Motorola gets official with GPS-packing MING A1600, A1800

Motorola hasn't exactly been doing the best job keeping these two handsets under wraps, but it now looks like it can now rest a bit easier and let the details fly, as it's finally gotten official with both the MING A1600 and MING A1800. As we've seen, the two handsets are nearly identical, with each packing a 2.4-inch QVGA touchscreen, a 3-megapixel camera, integrated Bluetooth, a microSD card slot, an FM radio and, of particular note, built-in GPS (but no WiFi, as previously rumored). The MING A1800, however, adds two SIM card slots, which will let you hop between GSM and CDMA networks with relative ease. Still no official word on pricing or availability, unfortunately, but we'd expect those details to be making themselves known soon enough.

Yahoo! Go Beta 3 For Windows Mobile Professional

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Verizon's LG Dare touchscreen contender available tomorrow for $200

Verizon Wireless isn't kidding around with this new Dare phone from LG: it'll hit Verizon's online shop tomorrow (the 26th) for $200 with a $50 rebate, and then land in retail on July 3rd. We've had little time to get accustomed to its touchscreen mug, unlike Sprint's long run-up to the Instinct, but Verizon and LG have certainly done their homework. There's a whole lot to chew on here, so we're going to drop it on you bullet point style:

Hardware:

* Dimensions: 103.9 x 55.6 x 13.8 mm (that's 0.54-inches thick for us yanks)
* 3-inch, 240 x 400 touchscreen LCD with "Vibe-Touch" tactile feedback
* Rev A EV-DO
* 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash, autofocus and exposure control
* 120 fps slow-motion movie record mode
* 3.5mm headphone jack
* microSD up to 8GB
* Proximity sensor for switching off the LCD when against your face
* Light sensor to adjust LCD brightness automatically
* Accelerometer
* 3D graphics acceleration, supports app transitions and rotations

Software:

* "Full HTML" browser (barely) with page overview and zoom functions
* V Cast store and VZ Navigator
* Cover Flow-alike music app
* 51 possible apps, 11 app "drag & drop" shortcut menu
* Shortcuts draggable to home screen
* Graphical favorites menu, drag icons to pertinent task like message, call or edit
* Contact list includes search ribbon and filtering
* Text input via QWERTY, predictive keypad or handwriting recognition
* Drawing pad includes colors, pen widths, eraser for scribbling and picture "editing"
* Background music listening
* Video editing, picture editing, panoramic stitching

Phew, these guys really packed it in. Stand by for our hands-on impressions.

LG Dare hands-on

We spent some touching (get it?) minutes with the new LG Dare that's hitting Verizon Wireless today, and while we didn't come away from the experience a changed human being, we've gotta congratulate LG and Verizon for the obvious effort they've put into this unit. Particularly with the hardware the phone seems determined to differentiate itself from its iPhone competition, with helpful tactile feedback while typing, (almost helpful) handwriting recognition, video recording (in slow-mo, if you'd like) and even editing, and the beefed-up photo taking capabilities that a 3.2 megapixel sensor and built-in flash provide. The basics aren't too bad either, with a sturdy and bright screen, peppy EV-DO Rev A., expandable memory and a flush 3.5mm headphone jack

Unfortunately, where things start to fall apart is polish. The phone inexplicably carries two app menus, one a "shortcut menu" accessed by a button off to the side of the home screen, the other a full-fledged affair accessed by the primary soft button row... which is also on the home screen. We also had trouble with the QWERTY keypad despite the abundant horizontal real estate the Dare commits to it. We got better as we became accustomed to tapping with our fingernails (thumb presses don't work, it's not a capacitive touch screen). Other things like the inability to fling your way through menus and long web pages are minor niggles, but detract from the overall experience.

It's also quite clear that the Dare is a featurephone, not a smartphone, so if you were hoping to manage email effectively or keep up with your appointments, you're probably better off sticking with one of those Big Kids phones -- even if the Dare's messaging and contact integration is admirable. The browser is also a "full HTML" browser in the most minor of senses. Sure it understands HTML, but it won't be rendering web pages anything like they're supposed to look, other than specially formatted mobile sites -- which sort of defeats the purpose. At least the anti-aliased fonts are a step up from traditional Verizon fare.

In all we'd liken the phone to its incohesive and boring external design: all the right elements are there, but they might need some more time in the oven to really make sense.

Blackberry Bold release date delayed?

According to reports crossing the wires this morning, Research In Motion is expected to delay the release of its next-gen BlackBerry Bold. The Boy Genius is claiming that software issues, battery life problems, and overheating are causing the hold-up, which will move the street date back to mid-August as opposed to the presumed July release on AT&T. There's been no confirmation from RIM on the news, but that's not stopping analysts from predicting the move will lower the company's second quarter earnings outlook. We're pretty sure it'll make businessmen with twitchy thumbs none-too-happy as well.