Motorola Droid Bionic Shots Display More Of The Phone's Design

The Motorola Droid Bionic's long road towards launching on Verizon is nearing its end. After the carrier announced the phone all the way back in January, it looked like it might just arrive in the spring, only to be sent back to the drawing board for revisions. We may have had some concerns about the 11th-hour makeover, but from what we've seen since the revamped Bionic started showing up in leaks this summer, it looks like Motorola's done a fantastic job at making the Bionic a smartphone people are really getting interested in. While you wait for the handset to arrive, check out the latest round of Bionic pictures to make the scene.

These are supposedly of a slightly-earlier construction than what will be released, but the vast majority of design components are in place. Unlike the Bionic shots we saw earlier today, we get a bit of a sharper look here, and with back cover off, can check out the phone's battery (and the SIM that will give the Bionic access to Verizon LTE).

The Verizon roadmap we saw the other day had the Droid Bionic down for a September 8 release. We've heard a whole lot of rumors about the Bionic's debut, so we're hesitant to place our faith in yet another leak, but until we get something new, that's the most likely-looking candidate for a release. 

 

AT&T Shows Off White BlackBerry Torch 9810

We just got a look at some of the 4G BlackBerry smartphones planned for release on AT&T. Among them, we saw the Torch 9810 QWERTY portraitslider, scheduled for release later this month. Maybe you liked the phone fine its silver and black facade, but if you has other ideas in mind, you might want to check out the ivory-white 9810, spotted at a BlackBerry event.

An image of the phone at the BlackBerry 7 Fan Night held the other night in Toronto looks like it's a typical blurrycam spy shot, but this one has some cred to it. The pic comes to us straight from AT&T, which tweeted the photo on Wednesday. The carrier hasn't made any promises that it will release the white 9810 along with the silver/black, or that it's even a model geared for full production, but it would just be cruel to tweet out such a pic otherwise.

The Torch 9810 features a 1.2GHz processor, 3.2-inch screen, and 720p video recording capabilities. AT&T will be carrying it along with the Bold 9900 and Torch 9860.

BlackBerry App World 3.0 Hits Beta Zone

After hearing about some of the features that were rumored for RIM's BlackBerry App World 3.0, we got a sneak peek at the app back in May. Since then, RIM has updated its App World website for the new 3.0 look, but the actual app has left us waiting. That was then, though; if you're signed-up for the BlackBerry Beta Zone, you now have your chance to actually give it a run yourself, with RIM releasing App World 3.0 Beta.

So what's new? As should be expected from any app store redesign, there's a refocused effort on app discovery, placing tools for searches and promotions for featured apps front-and-center. There's also some of the social features we had heard about, letting you share apps you come across with friends via social sites, BBM, SMS, and email. The home screen gets some new categories, letting you jump right in to looking through games and themes available in the App World.

Also look for new account management tools, improved barcode recognition, and easy gesture-based navigation. If you don't yet have a Beta Zone account, sign up for free and you can start checking out thenew App World. 

Sprint Announces Samsung Conquer 4G

We got our first look at the Samsung SPH-D600 back at the end of April. Later on, after seeing a leaked Sprint inventory sheet, we learned that the D600 would be launched on the carrier as the Samsung Conquer 4G. Most recently, we finally got a really good look at the smartphone when Samsung put Conquer 4G info up on its website a little early. Now the handset's launch is finally officially on, with Sprint announcing that the Conquer 4G will be available on August 21 for about $100.

Interestingly, when we first had that leaked pic of the D600 to check out, the information we had on the phone pointed to it being a QWERTY slider. 

We never did get a look at its keyboard in any pics, though, and sure enough, it doesn't seem to have one now. What you will get is a 1GHz Snapdragon, 3.5-inch HVGA display, and WiMAX support. Between the decent processor and the 4G connectivity, the Conquer looks slightly more capable than your average budget-priced smartphone, but that may be why we're looking at a $100 rather than an $80 price-point.

The Conquer also features a rear 3.2-megapixel camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facer, and will ship running Gingerbread. 

Samsung Galaxy S2 Coming To Telus As 4.5-Inch Hercules?

The name Samsung Hercules first came to our attention as a possible future Android for T-Mobile. Its rumored specs sounded sort of Galaxy S2-ish, but the phone was supposed to use a Qualcomm processor and have a 4.5-inch screen. Now we've been told that Telus in Canada has plans to launch a phone by the same name; is it this same hardware we heard of for T-Mobile? Will this be the carrier's version of the GS2, or is it a different phone entirely?

The device certainly looks very similar to a GalaxyS2, though it appears to be missing its hardware home screen button. Like the T-Mobile Hercules, this Telus model reportedly has a 4.5-inch screen and a dual-core 1.2GHz processor. What we haven't heard yet is if it's supposed to be a Qualcomm chip, a Samsung Exynos, or maybe even a Tegra 2. 
The original Galaxy S hardware was available with differently-sized displays (among other tweaks), so it's certainly possible for this to be the carrier's Galaxy S2, even with the hardware changes. According to reports, the Hercules will be capable of some very fast 42Mbps HSPA+, with dual-carrier support.

We haven't heard any talk of when the Samsung Hercules might debut on Telus, but it would make sense to see it arrive in September, if it's not already out by the end of August.