Well this was bound to happen. Ahead of schedule, Walt Mossberg has turned his official review of the new iPhone 3G, and we've got the recap. On the whole, Walt stays mostly positive about the device; he likes the form factor (which he wants to stress really hasn't changed much), says the 3G speeds are a big improvement over EDGE (no kidding?), and informs us that the audio quality and phone reception are -- thankfully -- improved all around. Downsides? There are plenty. Mossberg takes issue with AT&T's new pricing policy, which he finds steep, says he only squeezed 4 hours and 27 minutes of talk time out of the battery, and gripes that you can only sync Exchange or personal calendars and contacts -- not both. If you're like us, you'll probably want to just read the whole thing. Too lazy? Check the video after the break.

Update: David Pogue of the New York Times has also turned in a kinda-sorta review of the iPhone 3G, though it reads more like an overview of its features than a honest-to-goodness critique. He also makes passing reference to the GPS antenna being "too small" to function as a proper GPS, which makes roughly zero sense to us. Feel free to figure it out on your own.

Update 2: Can't forget Ed Baig of USA Today, who says the new model is "worth the wait" (not to say we have any option at this point anyway, seeing how hard it is to find an original anywhere). He seemed to have trouble picking up 3G service in some locations, though it's not clear whether that can be chalked up to technical issues with the handset or a lack of coverage where he was testing. Like the others, Baig discovered a noticeable improvement in audio quality and a noticeable hit in battery life when hooked up to the 3G network. Gotta pay to play, we guess.

It's been a while since we've heard anything about Nokia's Haptikos tactile touch screen technology, but with the unearthing of some juicy patent details, we finally know what's going on here. Basically, the tech uses layers under the touchscreen to allow control of surface roughness and friction. The patent describes a "plurality of closely space voltage controllable protruberances" that can raise or lower based on where the user is touching the screen, resulting in what feels like resistance and tactile feedback. Filled with fluid, the protruberances increase fiction and help users feel like they're actually touching something rather than poking at a plane of glass. No word on any devices with the new haptic tech, but we wouldn't be surprised to see this show up in some of their new touchy-feely handsets in the near future.

[Via Unwired View]

Read - Patent Application (warning: PDF)

Continuing this day of iPhone 3G impropriety, the Boy Genius has somehow secured himself a brand-spanking-new iPhone 3G, and has unboxed it for all the world to see. First off, our condolences to the AT&T or Apple employee who will probably lose their job over this one, and then a tip of the hat to BGR for pulling off such a daring stunt. The pictures, however, should be less exciting (since we've been seeing a lot of these today) -- still, nice to know what you're about to get into! We've included a few more shots after the break.

Very rarely does a Palm handset go fully under the radar all the way through to the official announcement (if ever?), and now that we have a user's manual, we can pretty much declare the impending Treo 800w fully, completely, and utterly scooped. This is definitely the real deal, too, coming straight off Sprint's site -- not to say anyone would go to the trouble of faking their own -- and unveils no real surprises that we can see. The usual Windows Mobile 6.1 interface with Palm customizations, conservative styling (we're being generous there), and typical array of Sprint add-ons like Sprint TV are going to make this a safe, easy choice for the well-starched suit in your life, and that's about it. Not to say we have a problem with well-starched suits; Engadget corporate policy requires that we wear them at all times, actually. [Warning: PDF link]

[Thanks, Josh]

You probably saw this one coming, but with that massive slew of countries and partners Apple has wrangled for the new iPhone launch, that July 11th street date was bound to be neglected. So here you have it, courtesy of the french blog Gadget O'Mac, an iPhone 3G on display in a shop in Switzerland. While the shots may be blurry, we at least get to see this thing in the hands of someone other than an Apple employee, and coupled with that Portuguese leak, this should thoroughly whet your appetite for Friday. Check out a few more shots after the break.

[Thanks, Florence]

If you're a prospective iPhone 3G buyer, get ready to make a mess of your keyboard, desk, and any nearby objects that may be hit by spittle flying out of your mouth. Some lucky, lucky Portuguese man or woman has already had the pleasure of cracking open the box and booting up their new device. Feast your eyes on the above pic and one more after the break, and keep reminding yourself that you've only got three more days to wait.

Update: We've added a picture of the mysterious SIM removal tool -- the shroud of secrecy is lifted after the break.

[Thanks, siniux]

See that guy? That's Jonny Gladwell from Auckland New Zealand. He's special no matter how you define the word. He's camped outside of Vodafone NZ right now which puts him on a path to be the world's first iPhone 3G owner. Of course, there's still time for other Kiwi's to get in line at the Wellington and Christchurch shops which will open simultaneously. A red hot trinity of buffoonery to be sure.

