 6.5 out and about, how long could it really be? So who’s holding out for the 1GHz pumping, 5 megapixel beast?

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Considering that Palm has recently been in hot water with the USB Implementers Forum for its vendor ID antics, no one was surprised when WebOS 1.2 came out a few days ago sans the ability to sync with iTunes. So now, in an update, Palm has launched WebOS 1.2.1, with the iTunes sync ability re-enabled.

Best Buy Mobile’s Holiday Playbook got scooped recently and there’s not only some nice tidbits about what to expect in the coming holiday season, but also what a few clues as to how Best Buy will be working to broaden its bottom line, which means some customers are going to be slightly more pampered than others. For starters, Best Buy has found out;

1. The average store sees over 64,000 customers during October and November
2. Out of those customers, only 1% receive an upgrade eligibility check on their accounts
3. Of the 1% who get upgrade checks, around 30% are actually eligible for upgrades
4. If stores increase the amount of customers checked to 2% from 1%, Best Buy Mobile would see an increase in revenue of around $20,000 for those two months, just off upgrading individuals
5. After customers upgrade their handsets at Best Buy Mobile, around 16% of them come back and make other purchases later

Interesting. So this means all you existing customers can expect some extra Best Buy love. As for new releases for the holiday season, you can expect;

1. Nokia Booklet netbook — October 25th launch, and can be activated on AT&T
2. Sprint HTC Hero — launching October 11th with a presale going on now
3. Sprint Palm Pixi — launch date to be decided (TBD)
4. Verizon Storm II — launch date TBD
5. Verizon Android device — launch date TBD
6. T-Mobile CLIQ — launch date TBD (but you know that it will be shipping after October 19th up until general release November 2nd)
7. “New BlackBerry devices across multiple carriers” — launch date TBD
8. There will be a “host of devices launch in late October and November for all carriers.” Multiple Android launches across multiple carriers and “new technology which doesn’t exist today.”

So there you have it, an early gist of the coming holiday spirit from Best Buy mobile.

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Good news for BlackBerry Internet Service users in the North American region, BIS 2.8 has totally landed. BIS 2.8 will give non-enterprise users functionality they’ve longing for ages. Key improvements include;

• Two-way wireless synchronization [every four hours] with Google Mail Contacts and the Address Book on the BlackBerry smart phone:
  • Synchronize Google Mail contacts quickly and easily to the BlackBerry smart phone.
  • Add or edit Contacts and the Contacts are automatically updated, whether they are updated on the computer or BlackBerry smart phone.
  • Note: Two-way wireless Contact synchronization with Google Mail Contacts requires BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 and configuration through email settings on the BlackBerry smart phone.  Additional requirements and constraints may be found within the BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8 Documentation Kit. This feature is not supported on BlackBerry smart phones with BlackBerry® Connect™ software.

• Enhancements to email setup and settings:
  • Automatic Login now supports most billing identifiers, which allows new subscribers with wireless service providers that use PIN, IMEI, or ESN as a billing identifier to create BlackBerry Internet Service accounts from the BlackBerry smart phone, without having to create a login user name and password
  • Note: This feature will be available approximately one week after the BlackBerry Internet Service upgrade.

• Windows Live Hotmail revalidation:
  • With BlackBerry Internet Service 2.8, new Windows Live Hotmail mail integrations will be defaulted to a protocol that is designed so as not to require 90 day reauthorization.
  • Note: Existing BlackBerry smart phone users accessing Windows Live Hotmail using Microsoft MSP will still be required to revalidate their Windows Live Hotmail account every 90 days.

Pretty decent, RIM can definitely pat itself on the back for this one.

The HTC Leo has been out of sight for a while now, but recent leaks into the world of bloggers have it that the HTC Leo will now officially be the HTC Touch HD2. A leaked document has shown that the HTC Touch HD2 will be heading for T-Mobile soon. Of course there’s no release date, but with Windows Mobile 6.5 out and about, how long could it really be? So who’s holding out for the 1GHz pumping, 5 megapixel beast?

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Word has it that the second WebOS handset from Palm, the Palm Pixi is going to be in the spotlight come October 20th. Sprint is going to be the carrier doing all the showing off, of course the real question is, with the Palm Pre out and about, does anyone really want this tiny thing? We do have the iPhone 3GS already here and the Storm 2 on its way, so our attention is…diverted.

Bell is going to make you Canadians take a new BlackBerry whether you want it or not. As you can see in these leaked images of Bell’s inventory system the BlackBerry 8530 is headed your way. The price you see is the full retail price, $499, and doesn’t show what you’d be paying on a service agreement, but it sure will be less than $500. Also, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is seen here too, quietly idling away the time till Bell sees it fit to announce to the world. Considering that the world knows already, that announcement may be soon too.

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Alright the news is in, not officially announced, but a pretty sound source has it that Verizon Wireless will feature the Motorola Sholes or Motorola Tao as its first straight-up Android handset. What this means is that, unlike the CLIQ, the Sholes or Tao will not feature the MOTOBLUR UI. Also, sources have it that the handset will most likely be called the Motorola Droid on Verizon. This will also be the first Google Experience handset to offer built-in Adobe Flash support. Other key features include;

• 3.7″ screen
• 854×480 WVGA capacitive screen
• 5 megapixel camera
• ARM Cortex 500MHz CPU
• Facial recognition using the built-in camera (apparently you take a photo of someone and Google will pull in search results based on the image)
• Custom Motorola Interface/UI, no MOTOBLUR, no Verizon UI
• Available in black and titanium colors

There’s also talk that a keyboard-less version is slated for 2010.

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So while we impatiently wait for Windows Mobile 6.5 to show up on October 6th, and pray with all our might that the Storm 2 comes soon, not to mention that delicious BlackBerry 9700, Verizon Wireless is all set to launch a feature phone no one gives a hoot about; the Razzle and the Nokia 2705. The Razzle will be available for sale online on October 6th, while remaining channels will offer the handset once the Blitz inventory is sold out. The Razzle will cost you an affordable $69.99 on a two-year contract. Sharing the spotlight with the Razzle, is the Nokia 2705. Launching online on the same date, this entry-level flip phone will cost you $29.99 on a two-year contract and features; a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, GPS, 1xRTT connectivity, 2.5mm headphone jack and changeable faceplates. So there you have it, while you’ll be celebrating the coming-out party of Windows Mobile 6.5, you needn’t worry about what’s happening on the other side of town, we just told ya!

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