If there's one thing you can count on in this crazy world of ours, it's that LG handsets that start with "VX" are destined to get stamped with a big-ass Verizon logo somewhere along the line. Latest in that trend should be the VX9600, having just passed through the FCC's danger-fraught passages on its way to a presumed release on Big Red down the line. It should be a pretty interesting device, too -- as most in the VX9000 series tend to be -- thanks to a 3.0-inch 480 x 240 display, a "game pad" of some sort, and a detachable QWERTY keyboard. Not a lot to go on there, granted, but this is FCC documentation we're talking about here. More on this one as we get it.

Before a single AT&T-subscribing soul dreams of jumping ship for Sprint just to pick up the Touch Pro in a few weeks, hold up: we can pretty much confirm that it's coming to your neck of the woods, too. We've already seen some totally legit-looking shots of HTC's hottest QWERTY WinMo piece in AT&T trim, but now we have some more damning evidence in the form of a Google cached page detailing the so-called Fuze on the carrier's own site. As expected, we've got tri-band HSDPA, GPS, WiFi, and BlackBerry Connect waiting for us when AT&T finally decides to pull the plug on the Tilt and make this thing happen. Follow the break for AT&T's poetic Fuze verbiage -- and take your time, since there's no indication that we'll have this in stores in the next few days.

[Thanks, Fred]

The well-scooped TM506 from Sony Ericsson is now on sale, marking the first time that T-Mobile has openly and proudly admitted that a handset in its lineup can actually support 3G -- despite the fact that they've had such gear for over a year now. Why the big secret? Until now, T-Mobile's 3G network has been undergoing pretty much the softest soft launch in mobile history, and only now are enough markets starting to come on board to make the whole thing worthwhile. For what it's worth, every previous 3G handset on the carrier has merely rocked UMTS, so the TM506 becomes its first HSDPA-equipped piece while also offering up a 2-megapixel cam, TeleNav navigation, and stereo Bluetooth. As of this writing it's still showing "Coming Soon" on the site, but we're hearing that it'll be available today for $79.99 after rebate on contract.

Looks like LG wants some bite to back up the PRADA II's bark -- assuming both the device and its specs are real, of course, since we've been basing everything we know about Lucky Goldstar's rumored fashion monster on rumors thus far. The latest word on the street has the phone packing a what's-what of good things, ranging from a 5-megapixel autofocus cam, wide QVGA display (with capacitive touch, we can only imagine), HSDPA 850 / 2100, motion sensing, an FM radio, and a WiFi radio for those poor US souls who find themselves surrounded by more 1900MHz 3G than 850. It certainly all sounds real enough -- not as revolutionary as the first PRADA may have been, but a solid upgrade. While we're waiting for LG to sort this business out in a slightly more official capacity, we'll be working on the Armani, we s'pose.

LG's generally one of the most consistently tightlipped companies when it comes to revealing details about upcoming handsets via FCC documentation; yes, granted, they've got to file certain documents, but they do so in the most obscure, boring way possible (take, for instance, the ID label samples, which show the same meaningless diagram for every single device they test). Imagine our surprise, then, to see that the LG CP250 flip has been revealed here in full AT&T battle regalia -- complete with a VGA cam, EDGE data, a pair of color displays, and that's just about it. We would've liked their one-in-a-million FCC reveal to be just a little more interesting, but hey, it's a start, LG. Keep it coming.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Nothing quite says "these puppies are selling well, and we'd like to ride the wave a bit longer" than reformulating an existing device in new colors -- a strategy Motorola played to the extreme, bitter end with the original RAZR -- and Palm's circling back to Sprint's Centro lineup to add a couple more (it's not getting out of hand with the Centro yet, Palm, but we're onto your game). It seems that the new shades will be "rose" and "lime," both of which sorta speak to the Centro's approach as a personal -- not business -- oriented smartphone. If the rumors hold up, these snazzy new shades should be hitting late next month.

[Via Palm Infocenter]

Now that Uncle Walt has gone and opened the floodgates, details are starting to pour in on Sprint's imminent release of the Touch Diamond, a device that should actually manage to get the carrier damn close to the top of the Windows Mobile pile (for a short while, anyway). PC Magazine is now reporting that it'll be available on September 14 for $249.99 on a two-year contract after $100 rebate, a sum that would put it squarely in the "average" category for on-contract smartphone pricing in these parts. Of course, with the Touch Pro allegedly just around the corner, it remains to be seen just how much love this thing is going to get; nothing like a good, old-fashioned QWERTY-versus-touchscreen fight, is there?

Ironically, one of the very first carriers in the world to leak the Bold's existence way back in January of this year has ended up not being one of the first in the world to carry it -- but they're really not that far off. Vodafone UK has announced the BlackBerry Bold for immediate availability to its throngs of email-loving corporate types (and not-so-corporate types, for that matter), and even better, it's free on a £35 (about $62) plan with 600 minutes of talk time at 500MB of monthly data for two years. Considering that most larger companies are willing to shell out a small fortune to equip their crews with mobile gear, that ain't a bad deal at all.

Remember that supposed a137 that we saw chilling on a countertop somewhere in the wilds not long ago? Samsung and AT&T are now fessing up to its existence by quietly posting product info pages on their respective sites without so much as a single press release from either Sammy or the carrier -- because that's the sort of thing that happens when a phone's just this flat-out uninteresting, we suppose. How uninteresting are we talking about here? For starters, the a137 tops out with GPRS data -- not EDGE -- making for a circa-2004 blast from the past that should naturally help users keep their browsing habits to a bare minimum. On the plus side, it packs AGPS and runs just $39.99 as a GoPhone. Now, what do you want to bet we see it in a few more colors before its run is up?

[Via Phone Scoop]

Read - AT&T
Read - Samsung

And now, a dispatch from our "we'd be gaga over it with a 3G radio" department: Fly Mobile's E310 Attitude slider has slid on through the FCC's testing process, blessing it with a sort of cheap, neo-Chocolate look and feel that'd make LG proud. Truth be told, we can't tell if that's a good thing without getting our hands on the phone, but we'll admit, there's something intriguing to us about it from the cold, clinical shots the FCC is giving us -- and the hidden d-pad below the display is still pretty trick for the low-cost segment that Fly is trying to target. It's got a 3.2-megapixel camera, integrated FM radio, TV-out, Bluetooth, and microSDHC support; on the downside, the GPRS data leaves a musty taste in our mouths, but hey, at least it's of the quadband variety.

For our money, there's really nothing worse than dropping a few hundred bucks on a shiny new 3G toy, taking it home to the Outback, and realizing that we're getting more wallaby meat than we are reception. Happily, Telstra has a pretty unique program in the carrier world -- dubbed "Blue Tick" -- that awards certain devices in its lineup for their killer signal strength, which theoretically makes them more appropriate choices for use in rural and fringe areas where lesser phones might struggle. Interestingly, the Treo Pro is now the first smartphone in Telstra's Blue Tick range -- which they're offering for as little as zilch on a two year contract, by the by -- making it a solid choice for anyone around the world who's looking for a modern WinMo set with enough signal-pulling power to make a Motorola V365 green with envy. Only question is, can we still completely encase it in gold and hold a call?