They may not have come as quickly as anyone would've liked, but hey -- let's give Samsung and Sprint some credit here for keeping their noses to the grindstone, listening to customer complaints, and making the Instinct the device it probably should've been at launch with a series of major firmware updates. The latest update could very well be the most important to date, making text input possible from Opera Mini and other Java apps (we can hear the cries of joy all the way from here) and promising viewing capability for Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and PDF files once a Sprint Mobile Email Work update hits early next month. Instinct owners, care to chime in with your experiences?

Pantech's still trying to keep its C630 relatively under wraps until it's formally introduced next month, but thanks to a bit of snooping around within the FCC's database, we already knew it was on the way. At any rate, the company has revealed at a recent press event that the low-cost, 3G-capable C630 will soon join the expanding AT&T family. As for specs, we're told that it'll boast a 1.3-megapixel camera, speakerphone support, Bluetooth, an MP3 player and a microSD card slot. The end product isn't likely to be tremendously fancy, but at just $49 or so (estimated) on contract, it's probably not a bad choice for Symbian fans on a budget.

Earlier in the summer, some words from Verizon chief Ivan Seidenberg led us all to believe that he wanted his firm to take full control of Verizon Wireless. Now, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao has made clear that his outfit had precisely zero plans to sell its 45% stake in VZW, though he did mention having an "open mind" about the future of said stake. Just in case that wasn't definitive enough for ya, he stressed that staying put was "the best thing" for Vodafone right now, and given just how many Storms are flying off of US shelves, we can't stand to disagree.

It looks like HTC jumped the gun here just a little bit for two reasons: first, we've yet to hear a single peep (officially, anyway) from Verizon about its Touch Pro's existence, and second, the "Buy Now" link on the product page takes you to... wait for it... Sprint. We don't know much, but we know that ain't right. Anyway, hang tight, folks, because we're still hoping for a release this week -- we've heard rumors that it may have been pushed back, but from the looks of things on HTC's end, they'd just as soon get this thing out the door on the double.

Now that Samsung's TouchWiz-enabled Behold is available for the taking on T-Mobile, wouldn't you like to know if it's the handset for you? The phone seemed positioned to be the carrier's entertainment mobile for folks not ready to make the G1 leap, boasting a 3G radio, expansive touchscreen and a 5MP camera. In testing, phonescoop found the handset to be a dash of good and a dash of bad, with the UI being deemed "decent, but not great," the camera quality to be less than awesome and the music player "capable" enough (despite the omission of a 2.5 / 3.5-millimeter headphone jack). In sum, critics determined that the Behold was worth considering if you're "in the market for a touch device that has a better-than-average feature set," but don't expect it to blow your mind or anything.

With day zero of the Age of the Storm (well, Verizon's day zero, anyway) now behind us, it's probably a good idea to pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and reflect on what just went down. First and foremost, we're hearing that stock levels are pretty bleak at the moment in many areas; in some cases, stores didn't get as many Storms as they'd been expecting, leading to speedy sell-outs. Some of those that were able to snatch a scarce unit were met with activation issues, Verizon's servers seemingly meeting the same fate as AT&T's and Apple's on iPhone 3G launch day. Will the situation improve? We can only imagine -- but it's hard to say just how long it'll take before you'll be able to stroll into the store (or shady mall kiosk) of your choice and score a Storm sight unseen, especially in light of the firmware drama unfolding before our very eyes. In the meantime, owners (and hopefuls, too), keep sending in your reports from the field!

Look, we needn't tell you that things aren't exactly kosher for Sprint right now. SK Telecom just said "thanks, but no thanks" to a potential relationship, it managed to post a net loss of $326 million in Q3 and it's staring down the barrel of a $1.2 billion class-action ETF suit. All that considered, the sudden and apparently unplanned departure of the carrier's head of CDMA isn't apt to help things. John Garcia, without any (public) rhyme or reason, has decided it best to not clock in on Monday, and at the moment of his leaving, the company had no comment on the situation. Bigwig Keith Cowan has been chosen as the interim replacement while it searches for a successor, and in related news, Bill Morgan (SVP of brand management) will begin reporting directly to CEO Dan Hesse.