[image credit and thanks to Darryl Carey]

If the old saying that you can't believe everything you read holds true, then it must be doubly so for images you see on the internet. Such is possibly the case in the latest batch of leaked pictures doing the rounds on the old information superhighway. Lately (i.e. today) shots of RIM's new touchscreen phone -- the Thunder -- have surfaced showing off what's supposed to be a new version of the BlackBerry OS (4.7) running its media player. Now we're not saying these pics aren't really real, but what we are saying is that these shots look an awful lot like renders to us, and since no one can verify them beyond an "anonymous source," we're just going to recommend a healthy dose of you-know-what, okay?

[Via MobileSyrup]

To be fair, Continental Mobiles' diamond-encrusted Nokia N95 is a real bargain at £10,000 ($19,813) when compared to Amosu's £12,000 alternative, but seriously, real richies should be holding off for the evolutionary N96, anyway. For those with enough cash to care, this particular handset / status symbol packs a Sterling silver front-panel stacked with "4.42ct of brilliant-cut, VS1 quality, color G-H, naturally mined diamonds." If you're craving one, you'd better get your order in now, as it takes the British craftspeople crazy enough to sell these things three full weeks to whip one up.

[Via Pocket-lint]

According to the overactive internet rumor party line, T-Mobile is planning to take its currently limited 3G service nationwide come October. TmoNews claims -- thanks to an anonymous tipster, of course -- that on October 1st, the telco will bring speedy service to 27 of its top markets, including Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and Miami, amongst others. Of course, right now this is pure speculation and hearsay, until we get confirmation from T-Mobile (or at least some hard evidence), we'll just have to keep our fingers and toes crossed.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Vodafone just went public with the information you already knew, New Zealand will see the world's first iPhone launch at 00:01 local time on the 11th. That's almost a full day before any New York, propaganda farmer gets his. In the UK, O2 is now taking pre-orders (one per customer) on a first come, first serve basis. Better yet, your new slab of 3G will be delivered to your home on the 11th of July by courier where you can activate it from the digital comforts of iTunes. So civilized.

Update: According to a handful of tipsters, O2 sold out of the 16GB version of the iPhone in about three hours. Here's hoping you made the cut.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read -- O2 UK
Read -- Vodafone NZ

At this point, neither the HTC Touch Diamond nor the Samsung i900 Omnia need any introduction, but we're happy to announce that these two have stepped into the squared circle and faced off in an epic nine-page battle. Reviewers manhandled both phones for an extended time and broke down the UI, hardware, features and overall usability, so if that sounds like something you'd be interested in, cover your face and head on down to the read link. We're warning you though, it gets ugly.

[Thanks, Chavdar]

In HTC parlance, the "Neon" codename denotes a device of the Touch Dual form factor -- original Touch styling plus a slider keypad, a drill we all know by now. This particular form factor seems to be a pretty popular one, too, considering the sheer number of variants HTC's turned out; at this point, we have one for Europe, one for North America, and one for Japan, and a new FCC filing suggests that there's still at least one more trick in that pony. The so-called NEON400 doesn't give much away from the ID label document that we see here, but test reports indicate that it's sporting CDMA 850 / 1900 -- just right for launching on Sprint, Verizon, Alltel -- you get the idea -- and obviously, we'll see EV-DO in there as well. Against the Touch Diamond, the Dual is starting to look just a little dated, but it gets that all-important keypad that the Diamond lacks -- so even networks that end up launching the Diamond can realistically make room for this one in the lineup when it's announced. By someone other than the FCC, that is.

So we heard from a very reliable source that mobile user interface guru Matias Duarte -- who you may know as the man behind the Sidekick and Helio UI / user experiences -- actually left Helio late last year to join up with Palm. Although no announcement was made, we hear he and his gang of designers jumped ship (well before Helio completely flooded) to take on the monumental task of designing the UI for Palm's next-gen mobile OS (aka "Palm OS 2.0 or II"). His resume online now lists him as "Senior Director, Human Interface and User Experience" doing "Something new..." since September 2007; we got in touch with Palm, who confirmed that he's now under the company's employ.

Of course, expectations should be pretty high -- Palm's only been promising this supposedly game-changing OS since around 2004, and the company's reputation and pedigree is (or at least it used to be) in groundbreaking mobile UI design. But this news also kind of makes us wonder: if they didn't have a killer UI and user experience team already in place and long-since working their asses off by late 2007, exactly how far along are they on this thing, anyway?