Sprint to acquire Virgin Mobile for $483 million

Didn’t see this one coming… Apparently Branson’s Helio-hawking MVNO Virgin Mobile is about to be gobbled up by the nation’s number three. Sprint has officially announced its intentions to acquire the popular prepaid peddler and according to the release, it’s a done deal. Sprint will cough up $483 million in total for the acquisition, though its current 13.1 percent stake in the company factors into that figure. The carrier will also cover VM’s $250 million in debt at closing. We’re not yet sure how the VM brand will be positioned in Sprint’s arsenal — perhaps it will remain a separate brand or maybe it will be folded into Boost Mobile — but the bottom line is Sprint sees plenty of potential in the prepaid market. You know what they say… There’s no money like up front money.

August is shaping up to be a month of sequel at T-Mobile

The good folks over at T-Mobile always do their best to bring hot new GSM phones to market as quickly as possible. With a subscriber count around 40 million however, manufacturers are seemingly more eager to deal with AT&T and its 80 million-or-so customers more often than not. Keeping that in mind, if T-Mobile can manage to bring the highly sought-after HTC Touch Pro2 to market before its GSM rival, it will definitely be a noteworthy coup. We still have no firm word on when AT&T will be cracking a champagne bottle on the Pro2’s hull but often-rumored August 12th launch date for T-Mobile’s sequel to the aged Wing just got a bit firmer thanks to the leaked sheet above. While pricing is still a mystery, we can assume it’ll come in towards the top of Tmo’s lineup and as such, a more affordable QWERTY option is rumored to become available the following week — the Samsung Gravity 2, another sequel. Though it was officially announced last week, there is still no official word on the pricing or release date for this messaging machine. While the handset’s price still alludes us, it looks like T-Mobile has August 18th pegged for its launch. Hit the jump for the supporting sheet for the Gravity 2 and let us know if either of these upcoming phones will have a place in your pocket and more importantly, in your heart.

AT&T/Rogers 3G ready Samsung I8000 Omnia 2 clears FCC

Sammy fans in the US (and perhaps Canada) have cause for celebration as the FCC has just given the upcoming Omnia2 its coveted nod of approval. Preliminary documentation is limited but at least one tasty tidbit can be gleaned — this little guy is packing UMTS 850/1900. That’s right people, AT&T and Rogers’ 3G frequencies are confirmed to be on board, though it remains to be seen whether either carrier will offer the handset. A quick refresher:

GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/1900 MHz, HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA5.76 Mbps
3.7-inch WVGA (480×800) AMOLED touchscreen, Advanced R touch (Resistive)
Memory: 8/16GB storage memory, hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 32GB total)
Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, TouchWiz 2.0 UI with 3D effects
800 MHz processor
5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, dual LED flash, geo-tagging, face and smile detection, image stabilization, Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) and D1 video recording at 15 fps
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP, standard microUSB port, standard 3.5mm audio jack, GPS receiver with A-GPS
Accelerometer
DivX/XviD video support
FM radio with RDS
DNSe
Dimensions: 118 x 59.6 x 11.9 mm
1500 mAh battery
Anyone excited, or enough with the full touchscreen Windows Mobile phones already? Hit the jump for a nice little video showing this little guy off.

T-Mobile announces the Samsung Comeback and Gravity 2

Yes ladies and gentlemen pre-teen boys and girls, school is starting up again in just over a month and that means carriers across the country are going to start rolling out a bunch of new phones to gobble up the money you worked so hard to get over the summer. The latest in this crop of devices are the Samsung Comeback and Gravity 2 from T-Mobile. The Comeback, a device we’re sure most of you are familiar with by now, is a 3G-enabled horizontal clamshell with a full-QWERTY keypad, 2 megapixel camera, MP3 player and microSDHC support. The Gravity 2 isn’t much different except that it is a straight-up side slider and is considerably smaller. Sadly for those who are thinking about picking up a Comeback, which is available this very moment, we hit the nail squarely on the head when we said that it will be going for the absolutely ridiculous price of $129.99 on a 2-year deal after a $50 MIR. Insane. As for the Gravity 2, pricing and a specific release date have yet to be set, although it will be available sometime next month. Huzzah.

