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This is exactly the sort of news we love, the rumour of a new mobile from Nokia which in this case, is an adaptation of the excellent 5800 XpressMusic!  The rumour is Nokia are planning the release of the 5530 in September and that it will be a stripped down, even more competitively priced, touchscreen mobile phone.

It’s set to be a little smaller than the 5800, as it’s rumoured to have a 2.9″ screen rather than 3.2″, but the 3.2 megapixel camera, 3.5mm jack plug, FM RDS radio and MicroSD card slot look to have been retained.  Both the Symbian S60 5th Edition operating system and Wi-Fi also return, however the 5530 will be 2G and will not have the 5800’s GPS receiver.

The temptingly low price of the 5800 XpressMusic makes it a very popular phone, so to strip out GPS and 3G will likely make the 5530 something of a bargain, plus it’s no secret how great the 5800 is to use, so expect this as-yet unnanounced Nokia touchscreen phone to be extremely popular should it get its September release!

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

There’s electronic espionage afoot in Motorola’s headquarters.  According to court records recently released to the media, the company claim that their very-ex-Chief Financial Officer Paul Liska tried to blackmail them, concocting a scheme to look like a whistleblowing hero after being fired for gross incompetence.  Mr Liska states that this is a layer of lies designed to undermine his allegations that Motorola’s mobile division has been misreporting the hell out of their profits. He says that he brought his concerns over fraudulent reporting to the board of directors, who said “That’s very interesting, Mr Liska. Please explain it to Mr Bubba and Mr Muscles here as they show you exactly where the front door is - just don’t use big words because they taze people who do that.”

Whoever’s telling the truth (assuming anyone is at all, usually a mistake in multi-layer Mission Impossible intrigues), it’s a bad time for Motorola shareholders: either you have a criminally incompetent company, or they hire criminally incompetent staff - and the difference between the two only matters to them.

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

Mobile phones have so many uses these days that we can often replace other gadgets (cameras, music players, laptops) with a single mobile phone device. Something else that we may soon be able to replace with the mobile phone is our debit cards and credit cards. That’s because we are seeing an increasing interest in the ability to use the mobile phone to make contactless payments for transactions on-site. This technology hasn’t quite hit the mainstream yet but the development of new handsets that allow for these transactions along with successful trials of mobile payments throughout the world seem to indicate that this could be the way of the future.

Four Methods of Mobile Payment

There are four basic methods that allow a mobile phone to be used as a tool for making payments. SMS messages can be used to request (more…)

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

Although mobile phones are gadgets that are used every day by the average person, your mobile phone could be the tool that allows you to become a superhero. Every day, cell phones are used by individuals and police investigators in different ways to catch criminals. Sometimes they catch criminals in the act of committing a crime. Other times they catch criminals after the crime has been committed and the individual needs to be apprehended. Either way, the mobile phone plays an important role in making sure the bad guys get caught.

Here’s a look at ten ways that people are using cell phones to catch criminals:

1. Sniffed out by dogs.

One of the most unique ways that cell phones are being used to catch criminals right now is that prisons are using them to catch people who are sneaking cell phones in to inmates. Prisoners are only supposed to be able to make monitored phone calls in order to (more…)

Post from Dial-a-Phone, UK's no. 1 for Mobile Phones.

Noah gets Verizon's hub, the VoIP digital phone / messaging center / widget master, out of the box and into his kitchen.

Unboxing the Samsung Finesse, Metro PCS' first all-touch phone. With a full touchscreen, TouchWiz UI, 2 MP camera, and high speed mobile Internet, Finesse brings the high-end experience to no-contract cell service. $349 with unlimited voice and data for $50/month.

Seems like you can't open the newspaper (or an RSS newsfeed) without an eBook reader article slapping you in the face.

Here's another: According to buzz on TheStreet, a new partnership is forming to take on the Amazon Kindle's dominance. Barnes & Noble is reportedly clapping hands with cellular carrier Sprint, as well as a device manufacturer. That only spells one thing — a new eBook reader.

The story goes that B&N had shopped the idea around, trying Verizon first, but then settled on Sprint, which is already a Kindle partner. As for AT&T, the company's cellular system is currently knee-deep in eBook downloads via Amazon's new iPhone app. Even so, it might still be looking to dig in deeper with a device of its own at some point.

As for B&N, it's no stranger to electronic book readers. Six years ago, after a failed endeavor with Microsoft and Adobe, the massive book retailer dumped the relationship and its poorly performing tablet gadget.