[Via mocoNews]

We've heard some rumblings that AT&T was keen on picking up the Secret to shore up its high-end featurephone lineup, and that's being corroborated by what other sites are hearing as well -- all told, that leaves LG in a pretty enviable position with the 800-pound gorilla of the US GSM market, presumably launching the sexy (well, arguably sexy) Incite smartphone alongside one of the smartest-looking 5-megapixel handsets in the market today. The Secret clone, model number CF750, should apparently feature the same high-end cam, thin shell, 3G, and touchscreen as its European brother, simply swapping bands to make the package a little more palatable to a North American audience. Moving downmarket a little bit, the CF360 looks to be a lower-end piece that'll do duty in AT&T's rank-and-file lineup -- in other words, it'll basically print money. We're cool with all this, but seriously, guys, can we tighten up the European to North American technology transfer just a little bit? No? Too much to ask?

From around back, you'd never know that Samsung's W600 was a phone. Well, we mean, you might be able to piece it together, but you catch our drift. At any rate, the Anycall W600 was recently on display in South Korea, and aside from the wicked 5-megapixel camera and all-black motif, it was also boasting a 3-inch WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen, T-DMB tuner, haptic UI and HSUPA support. Look for it to set locals back a stiff ₩800,000 ($600) or more depending on carrier when it ships next month.

[Via IntoMobile]

We knew the Fennec alpha was but moments away from release, but at long last, the wait is over. Mozilla has crafted a dedicated page for the early, early version of Mobile Firefox along with release notes, known issues, tips / tricks and installation instructions. Speaking of which, this release was made to be used solely on the N800 or N810 Internet Tablet from Nokia, though there are versions available for Windows, OS X and Linux computers in case you want to dabble from the comfort of your desktop / laptop. We won't bother keeping you any longer -- feast your eyes on the links below for all sorts of long-awaited mobile browsing goodness.

[Via NetworkWorld]

Read - Mozilla Fennec page
Read - Fennec video walkthrough
Read - Fennec on Windows Mobile screenshot

Just because you're the elephant in the group, that doesn't mean you'll get away without suffering through the same humiliation that comes with being a hot new BlackBerry: dissection on camera. RIM's first flip phone has recently been disassembled by the curious minds over at SycotecSolutions, giving us all an up close and personal look at what makes the Pearl Flip 8220 tick. Eager for more? Give the read link some of your undivided attention.

Americans may know the pictured handset by another name (psst... it's Chocolate 3, you knew that!), but Telus Mobility customers will soon be referring to it as the LG Chocolate GiG. Available now on the Canadian carrier, said flip phone offers up 1GB of internal storage, an incredibly convenient 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, a spinning scroll wheel, 2-megapixel camera, 2.2-inch QVGA main display and stereo Bluetooth support. You'll also get access to Telus mobile radio (XM) as well as Telus mobile music, both of which should keep you adequately stocked with artfully imposed sine waves. It's available now for the taking at $99.99 (3-year contract), $199.99 (2-year deal), $249.99 (1-year agreement) or $299.99 without any obligations.

[Via mobilesyrup]

We can't recall the last time a mega-corp informed the public that it had a "good" quarter (as in, it literally described the quarter as "good" in its headline), but we can't help but chuckle at this one. Deutsche Telekom has done what few other companies have managed to do of late, and that's post an impressive Q3. Even in a "difficult market environment," net income was up €0.6 billion ($775 million) to €0.9 billion ($1.16 billion) compared to a year ago, and it managed to snag 670,000 new T-Mobile USA customers all the while. As with most other carriers these days, DT also found lots of income flowing in from data usage; total data revenue (excluding messaging) was up 28.3% to a whopping €639 million ($825 million). For number crunchers and optimists alike, tap the read link for more material you're sure to love.

[Via mocoNews]

If you can't appreciate the low-end with the elite, you'll probably find it impossible to respect Samsung's latest duo. The "classic" E1110 keeps it real simple with a 1.3-inch 128 x 128 resolution display, GSM 900 / 1,800 support, a 500 number contact book, MP3 ringtone compatibility, Bluetooth, 1.5MB of internal memory, USB 2.0 and a battery good for 8-hours of talk time (or 20 days in standby). Up next is the E2510 clamshell, which actually doesn't look too drab for a basic cellie. Features wise, it's rockin' a 1.9-inch 160 x 128 internal display, quad-band GSM support, Bluetooth / USB 2.0, 15MB of memory, a microSD card slot, FM tuner and talk time of 7-hours. There's no mention of price or global availability, so we'll just toss you a "good luck" on your hunt to find your next backup.