Apple's earning are in and they've crushed their forecast

Analysts, investors and just about everyone else even the least bit interested in tech had very high expectations for Apple’s fiscal third quarter 2009, which ended on June 27th. Well folks, the numbers are in and to make a long story short… Apple crushed it. In fact, the company has just reported its best non-holiday quarter in its storied history. Recession? Please. Here are some highlights:

5.2 million iPhones sold (626 percent growth YoY)
10.2 million iPods sold
2.6 million Macs sold
$1.23 billion in profits, up from $1.19 in Q308
$8.34 billion in sales, up from $7.46 in Q308
$1.34 EPS, up from $1.19 in Q308
Yep, crushed. Apple CEO Steve Jobs had this to say: “We’re making our most innovative products ever and our customers are responding. We’re thrilled to have sold over 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter and users have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications from our App Store in its first year.” Fair enough. We’re glad Stevie is back in action but there’s absolutely no question that the rest of crew stayed on course during his absence.

T-Mobile said to be dropping the Blackberry Curve 8520 on Aug. 5th

According to the guys and gals over at BlackBerry Rocks, T-Mobile USA will be releasing the BlackBerry Curve 8520 née Gemini on August 5th. This latest in a series of yet-to-be-confirmed 8520 release dates flies in the face of a previous report by Engadget, which mentioned a two-month Walmart exclusivity period for the 8520 (you do remember it’s headed to Walmart, right?). Either way you slice it, since the the FCC has already signed off on the new budget Curve and it’s currently being shown off across the country to VIP customers at BlackBerry Night at the Movies, we know this is one BlackBerry that is just about ripe for the picking.

Rim & Apple holds 3% of the market, 35% of the profits

Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff fed some figures to the Wall Street Journal this morning and to say they speak volumes for the effectiveness of both RIM and Apple’s strategies is a gross understatement. Two companies, 3 percent of the global cell phone market, 35 percent of the operating profits. Sheesh. It’s no mystery that both companies have hit the industry hard of late but if this statistic doesn’t speak volumes for the success both have been experiencing, we don’t know what does. While Apple’s next handset release is about a year away, the company continues to bring its iPhone 3GS to new markets where it has yet to receive anything but an enthusiastic welcome. RIM on the other hand, has several highly anticipated devices still to come this year including the Storm 2, Bold 9020 (Onyx) and the Magnum. In a nut shell, both companies are well positioned to push that number up toward the 40 percent mark and possibly beyond before the year is out.

Beyond the dynamic duo that is RIM and Apple, Nokia is the only other player represented on the chart above showing a profit share that outreaches its market share and it still owns the lion’s share of each. As we reaffirmed last week however, all is not peachy up in Finland these days. And then we find Samsung and LG, two companies that combine to make up over 30 percent of the global cell phone market but only about 20 percent of the profits. Last and unfortunately least, there’s Motorola. Ouch, Moto.

Blackberry Desktop manager: Coming soon to MAC near you

Feet feeling a bit cold this afternoon, BlackBerry fans? Don’t worry, that’s just hell freezing over thanks to an announcement from RIM earlier this afternoon. No, seriously. By way of its Inside BlackBerry blog, RIM has put the world on notice — BlackBerry Desktop Manager is coming to OS X in September. Wooo! A quick rundown of highlighted features:

Sync your iTunes playlists, calendars, contacts, notes and tasks [if Apple doesn't find a way to kill it, of course]
Add/Remove applications
Update your device when new software becomes available
Backup and restore your device data with such features like automatically scheduled backups and optional encryption (security is #1 as always…)
Manage multiple devices
We’re sure RIM will leave a bit of functionality out of its initial Mac builds but at least Mac users won’t have to bother with Fusion/Parallels/etc every time they fish a new leaked OS out of the swamp. Hit the read link to register for updates on DM for Mac.

HTC Leo edition

The internet is abuzz this morning with the rumor that a new clamshell smartphone is coming soon from HTC. Evidence of the handset, codenamed LEO, is said to have been found within a TouchFLO 3D 2.5 “Manilla” ROM. Its purported specs include a full-QWERTY keypad, external QVGA display, internal 16:9 WVGA display, support for OpenGL 2.0 and a Snapdragon processor. Mmm, Snapdragon. This rumor is pretty messy though, because there is every possibility that the Leo is actually the Omni — a device long rumored to be the successor of the HTC Universal, a Pocket PC that made its retail debut in late 2005. After all, when one thinks about it, the thought of HTC dropping a device it was rumored to be working on very early in 2007 just seems, well, so un-HTC.

