A new connect has come forward and provided us with some details on LG’s future phone plans that we thought we would share. According to our source, the LG enV Touch 2 that we heard about yesterday is actually to be called the enV G. Our source does confirm that the device has a hinged, dual touch-screen display and added that it will have a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. Our tipster continues, and lets us know that LG will be releasing a mid-range, Android 2.1, all touch-screen device around the holidays that is being referred to internally as the “Thunder” (given recent events we’re sure the name will change upon release). Our source claims that the Thunder will be released on Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, and MetroPCS. This would make the Thunder one phone with three different 3G radios (unless they drop a pentaband UMTS 3G radio in two of them). Finally, the last bit of information we were given indicates that LG’s first Windows Phone 7 device will be a full-QWERTY slider and will be available right when WP7 goes live. There you have it. Think the enV G and this sliding WP7 device can give LG some momentum in the U.S. smartphone market? What do you think of LG hardware in general (the phones, not the washing machines)?

UPDATE: Our source clarified that there will be three Windows Phone 7 devices launching right when the OS is officially announced.  One will be from Samsung, one will be from HTC, and one will be from LG. The LG device will be the only handset with a full slide-out QWERTY keypad.

UPDATE 2: It looks like Engadget has been sent in an image of the full-QWERTY slider device. Hit the break to check it out.

It seems as though the mobile phone stork delivered a set of twins to Engadget… smartphone twins that is. The blog was gifted with two Dell Thunder Android smartphone prototypes, and they’ve done the honor of shedding some light on just what we’re looking at. The Thunder will pack a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor with Qualcomm Adreno graphics (think Nexus One), 4.1-inch touch-screen display, 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM, 8 megapixel camera with LED flash, and (possibly) a front-facing VGA camera. The two units were sporting different operating systems and screen resolutions. One unit was running a developer build of Android 1.6 while the other was running Android 2.1. As mentioned above, the screen resolutions on the two units are also not identical, one has a resolution of 800 x 600 and the other 1,280 x 768. The gang found evidence in the software of a CDMA test suite, indicating the potential for a Verizon or Sprint model, and one unit had AT&T’s HSPA 3G bands while the other had T-Mobile’s AWS 3G bands. Furthermore, the device has a 3.5 mm headphone jack, 1,400 mAh battery, and micro-SD card slot. The Thunder’s glass screen is also slightly beveled, which Engadget described as “as useless as it is cool.” So if you like Dell hardware, and the Streak is too much phone for you, what do you think about the Thunder?

Read

The folks over at Engadget were sent images (Mr. Blurrycam style) of the unannounced and unreleased Dell Thunder. The Thunder is reportedly an Android 2.1 full touch-screen device with a 4.1-inch screen (possibly OLED), 8 megapixel camera with 720p video recording, 800 x 480 resolution, and a 1400 mAh battery. No details were given about the processor speed or internal storage of the newly photographed device. Hit the read link to check out a few more images and a quick video.

Read

Dell might not currently be putting its best foot forward when it comes to smartphones, but man does it ever look to have plans when it comes to Windows Phone 7 and Android. Engadget was sent some slides of the Texas company’s Lightning, Flash and Thunder and do they ever strike our fancy. Just like nature, let’s start off with some Lightning. Running WP7, it is a vertical QWERTY slider with a 4.1″ WVGA AMOLED display, 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, 802.11b/g/n, 8GB microSD card, 1GB ROM / 512MB RAM and 1GHz processor. Network-wise, the Lighting will be able to run on both AT&T and T-Mobile’s 3G networks with downlink speeds of up to 7.2Mbps, although unfortunately you’re going to have to choose one or the other. Then there’s the Thunder. Equipped with Android 2.1 Eclair and Dell’s social medial-friendly “Stage” UI overlay, its specs closely mirror the Lightning’s except in lieu of a full-QWERTY keypad it has an 8 megapixel camera. Throw in support for Flash 10.1 and a Hulu app and it looks like Dell has a real winner on its hands. Then again, who knows what the competition will come out with by the time it’s released in Q4 on various HSDPA networks like AT&T. Next up is the Flash. Featuring Android 2.2 “Froyo” with Stage UI, it is going to be positioned as a mid-range smartphone upon its release in 2011. It has a 3.5″ WVGA touchscreen display, a feature-packed 5 megapixel camera, support for microSD cards up to 64GB, Wi-Fi, TV-out, Bluetooth 3.0, 512MB ROM / RAM, AT&T-friendly tri-band HSPA that peaks at 14.4Mbps down all powered by an 800MHz processor. Finally there’s the Smoke. Another Froyo device and the most affordable of the bunch, the stretched-out Smoke has a 2.8″ QVGA display (likely a typo on Dell’s part), QWERTY keypad, 800MHz processor, 5 megapixel shooter, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 14.4Mbps HSDPA and sports dual-microphones

Doesn’t the future look lovely? You can find a few of the pics after the break.