That was then. No doubt now that the bookseller is drooling over Amazon's success. Financial expectations put Kindle at approximately $63 million in gross profit (from $285 million in sales this year.)

In truth, B&N's intentions have been clear since it bought eBook distributor Fictionwise last month for $15.7 million. Now, equipped with what amounts to a huge digital book warehouse, the company's running the "eBook Success for Dummies" playbook to the letter.

Frankly, I hope this takes off. As great as Kindle is (and I hear it's fantastic), I just think $359 is too much to spend on something that doesn't multitask. So, with all due respect to Sony's digital book reader, I think it's about time for a little competition.

I know, I know, if you believe the blogs, twitter feeds, and TV ads, it's *always* cell phone season in the US.  But really, honestly, Summer is a big time for new carrier releases here in the States.  CTIA came and went with not even a dozen new US phones - and none on Verizon or Sprint - which means that some cool new stuff must be on tap for late Spring/Summer launch in the US.

Right?

April:  

T-Mobile's got some kind of media event scheduled for April 21 in NYC.  Given that their Grammy Tour sponsored by Sidekick has already kicked off without a new Sidekick to promote, I'm fully expecting the "Blade" to be unveiled by T-Mo in the Big Apple.  Expect 3G data speeds powering all of that SK goodness tweens and college kids have come to love.

LG and VZW have a new, low-priced candybar phone in the works for an April/May launch.

May:

Sprint and Palm had better get the Pre into stores during May.  Recent rumors about Sprint employee vacation blackouts point to a May launch, but other rumors are targeting June.  June will belong to Apple no matter how great Pre could possibly be, so my money's on that May 17 rumor for Pre's long-awaited launch.

Verizon has a few new devices waiting in the wings from what I'm told, and we should see the first of them - the LG EnV3 - in stores in May (unless the launch gets pushed to late April).  Expect a slightly sleeker, hipper looking version of the EnV2.  

June:

iPhone 3 launches June 8 at Apple's WWDC in San Francisco.  You can all but bet on it.  One new model?  Two?  A phone and a tablet/netbook?  Dunno.  Wait and see.  iPhone OS 3 will be a big deal for a few reasons:

• APIs that let devs access the core OS will enable everything from snap-on QWERTY keyboards to snap-on glucose meters.  Look out, ecosystem.
• Push notifications won't quite be the 21st century multitasking OS that folks want, but they'll be good enough to keep/attract iPhone customers.
• In-App Commerce opportunities will make devs happy even though they might drive consumers nuts

LG and Verizon will likely launch the Voyager 2 in June, though it won't be called Voyager 2 due to licensing issues with Plantronics, makers of the Voyager line of audio accessories.  Look for a form factor similar to the original Voyager, but with a better touchscreen and a new Versa-esque user interface.

T-Mobile should release the Nokia "Madeline" sometime this summer.  What could be the XpressMusic 5530, this phone will be a full QWERTY horizontal slider with a 3.2 MP camera and media player with 3.5mm headphone jack.  The 5530 is said to be a touchscreen phone, so I'm not sure if Madeline=5530, or if Madeline is a non-touch variant of the device.  T-Mo may also have another Nokia slider in the works in the XpressMusic 5330.

T-Mo may also have an 8 MP camera phone from Motorola on deck for Summer, though that device may have been cancelled given Moto's recent internal struggles and shakeups.

July:

If we haven't seen a new Android-powered phone hit the US by July, I'm not really sure what I'll have to say about the future fate of Google's mobile OS.  While rumors point towards Android-powered phones from Huwaei and Samsung hitting T-Mobile in Q3 of 2009, I really, really hope they're preceded by another HTC device sometime in Q2.

Also, by late July we'll hopefully see HTC's new smartphones hit the US.  Rumors now point towards a July 22 release of the Touch Pro2 on T-Mobile.  By then I'd say we'll also see the Touch Diamond2 on a US carrier, as well.

August:

Expect to see the first real wave of carrier-subsidized netbooks hit the US in time for Back to School.  AT&T and Verizon should lead the way, but Sprint might make some kind of wacky play for early market share, too.  And if you live in Clear range, you'll be able to get your WiMax on netbook-style, too.

That's just a start ... and that's just through August.  

Got a tip on a hot new phone I missed?  Hit us up at infodog@phonedog.com and/or contact me via twitter: twitter.com/phonedog_noah