LG first android handset

It isn’t exactly a secret that LG has at least a few Android handsets in the works. We must admit however, we’re still pretty excited to learn that the GW620 Eve may be the first LG device to run Android if only because it means an official unveiling might not be too far off. The evidence to support this claim is a handset profile for the phone that references the Android browser. Specs are still very much up in the air as the handset is not yet official, but as it stands we’re looking at an HVGA touchscreen display, full-QWERTY keypad, Wi-Fi and UMTS/HSDPA connectivity. In other words, it’s pretty much the same as every other Android handset coming down the pipe.

Nokia N86 coming soon to Nokia USA

Symbian-loving photogs are officially on notice… Nokia has just announced that its first 8 megapixel offering is now on its way to the US. That’s right, the N86 8MP will be hitting store shelves within the next few weeks and if you have a hankering for S60 3rd Edition FP2 and more pixels than you can shake a stick at, this little guy might be just what the doctor ordered. Of course the camera isn’t the only focus here, though for many it will be hard to get past an 8 megapixel shooter with a shutter speed of up to 1/1000 of a second, an f-stop range of 2.4-4.8 and a wide-angle lens. Once you do however, you’ll find a 2.6-inch AMOLED QVGA display, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and tri-band UMTS, 8GB of internal storage, Wi-Fi and aGPS with Nokia Maps 3.0 pre-installed and plenty more. There is some bad news to report as well unfortunately — despite being announced at €375 abroad (about $530 at today’s exchange rate, $474 when announced), the NAM N86 8MP is going to run you $558. If photography is your game however, that’s hardly a tall order for an unlocked top-of-the-line camera phone. Anyone in?

Sony Ericsson C905a: coming July 19th to an AT&T store near you

Well boys and girls, call this one confirmed. We scooped it last week and now Sony Ericsson has made AT&T’s C905a official. July 19th is indeed the date you can get your mitts on the 8.1 megapixel beast and as far as pricing goes, you’re looking at 179.99 after rebate on a 2-year contract. A quick recap of the spec highlights:

8.1 megapixel camera with a xenon flash, auto-focus and video capture
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, dual-band HSDPA
On-device image editing
Scratch-resistant mineral glass display
GPS
FM Radio
Bluetooth
Memory Stick Micro (M2) support up to 16GB
Ok photogs, stop drooling on your keyboards. It’s definitely no “Rachael” but its also a hell of a lot more exciting than the W205/W205a SE (re)announced this morning. Anyone planning to check this puppy out this Sunday?

Sony Ericsson announces entry level W205

If you had always been itching for some of that Sony Ericsson Walkman goodness but were hoping for something wrapped in a slightly more attainable package, this is your bag. Sony Ericsson has just announced the W205 and W205a Walkman phones, a pair Sony Ericsson promises to be the most affordable handsets to ever grace its Walkman line. Highlights:

Enjoy your music with the high quality Walkman experience
FM radio – catch up with the latest news and views
TrackID – name that tune at a press of a button
1.3 megapixel camera – take great shots and share the fun instantly
Video recording – capture your favorite moments on film
Bluetooth™ – share your favorite songs, pictures and video clips, or connect to a wireless headset
Multiple phonebook – keep your contacts in order and share your mobile phone with your family
Memory Stick Micro (M2) support up to 2GB
While the press release throws the word “affordable” around willy nilly, no pricing information has been provided at this point. There’s also no word on exactly when the W205 or W205a will be released — SE says they’re both expected to launch within three months — though we do notice that USA is missing from the W205a’s local availability list despite the presence of GSM 850/1900. This either means a carrier deal is still in the works or SE is skipping the US

T-Mobile Samsung highlight gets official, July release

It’s not a T-Mobile myTouch 3G (aka the dumbest name in marketing history), but Samsung is going to take care of that feature-phone segment with a new 3G handset — or at least try to. The Samsung Highlight will be available this month if you’re interested. It’ll retail for $150 after rebates and here are the official specs:

