Anybody who has been on a modern jet during a longhaul flight may remember seeing mellow shades of red, blue, and other calm colors during the trip. Well, KDDI and Sanyo's W64SA is set to do the same, but rather than calmly lifting the cash out of your wallet for senseless duty-free purchases, they're hoping the idea will sell you on this set. The W64SA features Bluetooth, a 2.8-inch LCD, 2 megapixel camera, remote wipe, mobile wallet, and a huge list of software titles you'll never, ever, enjoy over here. The two LEDs on the front will change depending on motion or activity -- Shake Illumi -- and slowly fade out when the set is sitting still -- Illumi Drop. No word on pricing, but if we hear something from KDDI au, we'll be sure to fill the gap. Follow the read link for some nonsensical Google translations of features we only half understand.

[Via textually.org]

Ah yes, there's nothing quite as capable of robbing us of an afternoon of work as a firmware update, is there? The joy of discovery, re-installing all your apps, contacts, and such is as painful as it is uniquely fun. Of course, you can skip all this if you're the proud owner of an American 3G N95, because your time hasn't come, yet. Crazyk, a forum user over Nokia Support Discussions mentions that boot time has been reduced in firmware 3.0.015 to 15 or 16 seconds, camera colors seem better, autorotate's a go, a new share online icon has appeared, and Maps 2.0's in there. Of course, make sure you back up your stuff before you fire up Nokia Software Update to begin this journey, just in case you bump into a problem on the way. Feel free to drop us a post and let us know how it goes.

Yeah, we know at first glance this might look like some hellish giant out of your worst nightmare crushing the life out some poor, unsuspecting Mercedes, but fear not, it's just a phone. The QKfone S3 is a dual-band set with a touchscreen, dual-SIM, Bluetooth, FM radio, and memory expansion with microSD. OK, enough with that business, the fun begins under the S3's top where you'll find the battery, both SIM cards and the memory card. Charging is done through a hole in the trunk, and -- this is actually clever -- one of the mirrors is actually the stylus for the set. So if you're looking for Benz style on a budget you'll likely wanna look elsewhere, but if you need a weird handset that will barely work over here, this might be it.

In the world of long life batteries for mobile phones, it seems there's weird ugly, and then there's LG's KP199. This tri-band GPRS candybar drags Bluetooth -- including A2DP -- 60MB of storage, 30 days standby and 11 hours of talktime into the mix. We get that some people are going to want to chatter for a long time, by why can't that be done inexpensively and still be a lovely thing to behold? Pricing seems set at about $100, though no word on what cereal box this'll show up in if it'll be knocking on our doors any time soon.

Well, this is new and fresh, as while we're used to seeing cloned handsets wandering our way from China, this time they've maybe beaten Nokia to the punch pre prototype-style. At first glance, this handset appears to be a pretty decent knockoff of the 6 or 8 megapixel N85 -- or something -- we mentioned some months back. But the fun twist here -- see what we just did there? -- is that the CECT K898 was spotted a year ago, and Nokia's prototype only in the last few months. We're not strangers to the good folks at CECT's cloning shenanigans, but we'll admit that they're likely a little chuffed at the prospect of beating somebody, anybody, to the punch in the design department. Sadly, like a year ago, we still kind find even a hint of what the specs may be, but we're ok to simply sit back and watch the lawsuits fly, and this time maybe in the opposite direction.

[Via Unwired View]

Seeing as Fido now has data plans worth mentioning, it only makes sense that we start to see some new products appear that'll let its Canadian customers use -- and abuse -- those plans. For speedy data download, the cross platform -- Windows XP / Vista / 2000, MAC OS X, and Linux -- USB Ovation MC950D will fit the bill handily at outrageous 7.2 Mbps down and up to 2.1 Mbps upload speeds. Connectivity is handled via a tri-band HSPA, quad-band EDGE, radios and the driver install, manuals and such for the supported OSes are in the stick itself. We didn't get any word on pricing or availability, but the parent company Rogers will let you take one home for as little as $49, so we're betting that's not too far off what you'll pay at Fido.

In what may be some type of time to market record, Samsung's 8 megapixel monster just popped up for Orange UK just a handful of weeks after we first heard word. As a quick refresher -- though, seriously, this should still be fresh on your minds -- it packs the aforementioned 8 megapixel shooter, dual-band 7.2 Mbit HSPA, quad-band EDGE, 16GB internal memory, Bluetooth, FM radio, and even a blink and smile recognition mode when shooting. Pricing -- on Mobile.co.uk -- is set from £free on 18 months and they'll even throw in a spare Nokia 1650 on pay as you go with a £10 credit. Not too shabby eh? So why not rush out and grab one and let us know what you think.