Read – Flash

Read – Lightning

Read – Thunder

Read – Smoke

Things are starting to heat up in Verizon land and CDMA-hugging BlackBerry addicts just got one step closer to seeing the highly anticipated Storm become a reality. The FCC just posted fairly secretive approval documents for an unnamed handset from RIM. Oh you crafty government workers. A quick glance at the image above pretty much instantly eliminates all mystery – the button placement, the form factor, the SIM slot for when you need to get your international roaming on… Yes, it’s the Storm. Now that the FCC is out of the way we can all sit back, relax and wait for RIM’s touchy feely handset to drop next month. Woo!

Read

We don’t have too much info to go off of at this point in time, but if you are still waiting to get your hands on the Pearl Flip 8220, Curve 8900, Bold, or Storm, we’re about to screw you up real quick. We’ve now confirmed from 2 independent sources that RIM is working on a device that will blow the roof off all previous models. Ready for it? 5 megapixel auto-focus camera, 1GB of RAM so your precious worthless apps don’t cause memory leaks, and a “near-HD quality” screen. We’re honestly not sure about the form-factor but we heard this device could be sort of a Bold and Storm mashup. Either Treo-esque or a slide-out device. One last thing… we have also heard from a different source that RIM is hard at work on a second generation Storm device and they’ve even started the first stages of a third generation Storm. That’s all we’ve got for now, but you know we’ll be on this quicker than a plus-sized girl on a jar of Mayo. Who’s your favorite blogger?

Click on over to our BlackBerry Storm User Guide gallery!

Click on over to our BlackBerry Storm powerpoint gallery!

You definitely have to take this one at face value, but there’s an internal document floating around inside AT&T pitting the iPhone 3G against the upcoming BlackBerry Storm. We had our doubts about this document at first, but we received it from two independent sources now, so it’s legit! Here’s some of the smack-talking AT&T lays down:

• The Storm doesn’t have multi-touch
• There’s no Wi-Fi
• The Storm doesn’t have an App Store
• Stormy Storm doesn’t have tri-band HSDPA
• The browser sucks on the Storm
• No iTunes action (movies, music, etc.)

Yeah yeah, we know you can sync your BlackBerry with DRM-free music in iTunes so don’t get your panties in a bunch over that line. We think legitimate points so far, but the browser hasn’t been tested and tri-band HSDPA doesn’t matter if you’re not using the device on AT&T in the United States. Peanut gallery, you’re up!

Thanks, AT&T ninjas!

I’ll keep this short, but as most of you that are following the BlackBerry Storm developments over the past couple days know, Verizon has “introduced” the BlackBerry Storm internally. They even published a coming soon page complete with Storm image. The page was then removed today, coincidentally after every major site that mattered had linked to it and posted. Does anyone not see the scam being played out before our eyes? Introduction “internally” and then removing the coming soon page? No press release, no official announcement… am I the only one who’s seeing the bigger picture?

UPDATE: Here’s the link for the actual video hosted on Verizon’s site. Thanks, guys!

UPDATE 2: Storm page is back uppppppz.

We told you it was coming (a day late but not a dollar short) and now it’s officially here! The Blackberry Storm has officially gone live on Verizon’s website for all to see in its glory. No other information about the handset. Just a pretty picture of the shiny, new touchscreen ‘Berry. But we’re still holding firm on our “about one week after November 1st” launch time frame, as told to us by multiple sources.

Read

GlydeGuy over at Howard Forum leaked some Blackberry Storm Goodness. Remember, it’s the 15th today, kids. No pricing or release date but we can confirm that “click” touch interface, full HTML browser, 3.2MP camera, and a very high resolution screen. Take that AT&T with your eternally delayed Blackberry Bold. Now if we could just keep VZW from locking down the GPS, we’d have the epitome of perfection in a phone. Start the drooling now! Sadly there’s no Wi-Fi like we reported, though. Oh well.

Thanks to everyone that sent this in!

Read

An internal email floating around Verizon Wireless hints at some “exciting news” coming on Sept 15th. According to Kevin Byrne, Verizon will tentatively launch “http://www.verizonwireless.com/storm” on September 15th, followed by the actual product launch on 11-1-08. Some more eye candy (Photoshop > Filters > Render clouds was the best they could do?) and a confirmation of the phone (finally) will be sweet, but don’t go standing in line to be the first to buy the Storm on November 1st. BG tells me you all will have to wait around one more week for that…

Read