Large touch-screen display, thin-profile design
Available in two colors options: fire and ice
3 megapixel camera with 3x digital zoom and video capture
Stereo Bluetooth
microSD slot for up to 16 GB of optional removable memory
Music player supports MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+ and eAAC+
Support for SMS, MMS, instant messaging (IM) and e-mail
IM support: AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger
E-mail support: AOL, Yahoo!, additional POP3 accounts
Complete Web access through T-Mobile web2go
A-GPS with Location Based Services by TeleNav
Quad-band GSM world phone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
UMTS/HSDPA-capable (1700/2100 – AWS Band IV)
Display: 1.61 x 2.64 inches, 240 x 400 pixels, 262k TFT display
4.27 x 2.11 x 0.54 inches; 3.7 ounces

Boost slashes price on "UNLTD by Boost", now $50

Good news for Boost Mobile customers as the carrier has just matched its $50 unlimited iDEN plan pricing for CDMA customers. Starting today, customers on an UNLTD $50 Unlimited Talk, $60 Unlimited Talk & Text or $70 Unlimited Talk, Text & Web plans will automatically be switched to the new $50 per month plan which offers unlimited nationwide talk, text and web in the 13 states where Boost’s CDMA service is available (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas). Customers on any lower-priced Boost Mobile plan can stay at their current price point. Boost has also removed the home calling areas, allowing subscribers to make calls anywhere on Sprint’s CDMA network without incurring a roaming fee. No roaming fees and $50 for all-you-can-eat minutes, text messages and web — what more could you ask for?

Samsung Comback get spec'd another T-Mobile piece

You might recall the Samsung Comeback — though its name was unknown at the time — from a group of four T-Mobile-bound headsets we spied back in early May. Sure it was likely the least interesting of the group but you’ll be hard pressed to find a T-Mobile subscriber who isn’t at least somewhat excited when news of a new 3G handset rolls around. Well T-Moblers, the next piece of the puzzle just fell into place as the complete specs of this little QWERTY have been uncovered. Highlights include the QWERTY keyboard of course, a 2 megapixel camera with video capture, microSDHC support, integrated email and IM support, Bluetooth, 75MB of internal memory, a 960 mAh battery and a pair of low-quality displays. Oh, and let’s not forget 1700MHz 3G. We’d say this little guy has the potential to make a decent showing with the tween demo as long as we see a price tag around $50. Hit the jump for the full specs.

Windows marketplace for mobile to accept submission July 27th, launches in Fall

There it is, Windows Mobile developers — the day you’ve kind of, sort of, maybe been waiting for. Todd Brix, Senior Director for Mobile Platform Services Product Management at Microsoft has just announced that the company will begin accepting app submissions in 29 supported countries on July 27th. As in, less than two weeks from today. Woo! Brix goes on to report that Microsoft is on schedule to launch its “Windows Marketplace for Mobile” this fall alongside Windows Mobile 6.5. Current users shouldn’t fret of course, as the Marketplace will also be available on WinMo 6.0 and 6.1 before the year is out. So what say you, Windows Mobile fans — think the Marketplace can compete?

Samsung T939 aka Behold2 clears WiFi alliance testing

Despite being among the more capable handsets currently offered to T-Mobile subscribers, it looks as though Tmo is already planning the Samsung Behold’s funeral. Having made its debut this past holiday season, the Behold is among a handful of AWS rocking handsets T-Moblers in 3G-covered regions have to choose from. Be careful when making that choice however, as the Behold’s successor is already waiting in the wings ready to make you sorry you didn’t hold out a while longer. Specs and release info for the SGH-T939 Behold2 are still unknown but it’s clearly safe to say it will sport Wi-Fi (b and g) considering it just passed Wi-Fi Alliance testing with certification in tow. We can also bank on a nice big touchscreen, 3G and a 5+ megapixel camera of course. The rest is still a mystery but expect this little guy to come out of hiding in time for the holidays this year.

It looks like the T939 might be a bit more interesting than we first suspected. According to an unearthed XML device profile, this little guy looks to be sporting Android.