Now that Rogers' iPhone users have had a month to play and Rogers have had time to look at usage, it comes as no surprise some new data plans are in the works. First off, the good news is that the $30 6GB plan will be extended until the end of September from the end of August -- mind you, this is less generosity and more wanting to sign new BlackBerry Bold owners on to the plan. On October 1st Rogers -- and Fido -- will launch a new $15 2MB plan, $25 500MB plan, $30 1GB plan, $60 3GB plan, and an $80 8GB plan. These new plans will apply to smartphones, data cards, tethering, and of course BlackBerry devices. Most notable in the good news binge are a few "peace of mind" protection tools also being launched in October, including SMS data alerts, Freedom of Data, and a $100 data charge maximum. SMS data alerts will let subscribers know before, when, and after they've emptied the data bucket for the month. Freedom of Data will give 3 months of real unlimited usage just on the off chance you completely blow it out, the overages will be zeroed out and you can learn, adjust and move on. The $100 maximum idea means that no matter what data plan you're on, your monthly bill will never be higher than a hundred bucks as a combination of your fixed cost plus your overage. It seems this may spell the end of outrageous data bills in Canada, and we're thinking that deserves some applause.

Somebody has let the BlackBerry out of the bag chez Rogers, as we're now seeing alleged marketing material for the flippable Kickstart 8220 spinning its way on to the internet. As this ad proclaims, the Kickstart 8220 will be listed at $149 on a minimum $35 plan if you sign a three year stint. No word on if Rogers will have other plans, deals, or rebates, but we suspect if you're willing to throw more loonies their way, you'll be able to pick this up on a shorter term. Of course, if a flippin' BlackBerry isn't your thing, the recently launched BlackBerry Bold might fit the bill, though, that bill will be for at least a couple "brownies" more.

We've been waiting to get our smudgy digits on RIM's BlackBerry Bold seemingly since before the Earth's crust finished cooling, and finally, Canada's Rogers Wireless lent us a hand. In a few words, the screen is striking, size is actually pretty comfy to hang on to, the keys are fairly easy to use, and we're kinda digging it. As a quick refresher, the Bold has tri-band HSDPA, quad-band EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, 1GB of onboard memory, and a 2-megapixel cam that can take advantage of the GPS for a bit of geotagging tomfoolery. The integrated media player seems to get the job done with a pile of supported formats -- including DivX, some support for XviD, H.264, MP3, WMA, and a bunch more -- the OS 4.6 looks slick, and have we mentioned the frickin' screen? We'll be back right quick with a deeper dive into the Bold's capabilities, but for now, enjoy the pics.

The reasoning behind yet another RAZR offering with yet another name -- and supposed aesthetic overhaul -- can't possibly be known by anybody but the wizards with the crayons over at Motorola. Of course, if you're into shiny silver, have chosen Sprint as your provider -- where this bad boy is bound -- and haven't ever owned a RAZR iteration, be our guest. Featuring a silver casing, 2 megapixel camera, Sprint's Mobile NFL Live application, and thoroughly dribbled with scarlet accents -- and nothing else obviously new -- it defines the industry standard rehash. No word on pricing yet, but really, can this seriously be any more expensive than $free?

Sprint's iDEN lineup certainly seems to be alive and well -- despite what we've heard stating the opposite -- with the 2008 / 2009 roadmap boasting 10 new phones by Q2 2009. Starring in the outing -- and arguably its piece de resistance -- is the BlackBerry 8350i, a WiFi equipped, 2 megapixel shooter-toting, GPS-enabled device set to ship in Q4 this year. Also up for grabs in Q4 are the Mil-Spec GPS-enabled Motorola i576, and the mysterious -- we say mysterious as we've no real details yet -- Motorola i776. Q1 2009 ushers in with the QWERTY Motorola Monolith, the walkie-talkie styled rxxxx, what looks to be a Motorola V8, and some barely noteworthy Sanyo set. Motorola's Mil-Spec Immersion, the Sanyo Pro 410, and a Samsung music-centric slider will see us into Q2 next year. Sadly, details are all still very thin, but we suspect the releases will find their way onto these pages in the coming weeks and months.