LG launches app store in Asia, looks to go global end of 2009

If there’s one thing the world needs right now, there’s no doubt in our minds it’s another on-device application store. Lucky for us, LG seems to agree. The electronics giant has launched its mobile app store in Asia and is setting its sights on going global (Europe and South America, no US yet) by the end of 2009. The creatively named “LG Application Store” will see 1,400 applications right out the gate – quite impressive for an app store at launch — with about 100 of those applications available for free. We can’t say we’re overly impressed with the ratio of free to paid apps, but anything is better than the selection of 30 that Pre users are currently forced to pick from. If and when LG’s offering makes it to the US however, we would expect the number of free (and total) apps to have grown substantially — pending some level of success of course.

new iPhone patent applications: Object identification, face recognition, messaging tweaks

About 50 rungs further down the innovation ladder, some new Apple patent applications revealed this morning are definitely less interesting and complex than the few we covered last week. In fact, considering some of the technology has already existed for quite some time we’re not even sure why Apple is attempting to patent a few of these things. In any case however, it’s never a bad idea to stop and take a look at where the iPhone and iPhone OS may be headed in the future so let’s start at the top. The drawing above depicts an object identification interface that would allow the iPhone to recognize and deliver information about an object as a result of analyzing a photo/image or by scanning a bar code/RFID tag. Novel? Definitely not. Useful? Probably. Hit the jump for more.

T-Mobile USA: No HERO for you?

Well T-Mobile customers, it looks like you can’t have your myTouch 3G and eat your Hero, too. Great news trickled through this morning as the myTouch 3G became available for pre-order to current T-Mobile subscribers. On the flip side of the coin however, T-Mobile USA CTO Cole Brodman confirmed at a T-Mobile event today what many had expected — the highly anticipated HTC Hero will not be coming to the nation’s number four wireless carrier. Brodman’s exact words: “[T-Mobile USA] has no plans to bring the HTC Hero to market.” It’s definitely a shame considering the high desirability factor carried by HTC’s upcoming handset but there’s still hope the Hero will drop with AT&T in the near future. So what do you think, T-Moblers — sad to learn there’s no Hero in your future or will the myTouch 3G suit your Android-loving needs while we wait for the next generation of T-Mobile Android handsets?

Moto says hello to ROKR ZN50

It might not be the most exciting new handset to come to light this year, or this month, or even today… But Moto has just added a new piece to the ROKR puzzle this morning. Say hola to the Moto ROKR ZN50. For the time being it looks like this puppy will be confined to South Korea but availability in other markets is likely at some point down the road. As far as music phones go, it’s not terrible:

WCDMA 2100/HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900
Dimensions: 108.9mm x 54mm x 14.3mm
Weight: 143g
Display: widescreen touch-sensitive 3.2-inch, TFT, 240×427 pixels resolution, 262k colors
Camera: 3.2 megapixels with auto-focus
Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR
“SRS WOW HD” sound system
GPS
microSDHC support
Battery: 900 mAh
Other applications: Alarm clock, calendar, calculator, units converter, world time
At the right price and in the right markets, we can see the ROKR ZN50 shining to some extent. Rumor suggests it will drop near the end of the year and will come with free access to a music download service of some kind.

Sony Ericsson new Rachel and KiKi surfaces

Heads up SE fans! A tipster just dropped us a lead on some new shots (and a video) of the mouth watering Sony Ericsson Rachael and the plant watering Sony Ericsson Kiki — which means were dropping them on you. We last heard about these two handsets late last week and since then we have to be honest… The Rachael has been on our minds non stop. Android, Snapdragon, 8 megapixel camera with auto-focus, 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 3D graphics capabilities? Yeah we need it. As for the Kiki, mmm, it’s unique. Hit the jump for the new renderings along with a video supposedly depicting SE’s own UI sitting atop the Android-powered Rachael. We’re not going to lie — it’s pretty sexy.

T-Mobile myTouch 3G now available for pre-order

Are you one of the many T-Mobile customers itching to get your hands on a sexy new myTouch 3G? We don’t blame you — as long as a physical QWERTY isn’t a prerequisite for you, this little guy is definitely a solid choice for Tmo customers looking to get some Android love. As of today, subscribers can pre-order the myTouch 3G starting at $199.99 and T-Mobile will guarantee delivery by August 5th. The pre-order offer in its current state ends July 28th so you’ve got plenty of time to mull it over if you’re still on the fence for whatever reason. As a side note, several tipsters are reporting issues with placing their orders — among them, even qualified upgrades are showing up at a $399.99 price point upon checkout — so you may want to hold off a bit until T-Mobile can iron out the kinks. If you do decide to dive right in however, let us know how it goes!

Apple's App Store turns 1 year anniversary

While the official 1-year anniversary of the App Store isn’t until Saturday, Apple apparently decided to start the celebration early. A new dedicated page headed with the colorful banner seen above appeared in iTunes this morning, proudly proclaiming that the App Store’s first birthday is upon us. So how is Apple celebrating this momentous occasion? By trying to get you to buy more apps, duh. Apple’s anniversary page is littered with Apple’s “favorite apps and games” alongside buy links to make sure they’re all nice and easy to snag. Shamelessness aside, there’s really no question that the advent of the App Store is among a handful of game-changing events that have taken place over the past few years. Over 56,000 apps… Well over a billion downloads… Every major competitor doing its best to mimic the offering… Yeah, it’s safe to say the App Store has definitely left its mark on the wireless industry.

Nokia 3720 classic takes a licking and keeps on talking

Over the past few days, the folks over at Nokia have been putting an unknown handset through a variety of torture tests on video, presumably to whet our appetites for an imminent announcement. The poor little guy has been dunked in a pint, smacked with a golf club, punted through the air, drowned in a pool and even dropped two stories off a ladder — each and every time followed by the phrase “it’s still working!” Suffice it to say, this new Nokia kit is ruggedized and it fairs extremely well in a variety of real world accident scenarios. As many had assumed, it looks like said handset is shaping up to be the IP54-certified 3720 classic we first heard about last month. Specs were reported this morning as follows:

Water and dust resistant (IP54 certificate)
Battery life: over 2.5 weeks standby time
FM radio
Integrated flashlight
S40 OS
2.2-inch QVGA display, 16M colors
25MB internal memory
MicroSD card slot
Bluetooth
3.2 megapixel camera
Pretty decent for a handset that can take a serious beating. Nokia will certainly be announcing this scrapper soon but for the time being, it’s rumored to be hitting the streets some time in September at an unknown price. Hit the jump for a few of our favorite 3720 torture test videos.

Orange to launch the LG GD910 watch phone next month

More interesting news from the UK today as it looks like LG’s would-be-highly-anticipated-if-not-for-the-insanely-high-rumored-price-tag GD910 watch phone is set to become a reality next month. Orange has reportedly confirmed that LG’s Dick Tracy-esque wrist gear will hit store shelves some time in August as an exclusive, though Orange exclusivity will only be for “a limited time”. The carrier hasn’t yet pinned a price on the touchscreen GD910 watch phone and we don’t blame them considering it’s rumored to be in the £1,000 range (about $1,612 at today’s exchange rate) on a pay-as-you-go plan or SIM-only. And you thought the Nokia N97 was expensive. For the sake of our British friends’ wallets, let’s hope the rumored price is way high and this little HSDPA-ready wristwatch drops with a slightly less ridiculous price tag. As for availability on this side of the Atlantic — don’t hold your breath.

Samsung i7500 Galaxy hits UK this month with Android O.S.

Sure, we might be a bit more anxious for the Hero, G1 v2 or the Morrison at this point, but let’s not forget Samsung’s first Android-powered handset — the Galaxy i7500 — has yet to see the light of day. Though it might not be the most exciting handset in the world, the i7500 certainly will be the best-spec’d Android handset when it launches. While we know it will be hitting T-Mobile at some point here in the US, it looks like our friends across the pond will be first to enjoy this sweet smartphone with an O2 release coming some time this month. Big bright touchscreen, 8GB of internal storage, 5 megapixel camera with flash, 3.5mm audio jack and Android 1.5 all wrapped in a 12mm-thin case… Fair enough. So what say you — disappointed that our Euro pals get first crack at another sweet phone or did you start day dreaming as soon as we mentioned the Hero?

Sony Ericsson first android handset

It’s July 4th — America is celebrating its independence at the grill, policemen across the country are turning a blind eye to fireworks, liquor store owners are swimming in the day’s take… And two new Sony Ericsson handsets are getting detailed. Maybe. Consider these unconfirmed rumors for the time being, but it looks like SE’s first Android handset could be a gem and its first transparent display-equipped handset could be the ugliest thing we’ve ever seen. Let’s start at the top… After the jump.